Flash! Pro Vocabulary Memorization Software

Download now (free 30-day trial for new users) or update (for current users). February 6, 2004.

Flash! Pro XP Vocabulary Software

Includes:

• Greek
  • complete NT vocabulary list, selectable by passage and frequency
  • keyed to Mounce, Dobson, Metzger, JACT
• Hebrew/Aramaic
  • complete biblical vocabulary, selectable by passage and frequency
  • complete Qumran vocabulary, selectable by reference and frequency
  • keyed to Seow(1^st and 2^nd), Greenspahn, Johns
  • Modern Hebrew
• Latin keyed to Wheelock, Collins
• German
• French
• Sanskrit (9000 words!)
• ANE Chronology

• And more!

1. What is Flash! Pro?
2. What Makes Flash! Pro Stand Out?
3. Screen shots
4. Download Flash! Pro
5. Registration
6. Join the Flash! Pro Fans support group
7. Flash! Lite

8. Contact the author

What is Flash! Pro?

Vocabulary memorization flashcard software for any language or subject.

Flash! Pro tests vocabulary like Flashworks and Memcards: by showing the foreign-language word, then showing the English word, and asking whether you got it right or not, and keeping track of your answers.

What Makes Flash! Pro Stand Out?

Features

• The best part about Flash! Pro: The degree of flexibility with which you can specify which card you want to drill.
• For example, I can specify that I want to drill all words which occur in Acts 1:1 to 5:42 with a frequency of over 10x which I have not got right in the last week except those cards which I have got right more than 90% of the time.
• Or, say you're preparing for a translation quiz on the book of James, but you're only responsible for words which occur over 30x. You can get it bring up all and only those words, and concentrate on those words you're having the most trouble memorizing.
• Edit cards or create your own
• Create quizzes and printed cards by exporting to HTML, which can be opened by your word processor.

• Generate custom “Reader’s Lexicon” files like Kubo and A-B-C.

Consider three ways to learn vocabulary:

1. Make paper flash cards
   Write the word to be learned on one side, and the English glosses on the reverse. Tedious and time-consuming, this method can be appropriate for introductory students if premade vocabulary lists are available (e.g., in a textbook).
   Pros: portable; writing the cards can help memory.
   Cons: English glosses can be misleading (does ἐκκλησια mean a church building?); much time is wasted reviewing cards one already knows.
2. Read primary texts, looking up words in the lexicon as needed
   This method tends to be used by more advanced students and scholars. Vocabulary lists are generally not available for specific passages, but tools like Kubo for the New Testament and ABC for the Hebrew Bible can be helpful.
   Pros: a word’s range of meaning becomes apparent
   Cons: a word “learned” this way is not likely to stick in one’s memory unless somehow reinforced. The lexicon work can be time consuming and interrupt the flow of the reading, impairing the literary and rhetorical force of the text.

3. A combination approach: memorize the basic glosses of the words in the primary text, then read the passage smoothly, adjusting one’s understanding of the words to the context.
   Pros: the flow of the reading is maintained, permitting the literary and rhetorical force of the text to be seen. The reading is enjoyable rather than frustrating!

Flash! Pro’s three outstanding database features

Most computer vocabulary learning programs imitate the first method of learning vocabulary, improving on it by removing some of the tedious tasks by making the cards virtual rather than physical. A card front (the foreign language word) is displayed on the screen, the user tries to remember what the English gloss is, then presses a button, and the English gloss is displayed. The user presses a button to tell the software whether they guessed right or not. Flash! Pro is built on this same model, of course, but does far more as well.

What makes Flash! Pro stand out above other computer vocabulary programs? It also facilitates the best of the above-mentioned methods (the last), through its unique vocabulary databases. The databases for the New Testament, Hebrew Bible, and Qumran non-biblical texts have three features that make this third method possible. They are:

1. Complete
   Every word in the primary texts is included, right down to the hapax legomena.
2. Selectable by passage
   One can easily choose to learn only those words that occur in the passage to be read.

