Greek, Classical Vocabulary Cards: Academic Study Card Set (Greek Edition) [Cards]

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1556370083 | ISBN-13: 978-1556370083 | Publication Date: October 1, 1997 | Edition: Crds Blg

Word selection for these 1000 cards resulted from a study of the vocabularies from Attic Prose Greek college texts words, from Homeric Poems, and from the great classical Attic Dramas. This set serves both beginning and advancing students of Classical Greek. Format: 1000 cards Size: 3 1/2 x 1 1/2 Publisher: Visual Education Assn. ISBN: 9781556370083

Product Details

• Cards: 1000 pages
• Publisher: Visual Education Assn; Crds Blg edition (October 1, 1997)
• Language: Greek
• ISBN-10: 1556370083
• ISBN-13: 978-1556370083
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 3.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #340,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > More Languages > Greek
  • #42 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Greek > Instruction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

101 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a book, but a well-honed tool for a specific job, April 10, 2000

By 

Bruce A. McMenomy (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Greek, Classical Vocabulary Cards: Academic Study Card Set (Greek Edition) (Cards)

The Vis-Ed card set for Classical Greek is one of the better entries in this series of study helps, which has become something of a fixture on college campuses.

The Classical Greek set concentrates on the core vocabulary for the student of Attic Greek (Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.) in a lexically standard form. A separate set is available for Biblical Greek vocabulary; students of Homeric Greek should refer instead to Owen and Goodspeed's Homeric Vocabularies, which will provide the best return for the effort there. This is only an intermediate step, of course, to the mastery of a vocabulary large enough to cope with Aeschylus or Thucydides, or even most of Plato, but mastering a basic vocabulary makes further reading a good deal easier, and the climb is commensurately less steep.

In the Classical Vis-Ed set, verb cards give all principal parts, nouns offer genitive singular endings, and so on. Definitions appear on the reverse. English cognates and derivatives also improve the memorization process.

The total count of 1000 cards significantly under-represents the set's usefulness: in fact one can acquire a vocabulary of 3,000 words or better, since many cards cluster words that share common roots -- especially families of verbs with prepositional prefixes. Not only does this enable the student to learn more words, but it provides a stable base of comparison, where the varying forms (often confusing in their variety) may be seen and compared at one time.

Definitions of the words are pithy, as befits a flash-card treatment, but not overly so: multiple meanings are offered where it is relevant to do so.

I have recommended these cards and their Latin fellows to my Greek and Latin students for years, and they all find them as useful as I did in my own day. Another Greek set, specifically devoted to Biblical vocabulary, is not quite as good -- not because the vocabulary is somehow inferior, but because the set is not as well assembled and as complete.

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As it pertains to a standard textbook, July 8, 2006

By 

A Reader (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greek, Classical Vocabulary Cards: Academic Study Card Set (Greek Edition) (Cards)

I would agree with most of what's already been said, but I'd like to comment on the applicability of these cards to a standard text, Hansen & Quinn's _Greek, an Intensive Course_. Study-cards like these are a valuable time-saver for students taking a strenuous summer intensive course, and I've found them very helpful. However, only about 80% of the vocab introduced in H&Q is covered in these cards--so you may find yourself creating notecards anyway--granted, 80% fewer than you would have otherwise. Definitions vary slightly as well, so your instructor might be a little confused by your word-choices when translating. Some words are only introduced in fine print at the bottom of a card dedicated to another word--for instance the word for foot-soldier, "Hoplite" is introduced at the bottom of the card dedicated to the word for weapons. This makes good sense, since the words are closely related, but it also makes it difficult to target the word you want when working with the H&Q vocab. Also, to clarify some previous comments, not every verb is given with its 6 principal parts--the more "regular" verbs are printed with the first part only, and this includes many of the verbs introduced early on in H&Q, when students are in most need of rehearsing the verb-patterns.

None of this should be taken as criticism of a fine set of study-cards which were not intended as companions for H&Q, but I thought it might be worthwhile to explain how they co-function, since I imagine I'm not the only one putting them to this use.

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Clarification of Mr. McMenomy's comment, March 1, 2003

By 

Daniel Grimm "tohster" (Long Island, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Greek, Classical Vocabulary Cards: Academic Study Card Set (Greek Edition) (Cards)

Mr. McMenomy writes: "Another Greek set, specifically devoted to Biblical vocabulary, is not quite as good -- not because the vocabulary is somehow inferior, but because the set is not as well assembled and as complete."

I often wondered what he meant by the set not being quite as good; I have it now myself, and would like to clarify. The verb cards have only the first principal part, lacking the other five; all the cards lack the lists of similar Greek words (i.e. in the Classical set the card for the verb "to live" will also have the words for "life, course of life"; "life; living, sustenance"; "worth living"); and there are no English cognates and derivatives. The lack of principal parts is a serious problem; the other two are pleasantries which can be done without.

For what it's worth the noun cards do offer the genitive singular endings in addition to the nominative singular.

A good set if you like to have your Greek words printed, instead of sloppily scribbled; but if you're expecting a lot of nice extras you may be disappointed.