My recent Boulders2Bits contest asked readers to submit suggestions for vocabulary resources. Here’s the second (of two) posts giving an annotated list of the suggestions (Part One can be found here). I’m apologizing up front for all the screen captures. I know it makes the post look cluttered, but I think it helps to visualize the programs.
My recent Boulders2Bits contest asked readers to submit suggestions for vocabulary resources. Here’s the first (of two) posts giving an annotated list of the suggestions.
I have used this program in conjunction with Landes: Building Your Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary Learning Words by Frequency and Cognate: http://home.earthlink.net/~vikn/hebrew.htm These two resources work well together.
Here’s my entry: http://home.earthlink.net/~vikn/hebrew.htm
It does Hebrew and Greek, has options for flashcards, multiple-choice, fill in the blank, or a combo of those. And the kicker? Totally free!
I like this resource and will continue to use it. It has a very easy user interface, well organized word lists (for beginner through advanced based on word category and frequency), and a variety of tools (drill, flashcards, quiz).
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No, not The International Workshop on Biometrics,Technology and Personalized Medicine (BT2009).
Or even, Microsoft’s BizTalk Server 2009 (also BT2009).
Rather, I’m talking about the conference being hosted by the good folks at GIAL (Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics) and SIL in Dallas: Bible Translation 2009. This semi-annual (in the US; held in the UK on the alternate years) conference that brings the international translation community together for information, inspiration, and interaction.
The conference begins next Friday, October 16th and ends with a banquet on Tuesday, October 20th.
This year the conference theme is: Bible Translation in Context
Sub-themes which will be discussed in 48 papers are:
I’ll be attending (and hopefully blogging some of the content). Anyone else attending?
Dr. Chris Heard (of Higgaion) reports on the Accordance training seminar that he attended this week at the Master’s Seminary: Session 1, Session 2, Session 3 and Session 4.
His comments about Session 3 just explain that they covered language searches (which he already knew how to do, so he didn’t take notes). But Session 1 has a few good tidbits and Session 2 talks about fuzzy searches. Session 4 focused on reference tools, the atlas, timeline, and user tools.
I especially like some of the keyboard shortcuts (highlighted in Session 1) that I didn’t know about (or had forgotten) and the very cool ability to…
point to a word in a tagged text and then press the Shift key, the content of the Instant Details window will freeze and a new icon on the Instant Details window will light up. Clicking on that icon copies that data to the system clipboard. If you point to a word in a tagged text and then press the [Command] key, the Instant Details box will display the full entry from the topmost relevant tool.
Check out all the parts of his summary. But don’t forget there are many support videos online at Accordance too. I talk about them here, on my post “Accordance 101.”
And in case you missed it, Higgaion has a podcast now. Be sure to listen and subscribe.
Fred Putnam (who is currently on faculty at Philadelphia Biblical University) is one of the most energetic teachers I have ever known. I think he maintains his slender physique by the vast amount of energy exerted from his very animated (literally) teaching style. He obviously loves what he studies and teaches and that enthusiasm leaps out of him. He is also quite generous with sharing his work. Check his website www.fredputnam.org for some very beneficial resources.
For Hebrew, he has made available PDF chapters of the Hebrew textbook he has written. He also has study notes for the books of Jonah and Ruth.
Other categories of material on his site include:
* Translation & Interpretation
* Biblical Theology
* Publications
* Biblical Studies
* Fiction and Poetry
Fred is one of the most well-read people I know. His musings on literature always inspire me to add yet another book to my reading list. Oh, and he loves to play with Ankerstein blocks. What more could you ask for?
BioLogos points us to a recent TED talk by Beau Lotto: Optical illusions Show How We See
The brilliance of this talk is summed up in Beau’s comment that there is “no inherent meaning in the information” [speaking of optical information], but rather “it’s what we do with the information.”
He focuses on optical illusion examples, but also uses language. How many other aspects of our lives are similarly the interpretive skill of our brain?
James McGrath just posted his thoughts on the difference between “Deuteronomistic” and “Deuteronomic” history (and explains why he prefers Deuteronomic History) at Exploring Our Matrix.
Well, when we were in seminary, my husband* and I (and a few of our friends, whose names I have kept anonymous for their own protection…unless they want to claim their brilliance in the comments below) had some late nights studying such material which yielded the following list. We hope you won’t find them too Deuteronomiculous.
Deuteronomania: an obsession with finding deuteronomical historical references.
Deuteronomonopoeia: all the references to Babel in the Old Testament
Deuteronomaly: a deuteronomomic reference that just shouldnt be there
Deuteronomalicious: the attitude of opponents of the theory of deuteronomical history
Deuteronomono! What Saul yelled as he lept onto his own sword.
Deuterognome: little idol statues found on Israelite front lawns.
Deuterognostic: a pre-pre-pre-Christian cult; responsible for every lie in The Da Vinci Code.
Deuteronomocalifragilisticexpialidocious: If you say it loud enough, you might seem precocious!
