A blog / biblioblog by New Testament scholar Danny Zacharias. It includes his musings on whatever he is musing about.
ParseGreek 2.0 is Here!
My very first mobile app many years ago was ParseGreek. Since then it has enjoyed a lot of success on the iOS app store.
My very first mobile app many years ago was ParseGreek. Since then it has enjoyed a lot of success on the iOS and Android app stores. A few imitators have come along since its initial release, but ParseGreek remains the best and most comprehensive quizzing app. .
I’m now happy to announce that ParseGreek 2.0 has been officially released on the iOS AppStore and Google Play app store. Here are a couple of things to look forward to in this latest version:
Free Upgrade!
FlashGreek was an entire rewrite of the app in native code. What this means is faster performance. But I wasn’t about to charge existing users more for the upgrade.
ParseGreek LITE lets you try before you buy, and upgrade to the full version in the app
Try Before you Buy!
Previous users know that I had a ParseGreek LITE version which contained all of the bells and whistles, but limits the quiz sizes. The LITE version has also been fully updated, with the bonus that people can now update in-app.
Refreshed User Interface
Users will notice right away the refreshed look to the app. In addition to the new icons, the layout is more intuitive and not as dark as the previous versions.
Compatible with Constantine Campbell's Reading Biblical Greek
Constantine Campbell has a great introductory Greek textbook, and now users of that text can quiz themselves with ParseGreek.
Compatible with my Biblical Greek Made Simple
And of course I couldn’t leave out my own Greek textbook that was released!
Further Tailor Your Quiz
A feature frequently requested is the ability to exclude words that have been answered correctly often by the user. One of the new features allows for the exclusion of words that have been answered correctly a set number of times.
There are a few other goodies, but these are the main things. Please help me spread the word!
Biblical Greek Made Simple Online Course
On the heals of the release of Biblical Greek Made Simple, I’m happy to announce that my online Greek course has been fully revamped to complement the textbook.
On the heels of the release of Biblical Greek Made Simple, I’m happy to announce that my online Greek course has been fully revamped to complement the textbook. This video course is ideal for self-learners or those who want to shake the dust off of their Greek skills. The course contains over 12 hours of video instruction from yours truly, as well as handy access to many of the additional components I have created for the textbook. This includes vocabulary flashcard resources, additional learning videos from my YouTube channel, and study flashcards for each chapter. Also included is a PDF of the learning activities for those who would prefer not to write in their textbook, as well as an answer key which is on its way!
I hope to see you in the course!
FlashGreek 2.0 is Here!
Many years ago I unleashed FlashGreek into the world. Since then it has enjoyed a lot of success on the iOS app store. As the only multimedia flashcard app out there, it continues to be a go-to for many students
Many years ago I unleashed FlashGreek into the world. Since then it has enjoyed a lot of success on the iOS app store. As the only multimedia flashcard app out there, it continues to be a go-to for many students learning New Testament Greek, with great ratings and reviews.
I’m now happy to announce that FlashGreek 2.0 has been officially released on the iOS AppStore, with a new Android version to come sometime in the first quarter of 2019. Here are a couple of things to look forward to in this latest version:
Free Upgrade!
FlashGreek was an entire rewrite of the app in native code. What this means is faster performance. But I wasn’t about to charge existing users more for the upgrade.
FlashGreek LITE lets you try before you buy, and upgrade to the PRO version, or just unlock vocabulary for individual texts
Try Before you Buy!
Previous users know that I had a FlashGreek PRO version which contained all of the bells and whistles, and versions tailored to specific intro Greek grammars. Going forward there are only 3 versions of FlashGreek:
FlashGreek PRO which contains all features and is compatible with all 12 compatible grammars
FlashGreek LITE allows you to try the app before making the choice to purchase, allowing you to upgrade to the PRO version, or unlock the vocabulary for a compatible textbook (see the list of 12 grammars on the FlashGreek page)
FlashGreek: Mounce edition which contains only the vocabulary for Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek
Refreshed User Interface
Users will notice right away the refreshed look to the app. In addition to the new icons, the layout is more intuitive and not as dark as the previous versions.
