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How Do You Memorize Vocabulary? | ||
Tags: Memory | Vocabulary learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6638 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 17 of 55 29 June 2011 at 12:04am | IP Logged | ||
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Surprise, surprise, I use wordlists, based on either texts I have worked with or dictionaries.
I have written about the subject in my Guide to language learning, part 4 message 3, so I'll be brief this time. One mostly overlooked factor is that you should let each word slip away for a moment and then drag it back, and this means you should think about something else and then return to the word you want to remember. I have proposed to achieve this by memorizing groups of words, typically 5-7, as described in the guide. And then at least one repetition is necessary. I have found that one day later is optimal for this - a repetition round should not happen just after the first memorization, and not so far into the future that you have lost your memories about making the list. I normally just do one repetition and then expect to find the word again later during my extensive reading and listening session (and if I never meet a certain word again the loss apparently isn't too catastrophic). In other methods, such as the Goldlist and the different SRS methods the initial work is less intense and this is balanced by accepting an in principle infinite number of repetitions. But of course the two tactics can be combined, and with new languages this might be especially relevant. Another factor is that the words should be memorized in both directions: first Foreign language -> base language, then the other way (ie. the easiest direction first). And finally you should try different methods to do the actual memorization. Some people profit from repeating the words acoustically in their mind, whereas I often recall how they look in my own handwriting. Other methods build on likenesses in sound with already known words (from the same language or from other languages), which in the most radical version takes the shape op 'silly stories' - i.e. laughable associations which are memorable because they are ridiculuous. I think the trick works, but normally I'm to lazy (and busy) to spend my time on inventing such associations - simple partial likenesses in sound or spelling suffice. Another trick is to split long words into their components and learn the components separately. This is especially relevant with derivations: learn the root with or before the derivation. But don't try to learn all related words at the same time - this will just confuse you (the same applies to words that are semantically connected, such as 347 house appliances or exotic fruits in one go - semantical lists are only useful for 'mopping-up operations'). And finally: if a language has some morphology which can't be guessed, but which gives you all the forms in one fell swoop if you just know one little detail then learn that detail. For instance: memorize the definite article der,die or das with German nouns, memorize the aorist with Greek verbs (these are quoted in the 1. person singular in the present, and normally the knowledge of one single consonant change is enough to predict the aorist forms) and memorize Russian verbs as pairs: one perfect and one imperfect form. Edited by Iversen on 13 September 2011 at 7:04pm 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fnord Triglot Groupie Switzerland Joined 4968 days ago 71 posts - 124 votes Speaks: German*, Swiss-German, English Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch | Message 18 of 55 30 June 2011 at 10:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Let me preface this by saying that my preferred and most efficient of learning vocabulary requires that one
has acquired an intermediate level in the target language and... oh wait, that already makes for a great example! For instance, if I wanted to learn the meaning of the English "preface", I would instead learn (maybe write onto a flash card) this phrase I've come across: "Let me preface this by saying ..." I usually find it easier to memorize multiword expressions and phrases rather than single words: preface -> "Let me preface this by saying ..." sensible -> "a sensible decision" chord -> "to strike a chord with somebody" sow, reap, whirlwind -> "sow the wind, reap the whirlwind" (similar saying exists in my native German) glaring, omission -> "a glaring omission" In some cases I construct my own, preferably with related words. The last four are actual recent examples of my "English vocabulary" text file that I keep open permanently on my computer, to jot down vocabulary I come across. It's a simple text file, made to be accessed as quickly as possible and then to get out of my way. I read a lot of English every day and and "know" most of these words' meaning or can infer them from context but I feel I don't have them in my active vocabulary. I don't bother to add translations. Once in a while I might import the list into a flash card app. I actually spent quite a bit of time to find one that works reasonably well for me with one-sided flash cards while still tracking my progress. Edited by fnord on 30 June 2011 at 10:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5701 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 19 of 55 01 July 2011 at 12:48am | IP Logged | ||
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I don't memorize words, I acquire them.
