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Super-fast vocabulary learning techniques | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 7091 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes  1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish | Message 17 of 255 11 March 2007 at 11:00am | IP Logged | |||||
That seems to be the big fault line for learning. It’s amazing how the pattern keeps reoccurring. I have found a happy medium reading familiar texts without a dictionary and then highlighting half-known words in an inexpensive paperback dictionary. BTW, Thanks everyone for contributing to this topic. It is an excellent reference. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6674 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 18 of 255 11 March 2007 at 11:15am | IP Logged | |||||
I agree with you. I like to learn words by context, but I use word lists as well. In fact, I do worlist from books I read. I have read a lot of advice from experts against to use dictionarys,however I think to work and learn a bilingual dictionary (about 20.000 words) can be a good method. A person with a good memory training can do that and after he or she can read a reread books to reinforce all his huge vocabulary. Why I don't use this approach? Because I don't have the willpower. This is the unique problem for me. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| *Aquarius* Triglot Newbie Poland Joined 6601 days ago 39 posts - 40 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, German Studies: Spanish, French | Message 19 of 255 11 March 2007 at 11:54am | IP Logged | |||||
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Both Ardaschir's and Iversen's methods of memorizing vocabulary seem worth trying out to me.
I think that it's important to adjust learning style to one's preferences. I've tried out some memorizing methods and if I can give you a hint, I would recommend such softwares as SuperMemo. It works similar to flashcards, but it's better in some aspects - mainly because of quite well set repetition intervals. I think that a good vocabulary learning system is pivotal, maybe not at all, but at many stages of language learning. Besides, it's a really interesting thread! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| MeshGearFox Senior Member United States Joined 6694 days ago 316 posts - 344 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 20 of 255 11 March 2007 at 6:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
In effect, you're remembering the words, before remembering what they mean? I believe that I was doing this step backwards. Anyway, I remember reading somewhere -- and I think it was brought into this thread -- that one person formed a sort of rhythmic repetition sequence based around vocabulary lists (which was then compared to the way that bards and actors and whatnot would memorize long poems and songs). I'm wondering if something similar could be applied to the word lists you use by, say, using the specific order of the words as an additional memory hook or something. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6942 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 21 of 255 11 March 2007 at 7:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
Inspired by this thread, I was rereading a few sections in Kato Lomb's book and realized that she was able to combine "puzzle-solving" with the detailed view of a word offered by a good dictionary. "On first reading I only write down the words that I’ve understood, i.e., those whose meaning I was able to figure out from context. Of course, not in an isolated fashion, but creating for each one its own little context (see the chapters called “Vocabulary” and “How should we memorize words?”). Only when I am reading the book the second, if not the third, time, do I write down all the remaining words. Actually, no, not all, but only those that are relevant to me, my personality, those I use in my own Hungarian speech or those I understand well (after all, we don’t usually use all the words, or, let’s be honest, understand). And to any word that I write down, I always attach its “tree”, its “family” (the material for the “tree” can be found in the book itself or in the dictionary)." Interestingly, it is left unclear if she would go ahead and look up in a dictionary the words she has just understood from context, but one thing for sure - her approach was not about kicking back, relaxing and just letting the context do it all. Even learning from context, she worked at it, at least in the early stages of learning. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6702 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 22 of 255 11 March 2007 at 7:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
I may not have expressed myself clearly on this point. All words or expressions come from a source of some kind (a dictionary, a thematic wordlist or maybe my own notes made during active reading), where there is a translation for each one or where the meaning at least is clear. I write the words down trying to keep the translations in mind, but often it is necessary to refer back to the source several times to refresh my memory, and this is perfectly OK. In practice the need to remember the translations is not a major problem when you are doing these lists, because you will very soon get into the habit of taking an extra careful look at each word or expression and its translation already when you select it from the source. After all you know that you will have to recall it shortly after, together with several other words. The focus is on training your memory, but in doing so you also train your concentration and your attentiveness. The demand that you remember all 5-7 translations for the middle column is to be seen as a control (and the right to write them may even function as kind of a reward, which must please all remaining behaviourists out there). Edited by Iversen on 11 March 2007 at 8:25pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 7091 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish | Message 23 of 255 11 March 2007 at 9:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Iverson,
Just curious, do you make any distinction between active and passive vocabulary, or any special concessions for commonly used words and phrases? Thanks, John 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6549 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 24 of 255 11 March 2007 at 9:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
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There's some great stuff here; thanks evrybody.
I like the idea of the poster who recommended trying one or more of these methods. I think I'll try several, using 100 words on each method. I have a theory. When we're young, we have the potential to learn just about any way. As we go down one path, our learning becomes more locked in. Some people can learn very well taking the passive approach, while others like to break things down, analyze them drill, etc. In reality, most are probably a mixture of these extremes. Ardaschir strikes me as a learner who has mastered the passive method, as his mind has been trained from years of practice. As I've said before, I'm very envious of his methods, because he doesn't need to drill, or take things out of context. I'm not implying that his way is right, or others are wrong, but when one has 15,000 flashcards in supermemo, one dreams of not drilling:) Is it possible to train your mind to become the other type of learner? And if so, what would be the price? Would it be worth it? Who knows. Maybe I'm stuck because I'm 45 and sorta set in my ways. But continuing with my theory, a young learner could possibly choose a path and train their brain to learn a specific way. Just a theory... 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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