Compatible with Constantine Campbell's Reading Biblical Greek
Constantine Campbell has a great introductory Greek textbook, and now users of that text can study their vocabulary in FlashGreek.
Compatible with Köstenberger, Merkle, and Plummer's Going Deeper with New Testament Greek
A wonderful new addition to the intermediate grammars available is Köstenberger, Merkle, and Plummer's Going Deeper with New Testament Greek. Users of FlashGreek PRO can now continue to use the app as they move into intermediate studies.
Compatible with my Biblical Greek Made Simple
And of course I couldn’t leave out my own Greek textbook that was just recently released!
Further Tailor Your Quiz, and Study While Driving
A feature frequently requested is the ability to exclude words that have been answered correctly often by the user. One of the new features allows for the exclusion of words that have been answered correctly a set number of times.
Slideshow mode has always been part of FlashGreek, but can now be turned on loop, enabling you to study while on commute by using the audio to play through.
There are a few other goodies, but these are the main things. Please help me spread the word!
Biblical Greek Made Simple is Here!
I’m so happy to announce that the latest introductory Greek grammar has now arrived and is ready for purchase, and I wrote it!
PURCHASE ON AMAZON, LEXHAM PRESS, OR LOGOS
I’m so happy to announce that the latest introductory Greek grammar has now arrived and is ready for purchase, and I wrote it!
I am beyond thrilled with how Biblical Greek Made Simple: all the basics in one semester has turned out. It is beautifully bound in hard cover and the layout is superb, Lexham Press has done a stellar job. One of the things that I insisted on was colored fonts in the presentation of paradigms and morphological tags, and Lexham thankfully obliged. The result is, I humbly think, the best looking Greek textbook there is!
Beyond the beauty, it has brains too. The textbook was born out of the need to move to a single semester of introductory Greek many years ago. During that time of change, I decided that, rather than urge students away from Bible software use as is so often done in introductory Greek, I would fully embrace it in this grammar. The result is a textbook that teaches all of the basics of Greek while integrating that knowledge through use of Logos Bible Software. Every chapter ends with learning activities that drill in the essentials of grammar and integrate the learning of Logos Bible Software to make use of it for Greek study.
The textbook’s eleven chapters also makes use of multimedia resources and other resources to help students learn. This includes links to my Singing Grammarian videos, other videos I have created for grammar learning, and online quizzes to reinforce grammatical concepts. You will also be happy to know that the both FlashGreek and ParseGreek are compatible with the textbook.
Finally, I am so happy that the textbook is available within Logos for those who prefer a digital version. What I love about the digital version is that the learning activities can be done right inside of Logos, and all of the links are live and ready to click.
Please join my in celebrating by ordering a box of books and handing them out to your family and friends! And Christmas is coming soon – this is the ultimate stocking stuffer! To read a little more about the text, including the book blurbs, see the book’s page here.
Finally if you would like to hear me ramble on even more about the text, listen to this podcast interview at the Exegetical Tools.
iGreek Reborn! The latest update to my Greek reference app
Many moons ago I created a reference app for iPhone called iGrεεk. The goal was to provide the Greek student with a handy reference to their Greek paradigms and other relevant information, without having to carry around their introductory Greek textbook.
Many moons ago I created a reference app for iPhone called iGrεεk. The goal was to provide the Greek student with a handy reference to their Greek paradigms and other relevant information, without having to carry around their introductory Greek textbook.
Unfortunately, I did not keep iGreek up to date. This wasn't due to negligence on my part. It was, rather, because the software I used to create the app was discontinued. Fortunately, iGreek kept functioning well as the iOS was updated. Then iOS 11 finally broke iGreek.
I received a number of emails asking if iGreek would be updated for iOS 11. This was the pressure I needed to look to updating the app.
I am very happy with the result and hope that current users and future users will be too. In addition to an updated user interface, iGreek is now universal, running on iPhone and iPad and available on Android devices too. With this update also comes the addition of some material on Greek discourse, and the addition of the Singing Grammarian videos.
Please take a minute to see my page on iGrεεk to see if it might suit your needs! And for those of you who previously purchased iGreek (and perhaps deleted it off of your phone because of iOS 11) I hope you are happy with the update!
