[B-Greek] Picture Flashcards

Randall Buth randallbuth at gmail.com
Mon Mar 28 03:39:09 EDT 2011


egrapse Tony
> I'm looking for a set of vocabulary flashcards that use pictures to
> define the nouns and verbs.  My goal is to avoid the mental Greek
> to English translation.  Instead, I want to a picture of a boat on
> one side and the Greek word for boat on the other.  I suppose this
> isn't perfect, but I'm hoping this will aid with internalization by not
> introducing an "intermediary" (i.e., English).
> The only picture flashcards for ancient Greek I've been able to find
> are those produced by Lyle Story.  The problem is that they use
> a mnemonic system which is tied to the Erasmian pronunciation
> scheme.  The cards need not be limited of NT vocabulary.
> In fact, a broader vocabulary is preferred. I'm also not opposed
> to electronic flashcards that can be used with a computer or
> smartphone.

Thank you for this. Pictures for many concrete things work well.
Some items require sequences or multiexposures in order to
communicate. What we've found to be most effective are pictures
connected to audio sentences in context. This is like the Learnables
of Harris Winitz for modern languages and can be seen in Living
Koine Greek, Part One, with a 1000 pictures.

The note about mnemonics is only part of the picture. It occasionally
becomes necessary in learning a particular language to deal with
a particular word that becomes a 'nemesis' for some reason for
some learner. Then a mnemonic or any experience that can fix it
in place can help.

However, in general, mnemonics are not a good idea
in language learning. They wire a word through an artificial
and distracting channel before trying to it into the 'mesh'
that is becoming the new internalized language. Mnemonics may
help someone pass a test about metalanguage or to remember a
list of 50 random items, but they are not what language users
want rattling around in their brains. So an Erasmian pronunciation
is only one of the problems to avoid. One does not want any
sound sequence solidly linked to a false meaning.

On the necessity of learning in context:
It's hard enough for those learning English to distinguish
'to oversee' from 'an oversight' without first linking a word strongly
into its natural context. Words are best learned in a meaningful
context and then they can be remembered correctly and even
kept apart, like 'to oversee' and 'an oversight'.
(Can you feel the insulation in your brain spaghetti that keeps
those two words from melting down? I apologize for connecting
them in this post!)






-- 
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicallanguagecenter.com
Biblical Language Center
Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life



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