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How do you learn words? | ||
Tags: Vocabulary learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Jose.pm Newbie Joined 7155 days ago 12 posts - 13 votes | Message 1 of 19 20 April 2005 at 5:35am | IP Logged |
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Hello to everybody here! I'm very keen on learning languages and I try to learn quite a few, thanks to Internet materials. I find grammars easy to learn, the real problem I see when learning languages is how to memorize words in a quick and effective way. What's your trick? How do you do it? I have tried writing down the important words in an MS Excel file to build a dictionary (you can build quite a nice dictionary with Excel). The ideal thing would be to learn the word inserted in a sentence, but you lose too much time, although this is supposed to be more effective. So, can you tell me your strategies?
(I put this post in the Beginners Forum by mistake and Manna recommended a program called SuperMemo -free old versions- to practice with Flash Cards on the computer. I haven't tried it yet, but thank you anyway!) Thank you for your answers; you can also e-mail me for friendship, exchanging ideas, asking me about Spanish or other Spanish languages, etc. Hasta luego! Edited by Jose.pm on 20 April 2005 at 5:36am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Malcolm Triglot Retired Moderator Senior Member Korea, South Joined 7307 days ago 500 posts - 515 votes  5 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Korean Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 2 of 19 20 April 2005 at 3:48pm | IP Logged |
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I have two ways of learning words:
1.) In context from either graded readers, authentic materials, or native speakers. This is probably the best way to learn words because you will know how to use what you learn, but it usually doesn't lead to a very large vocabulary. 2.) Out of context from vocabulary lists/books. This is a faster way of learning vocabulary and it's quite good for developing your passive skills. I used to make flashcards from these lists, but this became too time consuming. I usually just look at the word in the target language and try to guess the English translation. Again, this is for developing passive skills, not for speaking or writing. Edited by Malcolm on 20 April 2005 at 3:49pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Monox D. I-Fly Senior Member Indonesia monoxdifly.iopc.us Joined 5127 days ago 762 posts - 664 votes Speaks: Indonesian* | Message 3 of 19 10 November 2010 at 5:42am | IP Logged |
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Along this time, I have just learning by doing. Many vocabs which I've larned when I was a school student can just be used in a formal conversation. And for the others, here I share a little of my story:
1. When I was at 8th grade, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game was booming. Everytime I looked at a card, I read the text that's been written on them to understand the rules, and everytime I found a word that I'd understood yet, I opened my dictionary. That was the first time my vocabs increased drastically. 2. When I was at 12th grade, I was very crazy about a manga titled "One Piece". Once in a week, I read the newest chapter of it on the internet that had translated it to English. 3. When I'd been a college student, I wanted to feel nostalgia about my childhood favorite anime "Digimon", so I asked my little brother to download the subtitled version of them. There, I learned many uncommon words those were usually used just for slang. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| jasoninchina Senior Member China Joined 5223 days ago 221 posts - 306 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Italian | Message 4 of 19 10 November 2010 at 8:52am | IP Logged |
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This is a question that's been asked at least a dozen times, just in the few months that I have been a member. There's really no secret formula to doing it. Having said that, here's the secret. Give your brain a reason to learn the word. And I think you already know how to do that. Give the word some context. Something I like to do is to think of a real-life way I can use the word. If I learn the word "reservation", it's going to be a lot easier for me to remember if I can plug it into the sentence, "I'd like to make a reservation." Call me crazy, but it works for me.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6264 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 5 of 19 10 November 2010 at 4:27pm | IP Logged |
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Yes, this is one of the most asked questions on this forum.
Personally, I have used almost every method that goes, but I probably most use vocabulary notebooks and vocabulary cards (pre-printed or hand-written). Simple readers in the language are another good method for learning vocabulary. Turning passive vocabulary into active is a whole different story, but that too has probably been discussed elsewhere, on several occasions. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| sydneycarton Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5500 days ago 23 posts - 46 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 6 of 19 10 November 2010 at 7:17pm | IP Logged |
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Anything that I don't know that comes up more than once I throw straight into Anki.
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| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5327 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French | Message 7 of 19 10 November 2010 at 10:59pm | IP Logged |
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For me, the best method by far is simply to encounter a word over and over again and learn the meaning and uses of it by context. However, I know from experience that it takes years before I'm able to actually use a language if I learn this way. So instead I like to read a chapter in a book or translate a song and memorise all the words I don't know. I don't use Anki but another reviewing programme that allows me to type in the words so I can practise spelling them. I don't memorise them perfectly because I know I'll forget a fraction of them within a couple of days but many of them do stick. Edited by ReneeMona on 10 November 2010 at 11:00pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BartoG Diglot Senior Member United States confession Joined 5439 days ago 292 posts - 818 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Spanish, Latin, Uzbek | Message 8 of 19 11 November 2010 at 12:52am | IP Logged |
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I think ReneeMona is right about the value of encountering a word over and over again in context. While learning words with systems like Anki helps me build up a recognition vocabulary, a word never really sticks with me unless I have to make use of it in context. The answer is to up your exposure to content. For lower levels, you can do this with Assimil. For higher levels, you can read articles on related subjects in the Wikipedia for your target languages, as well as reading news sources and magazines dedicated to particular areas of interest.
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