What You Can Do To Prepare For Your First Year Of Greek or Hebrew Study
I have taught introductory Greek for seven years now, and every year without fail I am asked via email at least once how a student can prepare beforehand. I thought it was about time I made the answer to that question a blog post so that I can point future students to my thoughts, and hopefully help many other students out there who may be asking the same question.
I have taught introductory Greek for seven years now, and every year without fail I am asked via email at least once how a student can prepare beforehand. I thought it was about time I made the answer to that question a blog post so that I can point future students to my thoughts, and hopefully help many other students out there who may be asking the same question. So, without further ado, here are things you can do to prepare for your first year of Biblical Greek or Biblical Hebrew.
1. Get refreshed on English Grammar
Quite consistently the students who have the least amount of trouble with learning Greek grammar are students for whom English is a second language. This is because they have learned how English grammar works, so discussions about verbs, nouns, adjectives, dependent clauses, etc., is somewhat fresh in their minds. But native English speakers don't dissect their language as the speak and listen to it, they just do it. A lot of time in your introductory Greek and Hebrew courses will be spent referencing and comparing English grammar, and because grade school teaching of grammar is not up to par, new students are often relearning English grammar AND learning the new grammar of Greek or Hebrew at the same time. To reacquaint yourself with English grammar, I recommend a site like englishgrammar101.com.
If you are continuing to struggle with the grammar during your course, I also recommend some nice companion books. These books are short and connect Greek and Hebrew grammatical concepts with English grammar. The books are English Grammar to Ace New Testament Greek and English Grammar to Ace Biblical Hebrew.
2. Get an Overview of How Languages (particularly Biblical Languages) Work
Much like the previous point, students in grade school don't learn much about how languages actually work and why they work that way. Part of understanding how language works is learning some new terminology like "morphology," "phonology," "dialects," etc. Luckily, there is a great book for students who are preparing to study Hebrew and Greek called How Biblical Languages Work. I recommend picking this book up a month prior to starting your first course and read it through. This will be a heavy read for some students, but heavy reading will prepare you for the heavy work that is involved in learning these languages.
3. Get Your Textbook Early and Read (at least) the Introductory Chapters
Because introductory Greek and Hebrew courses have a lot of ground to cover, these courses hit the ground running. You will have assigned homework right in that first week. Too many students get hamstrung by not having the book when the class begins. Have it with you that first day and have at least the introductory chapter read. Even more ideal is reading the first chapter or two.
4. Get the Alphabet Down & Begin Pronouncing Words
Getting your feet wet prior to the course is a good idea, as the scary-factor that hits some students in that first class will be something that you are already passed if you took the time to learn the alphabet and started pronouncing words on your own. I of course recommend my YouTube videos for learning the Greek and Hebrew alphabet.
After that, start working on pronouncing some words. For this, I heartily recommend Logos Bible Software's modules for the Greek and Hebrew pronunciations. You can also practice reading along with some native readers. Again, Logos has a Greek audio Bible, or you can use a resource like Jonathan Pennington's Readings in the Greek New Testament. You can find readings of the Hebrew Bible here. (Would love to see a Hebrew audio Bible in Logos sometime Faithlife!)
5. App it Up!
While I confess that this is a shameless plug for my Greek apps FlashGreek and ParseGreek, I created these apps precisely because mobile devices are so prevalent and we spend so much time on them. FlashGreek will help you learn all that new vocabulary using a multimedia approach. There is no other app like it. ParseGreek drills you on parsing, something you will be doing a lot of in Greek. And if you happen to not have a mobile device. I do have some other Flashcard options for Greek, and you can check out the desktop app Paradigms Master Pro.
For Hebrew, there is also several flashcard apps, though I confess that I am not familiar with them. As you check them out, make sure that they are compatible with the grammar you are using.
So there is my list! Do you teach Greek or Hebrew and answer this question too? Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments!
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A Big Update for ParseGreek is in the Works! Here is What You Can Expect
Today marks the three year anniversary since the release of my first App ParseGreek for iOS. I followed it up later with the Android release, and followed later by FlashGreek. I've been so pleased with how it was received and continues to be received. It currently has 14 five★ rating on the Android store (average is 4.2), and 14 five★ reviews on iTunes (average 4.5).
