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Words per Day? | ||
Tags: Time to learn | Vocabulary learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| entropy_rising Newbie United States Joined 6337 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Uzbek | Message 1 of 16 30 July 2007 at 5:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm in an intensive language program and I hope to move to the country of my target language soon. After six weeks of this program, I'm still trying to zero in on the ideal number of words I should try to memorize per day - a compromise between too little, which would mean I was not reaching my language learning potential, and two much, which would turn my vocab building into a frustrating and overwhelming task. I'm sure this is variable from person to person, but in your experience, what is the ideal amount for you?
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| awake Senior Member United States Joined 6646 days ago 406 posts - 438 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Spanish | Message 2 of 16 30 July 2007 at 6:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I learned Esperanto, I drilled with flashcards and would generally
pick up around 30 new words a day. I could do a lot more than that, but I find word memorization the most mind numbing of tasks so I stuck with lower numbers so as to spend more time on parts of learning that I enjoy. One thing that's very important I found, I progress much further if I don't strive for perfection (which my personality tends to make me do at times). I could learn 80% of 300 words in about the time it would take me to learn 100 words with 100% retention. So I'd learn more than double the number of words in the same time frame if I let myself go onto the next batch when I had about 80% committed to memory. With Spanish, I'm trying a different approach. Rather than using lists of isolated words, I'm learning full sentences via the Assimil programs. This is a much more efficient and effective way to use my time. Once I've finished the Assimil programs, I may return to learning isolated words by category, to pick up words that you don't often see in normal reading (things like names of animals, etc...) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| FSI Senior Member United States Joined 6369 days ago 550 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English* | Message 3 of 16 30 July 2007 at 6:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would not recommend memorizing individual words at all, but rather sentences. Lots of sentences.
However, I would not recommend memorizing sentences either. I'd recommend learning them. Rote memorization isn't nearly as fun (or effective). Context is everything, and the best way I've found to learn context is to learn complete sentences. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| burntgorilla Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6454 days ago 202 posts - 206 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Danish | Message 4 of 16 30 July 2007 at 6:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think there is a place for learning individual words. It might suit the learner. I find that if I use a flash card program then some of the words will pop up in my head during the day, which is good and tells me I'm remembering them. It would help if you could perhaps find a way to actively use to words, such as maybe making up sentences with them or speaking little phrases, but learning individual words can be useful, particularly if you're focusing on passive skills. If you're also learning a grammar topic, I find it helps to construct sentences using the grammar concept and the words. Two birds with one stone, if you like.
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| entropy_rising Newbie United States Joined 6337 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Uzbek | Message 5 of 16 30 July 2007 at 7:10pm | IP Logged | ||
My personal process of "memorizing words" for years has automatically incorporated using them in sentences and in plausible scenarios. Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sergiu Diglot Senior Member Romania freewebs.com/invata_ Joined 6449 days ago 105 posts - 108 votes Speaks: Romanian*, English Studies: German | Message 6 of 16 01 August 2007 at 10:55am | IP Logged | ||
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10 words a day is usually my cup of tea.
And this is my Post no 100! Maybe I should go for 100 words a day what do you think? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Eiliana Diglot Newbie Netherlands Joined 6582 days ago 13 posts - 13 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, Japanese | Message 7 of 16 01 August 2007 at 11:17am | IP Logged | ||
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For German I just add new words when I encounter them when reading... For Japanese I guess I'm doing around 10~20 words a day... And at least 2 new kanji a day... Not much maybe, but I feel that if I'd do more I would only get confused.
But those are only the words I put in Mnemosyne, I learn more words by just encountering them when reading and listening... Sentences, I wish... I don't think I know enough words at the moment to start using sentences... I have some in my Mnemosyne and sometimes I activate that category and try reading some, but eh... not yet. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6607 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 8 of 16 01 August 2007 at 1:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have no particular number of words I learn every day, since I'm mostly learning from context... In anyway, better learn 10 words well than try to learn 50 words and learn none.
I've tried the sentences method that was recommended here and I don't find it too useful... If you're reading really interesting content, you can remember loads of sentences or phrases without deliberately trying to. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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