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What qualifies as "difficult vocabulary"

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
22 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>
Akao
aka FailArtist
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5336 days ago

315 posts - 347 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona

 
 Message 1 of 22
13 May 2011 at 5:04am | IP Logged 
I know it varies from person to person, which is exactly why I am asking. What kind of
vocabulary challenges you? Honestly , a lot of Spanish vocabulary has given me a more
troubling time than Mandarin. Perhaps that's because of my loathing of verb conjugation
or the fact that I'm a bit more advanced in Spanish.

I'd like to hear your experiences.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Snowflake
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5959 days ago

1032 posts - 1233 votes 
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 2 of 22
13 May 2011 at 6:10am | IP Logged 
I hope you are not saying that words like 水仙花, 防患未然, 胆固醇, 碳水化合物, 分期付款 and 温室效应 are easy.

Edited by Snowflake on 13 May 2011 at 6:10am

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sm66
Diglot
Newbie
Australia
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26 posts - 32 votes
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Italian, Greek, German

 
 Message 3 of 22
13 May 2011 at 6:14am | IP Logged 
Just yesterday I read the word detumescence and to me that is a word which
constitutes the 'difficult' tag. Even though English is my native tongue, it was the
first time I have ever encountered it. I think that advanced/difficult vocabulary depends
on your experience in the language.
1 person has voted this message useful



Akao
aka FailArtist
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5336 days ago

315 posts - 347 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona

 
 Message 4 of 22
13 May 2011 at 7:32am | IP Logged 
I have not gotten that far into Mandarin. I'm sure there will be vocabulary that's hard
to learn in every language.
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outcast
Bilingual Heptaglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 4949 days ago

869 posts - 1364 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin
Studies: Korean

 
 Message 5 of 22
13 May 2011 at 7:49am | IP Logged 
To be it's very low frequency words, but in particular those that help add very slight shades to language. In English:

spot vs blotch vs dapple vs mottle

to suffuse, to imbue, to evince

sardonic vs ironic vs sarcastic

That kind of stuff. Earlier this year I was on a 2000 advanced English vocab study. I remember some, but I remembered many more back then. Since I have taken up Portuguese so that takes the time I used to take with advanced English words. But I learned them really well and I will review them soon.

I remember words like valetudinarian, to impetrate, ineluctable and lecherous. :)
1 person has voted this message useful



irrationale
Tetraglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 6050 days ago

669 posts - 1023 votes 
2 sounds
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog
Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese

 
 Message 6 of 22
13 May 2011 at 8:01am | IP Logged 
Words that are so low frequency that their usage depends on a variety of cultural factors and settings, registers, background knowledge, special combinations with other words, etc.

Or slang...slang is difficult.
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Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6703 days ago

9078 posts - 16473 votes 
Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
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 Message 7 of 22
13 May 2011 at 11:05am | IP Logged 
Very long words without recognizable components
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