[B-Greek] Memorizing definitions, learning techiniques
N.E.Barry Hofstetter
nebarry at verizon.net
Wed Jun 23 11:43:31 EDT 2004
>
> From: "R Yochanan Bitan Buth" <ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il>
> Date: 2004/06/23 Wed AM 11:18:24 EDT
> To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: re: [B-Greek] Memorizing definitions, learning techiniques
Randallus scripsit:
> some language learning issues here.
> If you like flashcards, they're yours.
> Personally, in most languages I've worked with, I find that seeing a word in
> context is crucial. With what words is it used? How is it used? Concordances
> are very useful here, though when unfiltered, they require a relatively
> large vocabulary.
Listen to this man: he has the words of eternal, well, Greek learning!
> Secondly, it is sometimes/often good to learn about words from reading
> without looking them up. (I'm kidding, right? No, I'm serious.) This morning
> I was working with our Texts and Land students. (different language, same
> priciples.) David wanted to "chase this GEDUD", where the words "chase" and
> "this" are already known by most students. Well, in the passage 1Sm30 one
> can see that a GEDUD could burn a city and take captives/slaves. David
> wanted to chase the GEDUD with 600 men. Also, this GEDUD was Ameleqi by
> ethnicity. David and 400 men found the GEDUD and took the booty animals and
> people back. By now, you have half of a picture of what a GEDUD is and your
> brain has opened a new file on this for future reference. Incidently, a
> GEDUD is made up of males and they are armed to fight. They are smaller than
> a TSAVA.
> Thirdly, I like to see definitions in the language itself and supported with
> examples of usage. This is a spiralling phenomenon. Words can be used to
> define more complex words which can be used for more complex words.
> WHD Rouse A Greek Boy at Home (first half of 20th century)does a lot of this
> in Attic Greek. This often leads to fuller pictures of what is called a
> semantic domain and is also part of the self-correcting mechanism within
> langauges.
Well, Randall, I'm annoyed because you included Hebrew words in your post, which really hurt my eyes. That aside, though, I wholeheartedly endorse your comments. Nothing teaches language like actually reading/speaking the language, once you get enough of the basics down to do so.
Anecdote: When an undergraduate, one professor told us to keep a vocab list. If we had to look up any word more than three times, then memorize it. I followed that regimen faithfully enough to build up a fairly healthy vocabulary in both Latin and Greek by the time I got to grad school in Classics. In my first quarter in grad school, I was busily reading a play of Sophocles and keeping my vocab list. One of the 2nd year M.A. students came up to me and said, in a voice dripping with scorn, "Vocab list? You're still doing that? No way, man, you should be figuring out the vocab from context." He so shamed me, that ever after I kept my vocab lists hidden... and started doing just what he suggested, as you have suggested above, and found it a very fruitful discipline over the years.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter
Faculty-guy, CUTS
Philadelphia, PA
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