|
 |
Looking up unknown words | ||
Tags: Vocabulary learning | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Shenandoah Newbie United States Joined 5019 days ago 30 posts - 59 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 9 12 March 2011 at 6:36pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I'm curious how others prefer to look up new words, especially if you're reading.
I use two methods, and can see pros and cons of each. Dictionary: As part of searching for words I'll learn more about verb conjugation, going between singular and plural, and things like that, since often I have to make those changes in order to find the word. This also helps to find word roots by noticing similarly spelled entries before and after it. Electronic translation tool (I have a Blackberry app): All of the work required for dictionary searches is done automatically. On the other hand, I get practice spelling the words correctly, which helps ingrain it in my mind more than simply reading it does. This also has the benefit of being able to string multiple words together to learn about phrases rather than individual words - as sometimes the meaning of a string of words can be different than the sum of individual words. So I tend to go back and forth between the two. I was curious what methods others prefer, and why? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sanghee Groupie United States Joined 5060 days ago 60 posts - 98 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Korean | Message 2 of 9 12 March 2011 at 7:17pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I use my dictionary a little bit, but it's organization is annoying (it organizes by romanization..) so I don't prefer to use that. I sometimes use google translator if it's a full sentence that I don't understand. If it's a single word or if the google translator had a few words that didn't make sense, I looked it up in an online Korean-English dictionary. It's meant for Korean speakers learning English so all of the audio is in English, but otherwise I love it and it gives example sentences and all the different meanings for the words.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cpnlsn Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6165 days ago 22 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English*, French, German | Message 4 of 9 19 March 2011 at 8:41pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Some things I have learned by hard experience:
1 while you may need a big dictionary for other reasons get a small one that is easier to manage. Reading and using a dictionary can be tiresome and off putting 2 for German make sure if you use a small dictionary it has plurals and genitives - not all do 3 try to read at what you can manage so the vocab demand is not excessive 4 if reading a book this is what I do. I read the 1st 100 pages without interupting my reading. I do though have a dictionary at hand and look up words I can remember having difficulty with at the end of a reading session. After 100 pages I will look up words as I go on, writing them down until using up 2 sides of A4 then I go back to what I did for the 1st 100 pages. This way you increase your vocab without slowing reading to a complete standstill. 5 it's a lot easier to listen and look up than read and look up because you don't have to keep picking up and putting books down. I tend to try to use electronic resources for when a dictionary fails me or more modern expressions. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6695 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 5 of 9 20 March 2011 at 6:45pm | IP Logged | ||
|
When I do text copying I reserve the right margin for unknown words. And I can see that there isn't just one way of filling out that column. Mostly I jot the words down when I meet them, and then I look them up when I have got about half a dozen words. If the meaning is relatively clear then I may also add the meaning according to my best guess - but I also look these words up. If a sentence is totally opaque without a certain word I look the word up ASAP, but then I reread the whole sentence afterwards to get it in one go instead of split into two pieces. And finally: if I expect problems I may even pick some difficuelt words out and look them up before trying to understand the sentence.
But this only applies to the intensive copying-and-trying-to-understand-everything techinque. If I read extensively then I try NOT to waste time on single words, unless a passage is totally incomprehensible without them (and then I jot them down on whatever piece of paper I have within reach for later study). I'm more likely to write down whole expressions in this situation, because idiomatic expressions aren't covered by my wordlists. If I do spend time on looking up learn single words in this situation then it is mostly technical terms - such as names of bird species or medieval arms or types of galaxies, not 'common' words. However many of my copies are based on just this kind of material, and I look up more words from one single copied page in a magazine than from a whole long book read extensively. Finally: I never look up words I hear. I don't expect to learn words from anything I hear. I don't trust anything I hear because I can't control it. Edited by Iversen on 20 March 2011 at 6:49pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| montobello Newbie United States Joined 4989 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 6 of 9 22 March 2011 at 7:16pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I keep an foreign language electronic dictionary with me while reading or watching video,
its easy and compact. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5858 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 7 of 9 22 March 2011 at 7:40pm | IP Logged | ||
I agree. I do the same. In my case, it is a Sony Reader PRS-650. It has 10 translation dictionaries (French, German, Spanish, Dutch and Italian to and from English). The Dutch dictionary is a very good version of the standard Van Dale. I find the translation interface to be very user-friendly and quick/easy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5373 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 8 of 9 22 March 2011 at 7:45pm | IP Logged | ||
I'm really surprized you'd say that. I look words I hear all the time. When I was learning English, I'd watch TV and since I didn't have access to subtitles or a rewind feature, I had to rely on sound to write down every word I didn't know and then I'd look them up during commercials. Eventually, I developped a good sense of possible spellings for given sounds. For Japanese, I currently use an electronic dictionary. It allows me to write characters as well as input texts. It also contains various dictionaries from/to 3 languages, including pronunciation dictionaries. I have nothing against paper dictionaries, but this is far more effective and practical. I don't usually write down new words I encounter, trusting that if they are important, they will come up again, except when I feel it's a word I've come across before or wondered about. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