Today marks the three year anniversary since the release of my first App ParseGreek for iOS. I followed it up later with the Android release, and followed later by FlashGreek. I've been so pleased with how it was received and continues to be received. It currently has 14 five★ rating on the Android store (average is 4.2), and 14 five★ reviews on iTunes (average 4.5).
ParseGreek is near and dear to my heart because it was my first foray into being an entrepreneur, and combining two of my skill sets: Biblical studies and Technology. I've learned a lot of things along the way and will continue to do so. And it has certainly helped that ParseGreek has created another small stream of income for me and my family.
ParseGreek will continue to move forward and with this blog post I'm happy to announce that version 2 of ParseGreek is actively being worked on as we speak. In addition to telling you about some of the new things that are in the pipeline, as well as the new interface, I would also invite any of you to put in the comments any questions, critiques, or update requests that you would like to see in ParseGreek's future.
The Set Up Screen
ParseGreek's current setup screen is functional, but pretty ugly :-) Version 2 of ParseGreek will have a revamped, multipage setup screen for users:
As you can see, a single page has turned into 3 pages that can quickly be swiped through (image 2 and 3 above would be the second page, depending on the choice you make on page 1). At the bottom of each page is a "default" check box. So, if you are always studying be frequency, checking that as the default means the startup of the app will bring you to page 2 rather than page 1. I am also considering right now including a few more full set words (like λυω and the article on page 2 of the setup). If I do this, I will choose full paradigms of some of the highest frequency words. If you have some thoughts on this, I am eager to hear about them in the comments below.
Page 3 is where some new features will also be added. Currently, word types can be narrowed down to one of five options. I have added a sixth option (pronouns), and we will add the ability to choose multiple options.
One of the most frequent suggestions (for both ParseGreek and FlashGreek) is having the ability to effectively ignore words that you always get correct. The next version of ParseGreek will keep a count of how often words have been answered correctly. You can then use this information to tailor your quiz. So you will be able to tell ParseGreek "don't include words I've answered correctly 5 times."
Finally, in the new set up screen you will also be able to restrict the quiz to a certain number of test words. Another frequent gripe was that the quizzes could end up being too massive to actually finish. This will allow you to make smaller random quizzes of, say, only 25 words — even if the previous criteria you chose resulted in 75 words.
The Quiz Screen
After talking with some designer friends and getting some crowd-sourced twitter feedback, I'm very happy with the new look of the ParseGreek quiz screen. Here are 3 shots (participle example, verb example, noun example).
As you can see, ParseGreek will have a new look and color scheme. It still has the same feel, but I've moved several things around to give even more space for larger buttons. A few of the changes above are:
- The correct/incorrect count is now in the top right corner
- The hint button is now a direct tap on the word itself
- The space for the word definition is now the entire bottom left corner
- The Check and the Next buttons are now a combined single button that is larger.
So that's it! My baby is growing up and continuing to evolve. Thanks to all of you who have purchased and made use of ParseGreek. If you have any other suggestions or feedback on what you've read in this post, or anything else you'd like to see in ParseGreek, let it fly in the comments!
The Singing Grammarian is Now FREE!!
Chances are that if you've visited my site, and definitely if you've been my student, you know about my Singing Grammarian publication. In case you don't know about it, the Singing Grammarian is 18 songs and visual presentations for learning New Testament Greek.
Chances are that if you've visited my site, and definitely if you've been my student, you know about my Singing Grammarian publication. In case you don't know about it, the Singing Grammarian is 18 songs and visual presentations for learning New Testament Greek.
I'm happy to announce that as of today the whole collection is now entirely free on YouTube!
I had originally published this product with Kregel Academic publisher, which is a great publisher and who were a pleasure to work with.
However – I just wasn't happy with the distribution. I, and my friend Michael Fredericks, put a ton of work into this project, and I created it first and foremost to help students. So I made the decision to terminate the contract with Kregel.
So as of now, all 18 songs are entirely free on Youtube. YAY!
I've also made them available for a small fee if you would like to download HD video and audio copies of the product.
So start singing away! Check them out on Youtube or purchase them here.