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Super-fast vocabulary learning techniques | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| vb Octoglot Senior Member Afghanistan Joined 6423 days ago 112 posts - 135 votes  Speaks: English, Romanian, French, Polish, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Russian, Swedish | Message 193 of 255 27 August 2009 at 6:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've spent the last four days attempting to memorise all the words in an English-Spanish vocabulary book. Starting with some knowledge of an estimated 30% of the c.5000 words, I can recall over 90% now. The technique I have been using is pure rote - spaced repetition with very small spaces (not on a PC btw) - and the whole experience has been somewhat hellish. Which is just how I like it. :-)
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| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6273 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 194 of 255 27 August 2009 at 6:52pm | IP Logged | ||
Maybe one day, someone will write a book about masochism and language-learning. Have you been starting with A and going alphabetically? Because that is the real way to experience numbing tedium and existential despair. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| CobaltDragon Groupie United States cobaltdragon.co Joined 5943 days ago 40 posts - 40 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Biblical Hebrew, Vietnamese | Message 195 of 255 27 August 2009 at 7:14pm | IP Logged | ||
That seems like it would be quite unproductive for real world use - at least for me. I find that usually I need some context to a word before it will naturally become a part of my vocabulary - I may know the meaning, but it won't get used simply because it's stored in some dark recess of my mind. Do you find this type of thing actually improves your speech of the target language? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vb Octoglot Senior Member Afghanistan Joined 6423 days ago 112 posts - 135 votes Speaks: English, Romanian, French, Polish, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Russian, Swedish | Message 196 of 255 27 August 2009 at 8:16pm | IP Logged | ||
No idea, I haven't spoken the target language at all yet. I think this approach is best suited to nouns - I tried it with German verbs and didn't really get anywhere. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6273 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 197 of 255 10 February 2010 at 4:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Nothing new to add, but this is a particularly good thread so I will give it a bump.
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| unityandoutside Diglot Groupie United States Joined 6015 days ago 94 posts - 149 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Latin, Mandarin | Message 198 of 255 11 February 2010 at 7:36am | IP Logged | ||
My experience with Mandarin has been that the only way to get the words to seem different to you is to learn to pronounce them well (as well as our pitiful western mouths can manage, anyway). Work on producing the tones until you can produce a reasonable version of each one in your own pronunciation, and when you're learning vocabulary, be sure that you pronounce the words clearly and with the correct tone, several times. Even exaggerate the tone. Once the muscular habits involved in producing the tones are thoroughly ingrained, and you can hear the difference in your own speech, the words should stand out more. For the record, I've had great success with Iversen's method of vocabulary acquisition for Russian. For Mandarin, I use the notebook method described in my language profile, combined with working through a 1000 card set of premade berlitz flashcards. I also doodle in characters all over every piece of paper that comes near me. I also have found etymology to be helpful in Russian. In Chinese, for all the challenge that the characters present, they do provide etymological clues absent from the spoken version of the language that can be used as hooks for memorization. Not that Chinese wouldn't be a fair bit easier without them, but they are pretty useful in some respects, and they look really awesome. You gotta count your blessing, right? 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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