3. Keyed to frequency
   One can concentrate on the most common words in the corpus, learning them first before moving on to the rarer words.

Flash! Pro’s three outstanding application features

Flash! Pro complements the above database features with unparalleled power and flexibility in the application itself:

1. HTML
   One can edit the cards in the database with any HTML formatting codes. In other words, anything that can be displayed on a web page can be displayed on a card front or back. One can use bold, italics, fonts, sizes, tables, graphics, even sound!
2. SQL
   One can select the cards to memorize by any standard database (SQL) search expression, on any field in the database. For example, Flash! Pro keeps track of when you last got a card right, wrong, and how many times

3. Timed Review
   For example, Flash! Pro databases come with a pre-defined SQL expression to identify which cards one has been having most trouble with -- which cards one is most likely to forget next. This expression will select for drilling those cards that have not been answered correctly for a period of time longer than the time between the last time right and the last time wrong. Sound complex? Maybe. But one needn’t understand how it works to take advantage of its power. It is extremely effective and efficient, and simple to use!

Flash! Pro meets the needs of three types of users:

1. Students
   Flash! Pro more than meets the needs of students of introductory Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, French, and German. Many of the vocabulary databases for these languages are keyed to standard textbooks such as Mounce, Seow, and Wheelock, so that one can concentrate on one lesson at a time. For textbooks not already supported, users can arrange the cards into their own “bundles” to match their vocabulary lists.
   More advanced students are often tested by translation quizzes on specific passages. For example, for the PhD Greek requirement at McMaster, every two weeks we were tested on our ability to translate several chapters of Acts. How easy it is to tell Flash! Pro to make a bundle of all 485 words in Acts 1-3, and drill me on the 143 words in that bundle I do not already know, beginning with the most common words, working down towards rare words, all the way to the hapax legomena. By the end of one semester I had learned all 2000 words in the book of Acts.
   Similarly, in preparation for a French examination one summer, for three weeks I used Flash! Pro to learn 1346 words, spending only an hour and a half each day. That’s one minute per word! At this rate a typical student using Mounce’s textbook would spend less than 15 minutes per week on vocabulary!
2. Pastors
   Flash! Pro is often used to prepare sermons on specific biblical passages. The preacher uses Flash! Pro to memorize the vocabulary of the passage before turning to the original text to read it with relative ease. Without the distraction of flipping to a lexicon every time an unfamiliar word is encountered, the preacher can gain a better sense of the passage’s coherence and logical or narrative flow. The preacher will be more attuned to possible aesthetic or literary devices present in the text, facilitating a more comprehensive understanding of the text. Flash! Pro is not of course meant to replace in-depth lexical work, but it helps the preacher identify which words do merit further investigation.

3. Scholars
   As is the case for preachers, scholars too can benefit from less a tedious reading experience. Even those of us who prefer to read the scriptures in their original languuges (for whatever purpose) do not remember every Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic word in the Bible. And most of us like to keep up our vocabulary over the years. Flash! Pro can keep track of those words we need to refresh the most, and bring them up for us at the right time.

Screen Shots

Download Flash! Pro

Full installation package (10.5MB)

Update (unZIP this file, replacing your current FlashProXP.EXE) (182KB)

Registration

When you run Flash! Pro for the first time, a welcome screen will inform you that your copy is unregistered:

For a free 30-day trial, email me the serial number displayed on your welcome screen, and I will send you a corresponding temporary license code with expiry date. When you are ready to register, send me (pennerkm@mcmaster.ca) your serial number along with your $50 payment through http://www.paypal.com, and I will send you your License Code which will enable the program.

Flash! Pro can also be rented for $5/ month. Again, send me your Serial Number and Date you would like your license to expire, and I will send you the appropriate License Code.

Email me for details.

Join the Flash! Pro Fans e-group

Download updates, bug fixes, share databases with other users, get your questions answered, tips, tricks, and more!

Click to subscribe to Flash! Pro mailing list

OR

Flash! Lite

For Windows 3.1; Greek New Testament words occuring more than 10 times.

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