Read Better, Preach Better

Since vocab learning and retention is one of the biggest hurdles for keeping your Greek, I thought I’d share some more thoughts on this for your feedback. It’s been helpful so far!

My thoughts can be grouped into principles of learning and retention, and tools to achieve this. The following is a summary; it’ll be fleshed-out in the book, of course.

Caveat: I don’t necessarily expect everyone to use all of these; they’re ideas and suggestions (though some are more important than others).

Tell me: what do you think, and what’s missing?

How to learn/remember words

1. Invent a memory hook for each word.

2. Make each word your friend.

3. Pronounce each word.

4. Try listening to vocab (make your own recording or download).

5. Try writing vocabulary out by hand.

6. Practice going from English to Greek, not just Greek to English (more advanced).

7. Make vocab a part of your life. Busy people need a pattern that does not take much time or effort.

Tools

1. A New Reader’s Lexicon of the Greek New Testament. This provides rare vocabulary for each passage in the GNT, which makes reading more enjoyable AND facilitates learning the vocab you don’t already know for any passage you might be working on.

2. A Reader’s Greek New Testament. This is similar to the above.

3. Various software tools (there’ll be an index of these, I think). My favourite is iVocabulary for iPhone.

Posted by Con Campbell

Here are some more. These are from the chapter on vocabulary.

Make vocabulary your friend! You remember the names of your friends, right?

Clearly one of the hardest elements of keeping your Greek is vocabulary. Even if you remember your paradigms and recall the syntax, without knowing what the words mean, it is all for nought!

I get the impression that some people are ‘above’ learning vocabulary. What I mean is that vocab learning is not especially sexy or sophisticated, like, say, verbal aspect

While it can be tempting to rush your vocab learning—since there are so many words to master—it’s important to let quality rule over quantity.

The great thing about a good memory hook is that it will really help to keep the word in your long-term memory, because the connection that’s made makes a lasting impression in your mind.

Posted by Con Campbell

From the chapter on software tools…

Bible software tools provide incredible speed and convenience [...]. But, they come at a risk. And—just like cars—the very thing that makes them convenient is also the thing that threatens to kill your Greek: Speed.

By moving that cursor too quickly, you can replicate the perennial problem that is inflicted by the dreaded interlinear (that you have recently burnt).

So, my advice to you is the same as it will be to my kids when they’re old enough to drive (in the way-distant future): by all means harness the power of software tools, but be very careful that their speed does not kill your Greek.

Posted by Con Campbell

What do you think of these lines?

They come from the chapter I’m working on for Keep your Greek.

Just as performing bicep curls without using your biceps is counterproductive and lame, so too is reading Greek without using your Greek.

Instead of using the primary ‘muscle group’ needed to read Greek—your memory!—the interlinear allows you to underwork your memory and rely on the stronger ‘muscle group’—the printed English vocabulary sitting right there under each Greek word.

So, go ahead and burn that interlinear. Or, at least, give it to someone you don’t like very much.

Posted by Con Campbell