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Post by Umbra on May 9, 2012 22:48:43 GMT -5
Even though there is already a Language thread, I feel this is an important-enough topic to have it's own thread. (And this thread doesn't have to strictly apply to language either...)
So the question is this: What method do you use to memorize foreign vocab? Do you look at the word and say it's name and meaning over and over or do you perhaps drill it into your head with flashcards?
I've discovered for myself that flashcards, or rather, the physical beating of words into the head to be not as effective as another method involving the use of imaginative memory. This method has especially helped me learn Japanese vocabulary (with the help of mnemonics) as it uses my imagination to tie words and definitions together using story-telling, and it can be a fun and time-efficient activity.
This video shows how it works:
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Post by Youngster Joey on May 9, 2012 23:00:55 GMT -5
I use Quizlet, as I've mentioned before, and I also write out the words over and over.
I also listen almost exclusively nowadays to Greek music, some of which I've translated in my own free time. I also watch movies and glean words from the context. It's not very helpful to do that when you're first starting out because you don't know enough words to grasp the context, but the better you get at the language, the more helpful it becomes. Aside from using the words myself in conversation, I remember them best when I hear them in a meaningful context like a movie.
Romance languages are different for me. I just look at the word once or twice and remember it from thereon out, usually because I associate it with an English or Latin cognate.
I think it would be really interesting to do a study on how easily people learn new vocabulary based on the script it's written in. Even when I can't find a cognate, learning a Romance language word is much easier for me than learning a Greek word. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the alphabet, even though I can read the Greek alphabet effortlessly.
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Post by Umbra on May 9, 2012 23:36:34 GMT -5
I find that, for an English speaker, German vocabulary is somewhat easy to look at and know the meaning, especially with words like Katze (ka-tsa) and Gut (goot). I hink it's pretty easy to know which word means "cat" and which word means "good."
Now I wish Japanese was as easy in this regard...
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Post by Youngster Joey on May 10, 2012 0:31:54 GMT -5
Hm, as someone who has never studied German, I don't find it particularly easy to read. "Gut" and "katze" are pretty obvious, but the further you get away from common words, the harder it is, imo. Meanwhile, with the exception of Romanian, all of the Romance languages are easy to read and understand, even if I've never studied them before (i.e., Italian).
Dutch is impossible. Looks like someone just slapped their hands randomly around on the keyboard.
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Post by supersonic1453 on May 10, 2012 16:31:25 GMT -5
I just remember them. I hate flashcards. I don't really do anything special.
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Post by Umbra on May 10, 2012 21:39:45 GMT -5
Hm, as someone who has never studied German, I don't find it particularly easy to read. "Gut" and "katze" are pretty obvious, but the further you get away from common words, the harder it is, imo. Meanwhile, with the exception of Romanian, all of the Romance languages are easy to read and understand, even if I've never studied them before (i.e., Italian). Dutch is impossible. Looks like someone just slapped their hands randomly around on the keyboard. I'd say German is moderately difficult in regard to pronunciation. Some words come natural, and some are so filled with Schwarz und Achtung that it becomes easy to stumble. The umlauts add in difficulty in regard to tonality, too.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 10:24:02 GMT -5
I don't use any special way to remember foreign vocabulary....
I just remember them...I think I have this power of remembering every word I hear instantly.
Except in Arabic where one can create countless words from only 3 letters!
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Post by Hiro the Half-Elf on May 14, 2012 22:45:38 GMT -5
I've never been a fan of mnemonics. Abstracting things just makes it easier to remember and harder to learn, at least for me. I just use the words in sentences and get them pretty quickly. I find this much more helpful because it also flexes the grammar aspect.
Never tried flash cards. Doesn't seem like my sort of thing.
For example, writing out "Ototoi, isha wa tabesugite wa ikenai to itteimashita" (The day before yesterday, the doctor told me to not eat too much) is much more practical than, say, practicing "isha = doctor," "ototoi = day before yesterday," "asatte = day after tomorrow," etc. etc. etc.
