[B-Greek] Another source for digital vocabulary tools
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Aug 17 07:13:57 EDT 2007
In the course of this morning's blog review, I've come upon the
following (at http://tinyurl.com/2xeo77) that may be useful for those
wanting to make their own flashcards or vocabulary tools for
acquisition of Greek vocabulary:
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Learn a foreign language on the cheap
The No Thick Manuals wiki details how to learn a language efficiently
using two free, open source applications. The first is jVLT (java
Vocabulary Learning Tool), a completely cross platform flash card
application. The second is StarDict, a Windows/Linux-only dictionary
that provides an impressive array of features and dictionaries.
Granted, most of us would require some textbooks and/or audio
supplements, but anyone learning a language needs a good dictionary
and some flash cards, and these free desktop applications sound a lot
simpler than making flash cards by hand and manually looking up words
in your dictionary. If you're a language nut, share your favorite
tools in the comments.
=========
More information, for those interested, is at "No Thick
Manuals" (http://tinyurl.com/26y5cs) which has helpful screen shots
and URLs for retrieving the programs in question.
The caveat I'd add is the same as that I reiterate regarding cheap
glossaries and dictionaries: one ought not to suppose that
acquisition of one, two, or three or four glosses for a Greek word
can bring anyone mastery of that word; there's no substitute, when it
comes to more important words, for STUDYING the entry in an
unabridged lexicon and reviewing carefully the exemplary citations
for variant usages there (and of course, there's no dictionary that
is wholly free from errors or dubious judgments.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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