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Words per Day?

 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages Post Reply
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entropy_rising
Newbie
United States
Joined 6087 days ago

2 posts - 2 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Mandarin, Uzbek

 
 Message 1 of 16
30 July 2007 at 5:42pm | IP Logged 
I'm in an intensive language program and I hope to move to the country of my target language soon. After six weeks of this program, I'm still trying to zero in on the ideal number of words I should try to memorize per day - a compromise between too little, which would mean I was not reaching my language learning potential, and two much, which would turn my vocab building into a frustrating and overwhelming task. I'm sure this is variable from person to person, but in your experience, what is the ideal amount for you?

Thanks.
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awake
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6396 days ago

406 posts - 438 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Esperanto, Spanish

 
 Message 2 of 16
30 July 2007 at 6:10pm | IP Logged 
When I learned Esperanto, I drilled with flashcards and would generally
pick up around 30 new words a day.   I could do a lot more than that, but
I find word memorization the most mind numbing of tasks so I stuck with
lower numbers so as to spend more time on parts of learning that I enjoy.   

One thing that's very important I found, I progress much further if I don't
strive for perfection (which my personality tends to make me do at times).
I could learn 80% of 300 words in about the time it would take me to
learn 100 words with 100% retention.    So I'd learn more than double the
number of words in the same time frame if I let myself go onto the next
batch when I had about 80% committed to memory.

With Spanish, I'm trying a different approach. Rather than using lists of
isolated words, I'm learning full sentences via the Assimil programs.
This is a much more efficient and effective way to use my time.   Once I've
finished the Assimil programs, I may return to learning isolated words by
category, to pick up words that you don't often see in normal reading
(things like names of animals, etc...)
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FSI
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6119 days ago

550 posts - 590 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 3 of 16
30 July 2007 at 6:36pm | IP Logged 
I would not recommend memorizing individual words at all, but rather sentences. Lots of sentences.

However, I would not recommend memorizing sentences either. I'd recommend learning them.

Rote memorization isn't nearly as fun (or effective).

Context is everything, and the best way I've found to learn context is to learn complete sentences.
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burntgorilla
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 6204 days ago

202 posts - 206 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Danish

 
 Message 4 of 16
30 July 2007 at 6:49pm | IP Logged 
I think there is a place for learning individual words. It might suit the learner. I find that if I use a flash card program then some of the words will pop up in my head during the day, which is good and tells me I'm remembering them. It would help if you could perhaps find a way to actively use to words, such as maybe making up sentences with them or speaking little phrases, but learning individual words can be useful, particularly if you're focusing on passive skills. If you're also learning a grammar topic, I find it helps to construct sentences using the grammar concept and the words. Two birds with one stone, if you like.
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entropy_rising
Newbie
United States
Joined 6087 days ago

2 posts - 2 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Mandarin, Uzbek

 
 Message 5 of 16
30 July 2007 at 7:10pm | IP Logged 
FSI wrote:
I would not recommend memorizing individual words at all, but rather sentences. Lots of sentences.

However, I would not recommend memorizing sentences either. I'd recommend learning them.

Rote memorization isn't nearly as fun (or effective).

Context is everything, and the best way I've found to learn context is to learn complete sentences.


My personal process of "memorizing words" for years has automatically incorporated using them in sentences and in plausible scenarios. Thanks.
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sergiu
Diglot
Senior Member
Romania
freewebs.com/invata_
Joined 6199 days ago

105 posts - 108 votes 
Speaks: Romanian*, English
Studies: German

 
 Message 6 of 16
01 August 2007 at 10:55am | IP Logged 
10 words a day is usually my cup of tea.
And this is my Post no 100!
Maybe I should go for 100 words a day what do you think?
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Eiliana
Diglot
Newbie
Netherlands
Joined 6332 days ago

13 posts - 13 votes
Speaks: Dutch*, English
Studies: German, Japanese

 
 Message 7 of 16
01 August 2007 at 11:17am | IP Logged 
For German I just add new words when I encounter them when reading... For Japanese I guess I'm doing around 10~20 words a day... And at least 2 new kanji a day... Not much maybe, but I feel that if I'd do more I would only get confused.

But those are only the words I put in Mnemosyne, I learn more words by just encountering them when reading and listening...

Sentences, I wish... I don't think I know enough words at the moment to start using sentences... I have some in my Mnemosyne and sometimes I activate that category and try reading some, but eh... not yet.
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Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6357 days ago

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4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 8 of 16
01 August 2007 at 1:30pm | IP Logged 
I have no particular number of words I learn every day, since I'm mostly learning from context... In anyway, better learn 10 words well than try to learn 50 words and learn none.
I've tried the sentences method that was recommended here and I don't find it too useful... If you're reading really interesting content, you can remember loads of sentences or phrases without deliberately trying to.


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