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Post by Youngster Joey on May 15, 2012 6:45:20 GMT -5
I meant in terms of comprehension, not pronunciation. I don't have the first clue on German pronunciation rules. I'm sure it's easier than French, though. I never really know the right way to pronounce French words; like English, pronunciation isn't very straightforward. Even if I do have an idea on how to pronounce a word, it's not always guaranteed I can replicate the pronunciation. Dem uvulars, so hard to make. I suppose I would be well-advised not to take Arabic and Hebrew, what with their love of uvulars... (For those not familiar, the deep, throaty sound you hear in words like 'centre' is the uvular r. It's a sound made in the back of the mouth with that dangly thing, the uvula [yes, it has a name!], and doesn't exist in English.) On a slightly tangential note, English spelling and pronunciation must be an absolute headache when you're first starting out. The kni ghtt cou ghed up bl ood while reading a b ook.
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Post by supersonic1453 on May 15, 2012 9:39:51 GMT -5
English is the greatest. I've never been a fan of mnemonics. Abstracting things just makes it easier to remember and harder to learn, at least for me. I just use the words in sentences and get them pretty quickly. I find this much more helpful because it also flexes the grammar aspect. Never tried flash cards. Doesn't seem like my sort of thing. For example, writing out "Ototoi, isha wa tabesugite wa ikenai to itteimashita" (The day before yesterday, the doctor told me to not eat too much) is much more practical than, say, practicing "isha = doctor," "ototoi = day before yesterday," "asatte = day after tomorrow," etc. etc. etc. All of this. Mnemonics are terrible.
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Post by Hiro the Half-Elf on May 28, 2012 9:03:16 GMT -5
Saw this in a comment on Kotaku today.
Yikes. Just yikes. Even high school Japanese expects you to learn all the kana in two weeks
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Post by Youngster Joey on May 28, 2012 11:44:00 GMT -5
how did he ever learn the English alphabet
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Post by Umbra on May 28, 2012 14:45:12 GMT -5
I've never been a fan of mnemonics. Abstracting things just makes it easier to remember and harder to learn, at least for me. I just use the words in sentences and get them pretty quickly. I find this much more helpful because it also flexes the grammar aspect. Never tried flash cards. Doesn't seem like my sort of thing. For example, writing out "Ototoi, isha wa tabesugite wa ikenai to itteimashita" (The day before yesterday, the doctor told me to not eat too much) is much more practical than, say, practicing "isha = doctor," "ototoi = day before yesterday," "asatte = day after tomorrow," etc. etc. etc. So for you it seems you prefer learning words from context rather than using rote memorization to learn word for word. I'm curious, Hiro, how did you learn Kanji? I mean, all aspects of it--reading, writing, meaning. Surely if there are foreign Kanji in a sentence you're reading, it should hinder learning words from context, and you can't sound-out foreign Kanji like you can for words in kana. Did you just drill the meanings and pronunciations of words in Kanji into your head and write them out frequently, or did you use another method? Also, are you familiar with the Heisig method?
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Post by Hiro the Half-Elf on May 28, 2012 19:33:46 GMT -5
Kanji in material for students usually (always) come with furigana.
Also it helps a lot to learn the radicals that make up kanji. Once you know those, it's usually pretty easy to determine what a kanji means, especially in context.
Uh, if I run into a kanji I don't know and there's neither furigana nor a voice-over, then there's always jisho's Search Kanji by Radical feature.
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Post by sukotsuto on May 29, 2012 0:25:38 GMT -5
Well, looks like I would be looking over this thread next semester, as I enrolled in both Spanish and Japanese, never having learned any language officially before (except maybe English at school or something).
I heard that if you memorize a word a day for every language you're learning, it would help you learn the language faster. At least, that's how a certain linguist went about being able to be good enough at numerous languages to be able to converse in such a short time.
With that method, you learn around 365 new words a year... and that would lead up to 3,650 words in 10 years.
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