Deuteronomalignant: that sick feeling you have the day after your OT exam when you realize you left the most obvious points about DH off your exam essay.
Deuteronomaniac: a DH geek.
Deuteronomesticated: the condition of a former Deuteronomaniac who has just lost interest, to the extent that he no longer sends daily emails to his friends with the subject line: Those Crazy Redactors, Look What Theyre Up to Now!
Deuteronomolicious! That tasty sensation of being done forever with Old Testament History and theology!
Deuteronomasia: making up plays on words based on the word Deuteronomy
DeuteronoMiss: the female redactor of the DH, who is responsible for the intriguing stories, in Judges, of women who put men to shame (Jael/Sisera; Deborah/Barak; Abimelech/that lady with the millstone; Delilah/Samson, etc).
Deuteronomystical: the ecstatic, trancelike state that a person reaches after reading 2,000 pages of OT scholarship in two weeks as preparation for the final.
Deuteronomastication: what the neighbors dog did with my OT notes the day after the final.
Deuteronomerchant: someone who makes their living writing and selling books about the DtH.
Deuteronomercenary: the soldier who takes holy war just a little too far.
Deuteronomishizzolist:South side. Holla.
I always try to do unto others as I would have them Deuternomy
Deuteronymy (1) when both authors of a work assume fictitious names (e.g., the secret Gospel of Jannes and Jambres that David Brown has yet to get his hands on) (2) The figure of speech only found in semitic languages where the dual form of one noun stands for another noun associated with it (go figure).
Deuteroewy: accidently stepping in someone else’s business.
Deuteronomiserable: Trying to remember the difference between Deuteronomic and Deuteronomistic.
Deuteronomystery: Why couldn’t they have come up with a really different word for one or the other?
Deuteronautic: the lost laws of ship-building believed to be original to the book of Deutoronomy.
Deuteronauticalist: 2 Kings laws of ship-building which forbade off-shore sacrifices, laying the basis for the later theonomic application to sanctioning riverboat gamblers by execution.
Deuteronaughty: adjective describing one who has broken Deuteronomic law. e.g., Israel was sent into exile because they had been very Deuteronaughty.
DeuteronoMac: A brand of theology that used to be available in small, medium and large sizes; now you can only get it in large, Supersize, and Megasupersize (cf. OT reading list)
DeuteronoMac (alternate version): A version of the Deuteronomic Law not as widespread as DeuteronoWindows. It did seem to function better, however, across a wide variety of contextualizations. It was even able to sychronize with the IotaPod during the hellenized 2nd Temple period.
Deuteronomasochist one who subjects himself to reading hundreds of pages of painful OT theology
Deuteronosadist one who requires said theology for reading
Deuteronomonastic -someone who spends so much time studying DH that he might as well live in a cave somewhere
Deuteronomnemonic: a cognitive tool for memorizing obscure deutoronomic facts based on catchy word play
*Many thanks to my husband, Mark Traphagen, who blogs at The League of Inveterate Poets for letting me post this silliness here.
John Hobbins has been writing some Hebrew ditties to encourage us to “internalize scripture in Hebrew.” A good challenge to us! But not to just Hebraists (although, I agree with John that more people should learn to read the Bible in the original languages). How well do we know our Bible?? This post is taken from something I wrote a few years ago (so a few of you have probably already seen it). But it seemed to fit the need.
Got your Bible? OK, quick, find the telling of the murder of Ammon (do you remember who killed him?)
Or how about an easier one, can you find the story of Samson or the story of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem?
What if your pastor said, “Find the place where it is said: ‘As for my sacrifical offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; and they shall return to Egypt. For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds.’ ”
What, you say, you need the chapter and verse… or maybe even the book to find it?
Many people probably would need a good deal more time to find the stories of the Bible in this manner. Yet, we’re exceedingly swift to find book, chapter and verse of even the most obscure reference (even if we have no idea what it means or what the context is). So how did we become such excellent librarians (able to quickly find information) instead of people of the book (who know the chain of stories that link together our redemptive history)? For centuries students of the scriptures had to be able to locate a passage on a scroll without seeing anything but blocks and blocks of text; when did we lose that skill?
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Need something to keep the ol’ Hebrew grammar exciting?
Show this animation: Shewa Fight by Chris Huff!
Note: I could not embed his flash video.
The links lead to his website, just click the “play” button there.
The objective of the video is to show (dramatically) that when two shewas are found at the beginning of a word, the first shewa becomes a hireq.
Just about now, Hebrew students start to complain that Hebrew is so hard. The vocalizations in real text don’t match up with what they memorized on their vocabulary cards. Hebrew just doesn’t “behave” right. So, I give them a little context. I tell them, “If you think Hebrew is hard… try ENGLISH!!”
When they complain about difficulty in pronouncing Hebrew correctly because “the words aren’t following the rules,” I write this on the board:
Cough; Through; Bough; Though; Rough; Bought
(now, think how a non-native English speaker looks at this!)
Then I give them this list:
21 Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn
(I really don’t know the originator of this list, but if you do, please let me know!)
1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?