Basic Dictionary Skills

[Stirling Bartholomew]

20 years ago ...

More recently my nephew was doing his MDiv at Fuller Pasadena (main campus) and he had been using Accordance for years already when he enrolled. So he had a head start on languages from the perspective of mastering the computer tools. Accordance is a steep learning curve app. by comparison to the web bibles I am now working with (and working on) it is extremely complicated.

[Barry Hofstetter]

We can rant and rave about bible software, but the seminaries have made it a requirement. You can't survive without it. It is used both in the classroom and for assignments.

I have no trouble with people using it as part of their classroom experience -- they are getting at least some instruction on the language and using it properly. I have plenty of Bible software myself. The problem is with people who think that the software is a substitute for real learning, the same people who a few years ago thought Strong's Concordance and an interlinear (ach! ptooey!) were the same as learning the language...

[Stephen Carlson]

When I taught Greek at Duke, I and my fellow colleagues strongly admonished the students not to use Bible software until they are done with the course. Don't know how many students actually went along with the advice.

[Stephen Hughes]

he had been using Accordance for years already when he enrolled. So he had a head start on languages from the perspective of mastering the computer tools. Accordance is a steep learning curve app. by comparison to the web bibles I am now working with (and working on) it is extremely complicated.

I get the learning curve stuff. I have tried to use Bible software a few times but found it too difficult.

As for texts, I used to type out Greek texts on a type-writer, and then - after computers became popular capable of handling Greek - into a computer from books. I scanned an edited (Theocritus) once too, but that took longer and was less accurate than typing. When the TLG came along, I could copy and paste sections of texts from Museius. Now that we have the internet, searching for texts is easier and cutting and pasting is easier too. I prefer copying and pasting to typing because there are less errors.

[Barry Hofstetter]

he had been using Accordance for years already when he enrolled. So he had a head start on languages from the perspective of mastering the computer tools. Accordance is a steep learning curve app. by comparison to the web bibles I am now working with (and working on) it is extremely complicated.

I get the learning curve stuff. I have tried to use Bible software a few times but found it too difficult.

As for texts, I used to type out Greek texts on a type-writer, and then - after computers became popular capable of handling Greek - into a computer from books. I scanned an edited (Theocritus) once too, but that took longer and was less accurate than typing. When the TLG came along, I could copy and paste sections of texts from Museius. Now that we have the internet, searching for texts is easier and cutting and pasting is easier too. I prefer copying and pasting to typing because there are less errors.

But what if there's an error in the the original? This could start a whole new round of text criticism for the 21st century!

[cwconrad]

he had been using Accordance for years already when he enrolled. So he had a head start on languages from the perspective of mastering the computer tools. Accordance is a steep learning curve app. by comparison to the web bibles I am now working with (and working on) it is extremely complicated.

I get the learning curve stuff. I have tried to use Bible software a few times but found it too difficult.

As for texts, I used to type out Greek texts on a type-writer, and then - after computers became popular capable of handling Greek - into a computer from books. I scanned an edited (Theocritus) once too, but that took longer and was less accurate than typing. When the TLG came along, I could copy and paste sections of texts from Museius. Now that we have the internet, searching for texts is easier and cutting and pasting is easier too. I prefer copying and pasting to typing because there are less errors.

But what if there's an error in the the original? This could start a whole new round of text criticism for the 21st century!

Quis custodiet ipsos/custodes?

Gee, it's a good thing that we always proofread our messages before we dispatch them!

[Stephen Hughes]

As for texts, I used to type out Greek texts on a type-writer, and then - after computers became popular capable of handling Greek - into a computer from books. I scanned an edited (Theocritus) once too, but that took longer and was less accurate than typing. When the TLG came along, I could copy and paste sections of texts from Museius. Now that we have the internet, searching for texts is easier and cutting and pasting is easier too. I prefer copying and pasting to typing because there are less errors.

But what if there's an error in the the original? This could start a whole new round of text criticism for the 21st century!

Quis custodiet ipsos/custodes?

Gee, it's a good thing that we always proofread our messages before we dispatch them!

Not to worry. For those who don't proofread well and whose "original" may have "conceived", "concieved" and "conceeft" all within 8 verses, we can sweep that under the scholarly carpet with the concept of the "Ausgangs-text".

[David Lim]

But what if there's an error in the the original? This could start a whole new round of text criticism for the 21st century!

Have you seen the error in one of the most common electronic versions of the ASV at Rom 3:5 (http://www.crosswire.org/study/passages ... m%203:5#cv)? Although it's the internet, it's not so easy to find a corrected transcription! If people had discarded the printed copies after transferring them into electronic format, we would have the same problem all over again...