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Picking up words from the dictionary | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Toufik18 Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Algeria Joined 5744 days ago 188 posts - 202 votes  Speaks: Arabic (Written)*, Arabic (classical)*, French, English | Message 33 of 60 25 June 2009 at 11:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's absurd to think that a single dictionary can give you the tiny nuances between very similar connotations, it's preposterous. I think that that's the only "lesion" you can find in dictioanry-based wordlists, but you can't encounter this problem while doing wordlists from active reading because you already know exactly what the word means .
I tried to wordlists but sadly it's not for me, i just aquire and retain faster with flashcards, so I'll switch my method, thanx for everyone who's commented so far. If you have any other tips please feel free to input them into this thread. Thank you guys 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Toufik18 Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Algeria Joined 5744 days ago 188 posts - 202 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written)*, Arabic (classical)*, French, English | Message 34 of 60 26 June 2009 at 5:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I noticed whilst learning new French words from dictionary that I am also enriching my English and Spanish vocabulary. Thank god for cognates. Besides, I read that French gave about 50% frm it's vocabulary to English and those words are considered very wit :)
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 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6703 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 35 of 60 27 June 2009 at 1:44am | IP Logged | ||
That's true, but seeing a word for the first time in a context can't do that either. Only by seeing it again and again in different circumstances can do that, but the dictionary (and for some words also a standard gramamr) can help you by delivering some reasonably trustworthy information in a very concentrated form. Btw. I'm not surprised that you prefer spaced repetition to word lists, - we are all different, and it would be strange if one technique suited everybody. I don't use the typical spaced repetition tools such as flash cards or the ciorresponding software, partly because I has made planned repetition a part of my wordlist method, partly because I get enough random repetition through reading (and to some extent also listening to) genuine texts. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Toufik18 Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Algeria Joined 5744 days ago 188 posts - 202 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written)*, Arabic (classical)*, French, English | Message 36 of 60 27 June 2009 at 5:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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I found myself more comfortable with flashcards mostly because it doesn't insist on dedicating let's say 1 houe a day for the process, but you can take advantage from all the wasted time whilst doing various things lke waiting for a partner to show up or in restaurant, you pull you cards and start reviewing them without getting bored .
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| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 37 of 60 27 June 2009 at 6:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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We had another thread regarding the number of words in peoples' English vocabulary.
We came to the conclusion that native speakers (well educated) seem to have 15000 - 20000 words in their vocabulary. Some non-native speakers actually had higher scores than some native speakers, older people have a better vocabulary than younger people. Size of ones vocabular is not necessarily such a great indicator of skills in that language anyway. Things like idioms, expressions, sayings and your aptitude with the grammar matters too. I'd be surprised if 30000 words are needed even for the most advanced French speaker! I'd bet 15000 words will be more than enough. You probably already know 10000 words in French if you have used it from a young age. I am guessing that you already have a basic French vocabulary at least, and can carry out normal day-to-day conversations. If you still want to take this approach, perhaps you could tackle it by a subject to subject approach. You could start with words relating to one specific areas, for example: Farming, Seafaring, Economy, Cooking, IT, Religion, Architecture, Music...... You could learn 50-100 words in one category, then move on to the next.... Etc! The internet is handy for this, since there are lots of resources for specific topics, including things like "Swedish - German Economical dictionary" "English - French Culinary dictionary" etc.... ! So in your case you could just find Arabic - French resources for specific topics. Edited by cordelia0507 on 27 June 2009 at 6:38pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6446 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 38 of 60 27 June 2009 at 8:14pm | IP Logged | ||
I use flashcards along with Iversen's word list method, and I just wanted to add that I use my word lists for "on the go" review as well. I'll make a word list of 50-60 words on say, Monday, and then fold it up and put it in a pocket. Whenever I've a free moment, I'll pull it out and review. The next day or the day after, I'll do the more "formal" review where I sit down, write out the English words, then see if I can produce the target language equivalents. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Toufik18 Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Algeria Joined 5744 days ago 188 posts - 202 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written)*, Arabic (classical)*, French, English | Message 39 of 60 28 June 2009 at 1:28am | IP Logged | ||
I am sure that the educated French natives does not use 30000 in conversations, but think about it this way : They use around 10000 active vocabulary in their conversations and speaking, and the other 20000 is for understanding the academic texts or more "archaic" reading which requires a lot more vocabulary. So basically I want to learn around 20000 words in overal, with about 10000 active words so I can call myself an advanced speaker, and 10000 or more if I would to understand basically every text in French I encounter . I have a basic knowledge in French, but even though, I was surprised by the number of words that I already know but not using at all , I estimated my sum of words to around 3000-5000, not that high (but not bad either) I am capable of conducting conversations in French and watching French movies without the need of subtitles. But I want to rise the bar a little bit, so I am aiming for advanced fluency by ~20000 with about half of that as active vocabulary. The main reason I am not satisfied with my French is that it's the second language in my country, so it has the priority over all other language including English, I want to have a very advanced knowledge of French even though I am not a "perfect or nothing" guy, because I am not aiming for advanced fluency in Spanish or later in German I just want to know the language enough to express myself without any hinders, but that's not enough with French. Thanx for replying cordelia0507 and btw I like you approach into learning vocabulary . Edited by Toufik18 on 28 June 2009 at 1:30am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Toufik18 Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Algeria Joined 5744 days ago 188 posts - 202 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written)*, Arabic (classical)*, French, English | Message 40 of 60 28 June 2009 at 1:35am | IP Logged | ||
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[/QUOTE]
I use flashcards along with Iversen's word list method, and I just wanted to add that I use my word lists for "on the go" review as well. I'll make a word list of 50-60 words on say, Monday, and then fold it up and put it in a pocket. Whenever I've a free moment, I'll pull it out and review. The next day or the day after, I'll do the more "formal" review where I sit down, write out the English words, then see if I can produce the target language equivalents.[/QUOTE] Thanx for replying my friend :) I find you way of using wordlist a little bit peculiar, I've always regarded wordlists as a "formal" studying way,ie: stocks of papers, pens, and you trying to overcome the ennui :) Do you retain the learnt words with wordlists with the same efficiency as flashcards? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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