Or so I like to think. For example, the last new English words I consciously encountered were squaliform and egregious in that silly 'aptitude test'. Squaliform ... well, -form is the easy part, because I just know it has to be about shape. For the squali- part there is no way I can connect it to the actual word shark, so I go by synaesthetic assiciations. squa- looks ... no, it feels to me like magenta, deep red, orange red, yellow. All words that begin with that syllable in English are accessible via that colour combination for me, and the first associations are square (grey, 'cold') and then squid (sea). (... okay, squid has a lemon yellow instead of the orangy yellow but the d adds some reddish hue back.) Seeing that word I kind of see a riddle, a square overlayed by a squid, blue-icy blue -li- (water) and the instruction to turn those into something that-shaped (-form, deep blue, ruby red, deep green). And that turns into a stylized grey shark shape. Now as I tried to remember that word, I remembered the image of a shark shape, remember that it had the instruction -form, deduct that 'form' part from the 'shark shape' part and end up with my reddish-yellow squid-square image + water. From that I somehow reconstruct my word. It sounds complicated when I try to think about it, but it relly only takes a few seconds max. Egregious looks like gregarious, and I will need to encounter both words in context again before I feel sure that I know their meaning, which is also when they will enter my active vocabulary. (It doesn't help that the main colours are khaki and beige, with a bit of glittery orangey 'I am an adjective' -(i)ous) A word like 音 (oto/sound) ends up with the association of a deep, resonating sound like a gong, with the feeling of the gong and the way I say 'ooooh' revibrating in my chest. The kanji adds the idea of a man, a buddhist monk, standing there at dawn and at dusk and striking the gong to greet the rising and the setting sun, flooded by coppery red light. Pungent in my mental imaginery is the idea that a stinging, vile stench enters your nose and it feels like you have to double over and vomit, almost as if somebody had punched you in the stomach. (I just noticed for the first time that stench has to be cognate with stinken.) When I learn words in a context I understand, such associations usually present themselves en masse. Troublesome are words that only have grammatical function and abstract adverbs. The problem is that without having those associations without thinking about it I am lost, and I get such associations from context, meaning (cognates, loanwords) and the language itself. I can't work with mnemonics that are based on other languages. That means that in a new language I need many, many repetitions of a word, and I need a context to start from and then new context to reinforce and adjust my idea of the word. I can wordlist words in English, Japanese, Spanish and French, but not yet in Korean - and of course Korean is the language where I would need it most. )= ETA: Yes, I use wordlist as a verb. :Dv Edited by Bao on 01 July 2011 at 12:48am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6638 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 20 of 55 01 July 2011 at 11:12am | IP Logged | ||
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I think I'll adopt the Baoist expression "to wordlist"
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| wenevy Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie China Joined 5012 days ago 28 posts - 36 votes Speaks: Spanish, Mandarin*, Cantonese*, Catalan, EnglishC1 Studies: French, Italian | Message 21 of 55 25 July 2011 at 12:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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Never, except when i have an exam and have no choice.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Niomi Diglot Newbie Japan ioet.com Joined 6977 days ago 20 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Russian | Message 22 of 55 25 July 2011 at 9:06pm | IP Logged | ||
Iversen, I had a quick question: when using this method for Russian, do you count an imperfect/perfect pair as one word, or two? I mean if I had 7 rows like this: WORD 1 WORD 2 WORD 3 IMPERFECTIVE 1/PERFECTIVE 1 WORD 5 IMPERFRECTIVE 2/PERFECTIVE 3 WORD 7 Do you think the above is OK for 1 group, or is it better to never go over 7 total words? I've been using your technique and it's been very helpful! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| FuroraCeltica Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6800 days ago 1187 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 23 of 55 25 July 2011 at 11:11pm | IP Logged | ||
I agree strongly, repitition is the key 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5801 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 24 of 55 26 July 2011 at 3:04am | IP Logged | ||
repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition repetition Sorry, I couldn't resist ;) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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