At this time of year we at Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne are blessed to have new Greek students. These “Greekies” have a big task in front of them: by the end of the summer, learn all Greek grammar and vocabulary needed for reading the Greek New Testament. It is our “theological boot camp,” and it requires memorizing a huge amount of data.
How to do it? Some students try to memorize by rote repetition:
repeating and reviewing over and over until it sinks in (or doesn’t!).
But there is a better way. You need tricks to make this easier.
By using memory tricks, you will learn the content faster, which means you can
learn more of it in the same amount of time. This will reduce stress and make
your skills better, which will lead to you being a better student and
theologian.
You have to be able to see each word in your mind visually. My
tricks are as follows.
1. Word substitution. Substitute English words you know and can
see for Greek words that you don’t know. For example, ἡ κεφαλή (he kephale,
meaning “the head”) sounds like “coffee latte.” So there you’ve made a word
substitution.
2. The Link. To link two concepts together, you have to form a
very visual, memorable picture in your mind that includes both of them. For
example, picture an enormous glass of coffee latte balancing on your head. Now
you have an easy way to remember that ἡ κεφαλή
means "the head." As for the fact that it’s a feminine noun, try making the
coffee cup a bright pink in your picture.
3. A visual Greek alphabet. Sometimes you have to memorize word
endings, and the differences come down to single letters. Here you can make a
mental picture for each letter of the Greek alphabet. Here’s what I use. Some
of them might not work for you; feel free to make your own. (The same thing can
be done for the English alphabet, too!)
Greek Alphabet
α - Alpha Romeo
(car)
β - Beta
carotene (carrot)
γ - Gamma rays
(Hulk)
δ - Delta
airlines
ε - Pepsi
ζ - Zeta
scanner (in the library)
η - Ate
θ - Thesis
ι - Yoda
κ - Cap
λ - Lamb
μ - Moo (cow)
ν - News
ξ - Excite
ο - Oh my
crayon
π - Pie
ρ - Row
σ - Sick ma
τ - Taoism
(yin-yang symbol)
υ - Up salon
φ - Wi-Fi
χ - Chi (Dr.
Strange's mentor, using chi power)
ψ - Sci-fi
ω - Make-up
4. Numeral sounds and picture. Finally, there are times when you’ll
need to memorize a number. You do this by changing each numeral 0-9 into a
specific consonant sound. Then you can make words out of the numbers. This
website explains how it works.
God’s blessings as you use these tricks to learn New Testament
Greek!
