[B-Greek] i-Know It New Testament Greek Vocabulary Software

Brent Hudson brent at riveroflifembchurch.com
Thu Feb 12 13:40:55 EST 2004


I bought this program a couple of weeks ago.  I used it  for one night and
then asked for my money back the next day.  Thankfully, I got it.  Since Mr.
Berkmeyer has sent an advertisement to this list, I feel that I should offer
a review of the product based on my experiences with the I-Know-It program.

First, the program has a very interesting metaphor.  By using the system
tray, the program pops up a little menu with a Greek word on it.  You can
set the program to be in quiz mode where you click on the popup and type in
the Greek word, or you can set it to simply flash the Greek words with the
English gloss so you can learn new words as you do other things.  It's a
neat idea.

I installed the program and it ran fine, but it did not display the Greek
font.  Since I did not install I-Know-It on a freshly reboot machine, it may
have been related to some other issue.  Nevertheless, once I rebooted, the
program displayed Greek fine.  

After running the program for a bit, I left my machine and went to bed.
This program did not allow my monitors to enter standby mode.  I came into
my office in the morning and my monitors were on.  If you have a habit of
leaving your computer and expecting a screen saver or the monitor to shut
off automatically, this program will interfere with that operation.

The most significant problem is that the quiz mode forces you to type in the
English gloss.  Most vocabulary programs allow for a Yes or No response to
whether you got the word correct, which allows for misspellings, similar
glosses etc.  The method used by I-Know-It requires that your response be
exactly what is on the card.  If there are three glosses, you must answer
all three.  There is a setting to change this so you do not need to be exact
which helps, but adds another problem.  If I answer "I" to any verb, it will
generate a positive response since I got one of the words correct (e.g., *I*
loose).  

The first obvious problem is that the database for I-Know-It is extremely
small.  Bill Mounce's free program from Teknia offers over 1100 words in its
database, I-Know-It has only 500.  For $15 more, Ken Penner's program gives
you every word in the GNT and a Hebrew database! (more on Flash! Pro XP
later).  I-Know-It does not have an easy method for entering new data.  You
must add one card at a time.  If you have a database from another program or
your own lists, there is no way to make a table and convert to a set a cards
(like in Mounce's or Penner's programs).  Also, unlike Flash! Pro XP, there
is no way to add another dataset to I-Know-It to quiz on other topics.  

The more significant problem with the program is the organization of data.
To start, all third declension nouns have both nominative and genitive forms
in the database on separate cards.  There is one card for SARX and a
completely different card for SARKOS!  I am unsure if third declension words
count as one or two words in the 500 word database.  

There were a few misspellings of Greek words that I caught, but by that
time, I had already decided the program, though having a catchy interface,
required a rewrite of its database.  I wasn't about to do that.

If a person needs a vocabulary program, they can get one for free at
www.teknia.com with a database of over 1100 words.  If they are truly
serious about acquiring vocabulary, they should consider Flash! Pro XP
(http://s91279732.onlinehome.us/flash).  I bought this after returning
I-Know-It.  After a few weeks of using it, I have not been disappointed.
There are databases for Greek, Hebrew, French and German and the user can
add databases as she/he sees fit.  There are various ways the program
analyzes your progress and this maximizes learning.  What is the cincher for
me is that Ken Penner has added the entire NT database.  If I am reading
Matthew, I can set Flash!Pro XP to quiz me on Matthew on all words occurring
less then 10 or less than 4 or whatever.  If I am preaching a series through
the Sermon on the Mount, I can learn all the words in that section easily.
Flash! Pro XP is a dream program for anyone who wants to use the computer to
learn Greek or Hebrew and wants to do so by reading instead of frequency
lists (which are also included in Flash! Pro XP if that is your preference).


If anyone here is seriously considering a vocabulary program, look for one
that was written by someone who has proficiency in the language and
understands how people learn languages.  As someone who has used vocabulary
software since the days of DOS and Memcards, Flash! Pro XP seems to me to be
one of the best programs available.  I-Know-It has an interesting interface,
but that is about it (in my not so humble opinion).

Brent Hudson
Moncton, NB
Canada



 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org 
> [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Drew 
> Berkemeyer
> Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 12:54 PM
> To: b-greek mailing list
> Subject: [B-Greek] i-Know It New Testament Greek Vocabulary Software
> 
> This message was approved by Jonathan Robie (jwrobie at mindspring.com)
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I am the author of a new software package called i-Know It 
> New Testament Greek Vocabulary. The software is designed to 
> help students of New Testament Greek learn over 500 New 
> Testament Greek words while using their computer to do other 
> tasks and without setting aside specific study time.
> 
> Features Include:
> =================
> - Support for multiple New Testament Greek Textbooks
>   (Ships with vocabulary words already set for "Essentials of
>   New Testament Greek", by Ray Summers, and "Basics of New
>   Testament Greek", by William Mounce, or add your own!)
> - Over 500 New Testament Greek words provided
> - Teach Me and Quiz Modes
> - Support for multiple users. Each user has their own
>   preferences and word difficulty settings. 
> - Add, edit, remove books and words
> - Steady progressive review or New Testament Greek vocabulary
> - Much more! 
> 
> System Requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, or XP
> 
> Please visit: http://www.iknowit.com/ntgreek.cfm for more information.
> 
> Thank you for your consideration in reading this message. I 
> will be happy to answer any questions that you have.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Drew Berkemeyer
> i-Know It - More Knowlege. Less Time.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> This message was approved by Jonathan Robie (jwrobie at mindspring.com)
> 
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek B-Greek 
> mailing list B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org 
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
> 




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