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Vocabulary in two languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Luque Newbie Poland Joined 3694 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes | Message 1 of 4 05 October 2014 at 3:35pm | IP Logged |
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Hi!
I'd like to ask about your experience with learning vocabulary in two languages simultaneously. My native language is polish, but I live in Spain now and I learn Spanish vocabulary quite regularly. However, I would like to improve my English skills too. I'm hesistating between learning an equivalent of word in my native lang in both languages at the same time (Spanish, English) or perhaps it's better to study separately? I understand it may be an individual question, but maybe you are in possesion of some research or just own experience? I learn vocabulary mainly using methods of visualisation (memory palace), that's why I need a solid plan before I start. I would determine my level of Spanish skills as C1/C2, English as B1. Thanks in advance. :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4697 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 2 of 4 05 October 2014 at 7:00pm | IP Logged |
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If you're going to link two words together, make sure that the meaning is clear at
least in one of them. If you're linking to Spanish for example, you should make sure that the English word is linked to a Spanish equivalent you are very sure of. However I find that I use vocabulary less dependent on its translation, than on its meaning in context. In some cases, a translation is very useful, for example for specific items - what's permafrost in Russian? "Вечная мерзлота". This is a one- sided concept that lends itself easily to a direct translation. But something like the word "to get", when does that ever translate to something by itself? It can mean so many things in so many contexts that a translation per se is useless, but that you need to look at the context. That's why for me, once I'm reasonably comfortable, I don't really think about translations anymore. This works mostly if I have a level where reading novels isn't a huge pain in the ass for some reason, or if I have enough experience with speaking socially. (For example, in Hebrew I don't really translate, I speak automatically, but I can't read it very well). Edited by tarvos on 14 October 2014 at 3:26pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6693 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 4 14 October 2014 at 1:38pm | IP Logged |
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I think Tarvos has a point here: if you are interested in permafrost and have learned the Russian or Polish name for that phenomenon, then you might want also to know the name in English or Spanish, and you can just as well look it up now you are at it. It is a simple and clear concept, and there will probably be one simple way of rendering the notion in each language you might consider (leaving out languages from the jungle of New Guinea, where permafrost isn't a likely discussion topic).
Trying to get a hold on all the different uses of verbs that signify something like 'to get' will only lead to confusion. However this is only relevant for the 'whole' semantic field, not for specific expressions like "get lost". Here it might be interesting to learn the equivalent expressions in several languages. And of course you should then also pay attention to the different mindsets that explain the way something is expressed in different languages. The main problem could be to find the relevant expressions. Some are listed in good dictionaries, but there are also dedicated idiom dictionaries out there, some better than others. I found one in Serbian which looks promising, and I also have a 'Big Red' for Spanish which I ought to use more than I do. But many are just collections of particularly colourful and strange expressions, not of the grey and unassuming expressions which are much more common. I would warn against trying to juggle around with two target languages in wordlists or -presumably - Anki. The more complications, the less learning. Edited by Iversen on 14 October 2014 at 11:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tornus Diglot GroupieRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5133 days ago 82 posts - 113 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish, Swedish, Danish | Message 4 of 4 14 October 2014 at 8:34pm | IP Logged |
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Learn the language separately, it's gonna be easier. Besides it looks like there's quite a gap between your Spanish and English skills. If your Spanish level is between C1 and C2, I would suggest to stop resorting to translations and learn the language only through Spanish materials, especially since you live in Spain. I'm not a fan of translating, because each language has its subtleties and it's quite rare when you can find a word that has the exact same meaning in two languages.
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