How do you use Textkit?

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Jeff Tirey
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How do you use Textkit?

Post by Jeff Tirey »

Okay, i just finished a huge project and I have a bit more free time, which is good because the start of the new school year is upon us.

I want to create some Textkit marketing material that highlights the different ways visitors use Textkit's downloadable PDFs. One barrier I often encounter is the questions, "why not just buy the book?"

Me, I love the printed word too and I don't read anything lengthy on a monitor, so I certainly understand this concern.

I see how Textkit PDFs are used in a variety of ways. Some visitors simply don't have access to these books, others like to save a few bucks or like to use them as a free trial so to speak before purchasing.

So if you have a minutes, please post here how you use them. Keep your thoughts short so that I can use them down the road perhaps in a press release or information page about Textkit. Be sure to include your first name or forum username, city and country.

thanks,
jeff
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Amaranta
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Post by Amaranta »

I, too, love the printed word... But when I decided to start independent study of Latin and found this site, I thought it was too good to be true.

First of all, I use the downloadable books because it's very convenient for me. In school or out, I have regular access to a computer, and while it's perhaps not as portable as a printed book, for me it makes little difference.

But secondly and most importantly, it's free. While I admit I am financially able to purchase the books, why spend money when I can have the same thing for free? This was especially a factor early on, when I wasn't sure if I'd stick with it--I didn't want to buy a book that would sit around and gather dust forever.

-Amaranta, Milwaukee, USA

Amy
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Post by Amy »

Back when school was in session I printed out the first few pages of De Bello Gallico from your wonderful PDF with translation along and put them in my math notebook to learn Latin in class. It's not as bad as it sounds cause I wouldn't have listened to logarithm discussion anyway :)

also: I tried out some Greek also with a Textkit PDF. While I decided to concentrate on Latin & Spanish it was very helpful and I learned the Greek alphabet and the word "philia".

edit: Amy, Massachusetts USA
Last edited by Amy on Wed Aug 11, 2004 3:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Timothy
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Post by Timothy »

I use the PDF's all the time. They're handy for a dictionary lookup with a familiar layout and you can resize them to fit the screen; Perfect for those "one or two page" printouts of sections to work with on the commute or at lunch. For those that are text based you can listen to them with the Adobe text reader. It's easy to compare two or more differnet texts.


- Tim
Learning Latin forum
Baltimore, USA

Episcopus
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Post by Episcopus »

The pdf is useful on the computer as I can listen to music surf the internet talk to people whilst learning many things! And I don't become bored!

MDS
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Post by MDS »

Why I use Textkit's PDF's:

1) Convenience/Accessability: As Tim already stated they are perfect for printing off a few pages to bring to work or when commuting via public transit. I can choose to bring as much or as little with me depending on the situation, so in that way it is also more flexible than having purchased the entire book.

2) Cost = FREE, I have many many Latin texts but by using PDF's I can "preview" them and decide which I will purchase and which I'll just print off sections of. It also allows me to have fellow Classical enthusiasts browse through without feeling they are a) obligated to return the pages to me or b) marking up or otherwise defacing pages which I'll be requiring "clean copies" of later.`

3) I spend so much time on the computer (more than my eyesight can rightly take most days) so it gives me a break from that. Like you Jeff the printed word wins out every time for me.

4) By converting them to .txt format I can put them on my iPod. :D

Michelle
Kingston, Ontario, Canada

mingshey
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Post by mingshey »

I usually make a hard copy of the PDF which I want to read through ; My best reading environment is on a running bus. But they are also useful for online referencing.

Eureka
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Post by Eureka »

I actually quite like PDFs. I wouldn't want to read a novel in PDF format, but it's fine and convenient for grammatical explanations.

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Jefferson Cicero
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PDFs

Post by Jefferson Cicero »

I agree with everything said above. I use printed books for Latin and Greek grammar study because I also dont like long reading sessions on a screen.

I use the PDFs for reference, but also for reviews. When I have time, I take a textkit PDF grammar and go through it a little every morning to supplement my studies with the printed books. This reinforces what I have learned, and allows me to assess how well I have learned what I have learned and how well it is sticking with me. Sometimes things that are not clear from study in one grammar will become crystal clear when approached from a different angle in another. It would be rather expenseive and space consuming if I had to buy extra textbooks for this purpose.

The PDF readers are handy and if i want to do some extended readings I can print out as much as I want to read. The savings here is substantial to say the least. I would be able to do far less reading otherwise simply because of the cost of buying Greek and Latin readers.

Barrius
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Post by Barrius »

Jeff,

I love books, especailly old ones, but the PDF's are what got me started. I downloaded a few, printed the 1st couple of chapters, and then started studying.

Different ones appealed to me, those I decided I'd print in their entireity. I still enjoy bringing them up onscreen to examine, but the hard copy is what I study with.

I especially liked the fact that they were free to me - other than some download time & paper/ink, I had numerous PDF's that it would take years (and $$$) to find decent copies of.

Textkit combines the resources - time, money, equipment - of numerous individuals, creates the resource, and distributes it for free. The absolute least I could do was to donate some of my time and money in return, and I was glad to do so. Others did so that I might fall in love with Latin.

Thanks for sharing these with us, I love the language.

MDS
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Post by MDS »

Very well put Barrius, my sentiments exactly.

Br. Devon
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Post by Br. Devon »

At the moment, I am underemployed, so badly so that I can barely afford to pay my rent. Needless to say, I do not have the money for texts or for teachers. My father gave me a decent foundation in Latin, at least in the respect that I know when it sounds wrong, and I can pronounce written Latin as though I was born speaking the language.

I love the PDFs for a host of reasons, finances being one of them. Other advantages of PDFs are that those who have vision issues can reprint the pages in a size that makes it easier to read. This trick also allows the print outs to serve as worksheets to allow scribbling in the margins and so on. As several have pointed out, one can choose to print out an entire volume or just a few pages at one's convenience. I tend to do a little of both. I print a full volume, and then run a few portable pages to travel along with me for quick reviews and notes.

The best part is that I actually feel as though I am coming away from this with some learning. I have chosen D'Ooges Latin for Beginners as my first venture, and have only gotten through lesson IV due to timing constraints and the need to review to master each lesson before continuing on, but no one is cracking a whip. I will learn at my own pace and gain a solid foundation. Just something as basic as learning the proper names for parts of speech is something I didn't know last week and declensions of nouns endinng in -a... well you get the drift.

I am very happy to be a Textkit student and will recommend this site to anyone seeking a knowlege base in Latin or Greek.

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