Question on Goldlist Method

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qeadz
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Question on Goldlist Method

Postby qeadz » Tue Mar 21, 2017 7:31 pm

I was just reading a thread on the old HTLAL forum regarding Goldlists.

At this time I'm not actually *doing* the Goldlist, this is just that there *appears* to be a certain kind of counter-intuitiveness in it which perhaps someone can correct my understanding on.

So the way I understand it is:

You're learning a language. You're reading, doing coursework, learning grammar.
Then you make these lists which you distill every 2 weeks, eventually combining multiple distilled lists into a new headlist. BUT the catch is that you must *not* encounter these words during the interim. This appears to be a cornerstone of the alleged success: that they are left for at least 2 weeks.

So how on earth does one simultaneously learn the language AND do Goldlists? I mean the sensible approach, I would think, would be to learning words which will be useful. Words are useful because you expect to use and/or encounter them. But you may not use and/or encounter the words to be true to the method of learning.

ehh.. whut?
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Re: Question on Goldlist Method

Postby Brun Ugle » Tue Mar 21, 2017 7:58 pm

I've just been reading up on the method too on his website. You might find more clarification there, but he says you don't have to avoid seeing the words in the interim, you just don't go back to a list until a minimum of two weeks have gone by. He says that you might see the words other places and sometimes you might even accidentally put a word on a list that you'd already listed before, but none of that is important. In fact, one of his suggestions for advanced learners involves reading a book and taking words for your list from the book. Naturally you will see some of those words again as you continue to read.
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Re: Question on Goldlist Method

Postby Tomás » Tue Mar 21, 2017 8:38 pm

Keep in mind that Goldlist is basically SRS with suboptimal spacing. You will encounter your words in the wild in between reviews. This is a good thing.
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qeadz
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Re: Question on Goldlist Method

Postby qeadz » Tue Mar 21, 2017 9:16 pm

Oh thank you. That makes much more sense.

I watched parts of a *long* video in which I think the originator of this idea was detailing it. Man I couldn't follow him at all. In the end I found a post on Quora in which he mentions that to clarify the (already substantial) video, he was going to write a *book*.

Finally I found someone else's summary of the technique written much more succinctly, although I probably misunderstood what it means to avoid seeing the list. :)

At the moment I am relying on just reading lots of different materials to be able to acquire vocabulary. While I am learning new vocabulary, when I look to people who I can have certainty have managed to become proficient in other languages (especially Korean) I note that all employed some specific technique to target vocabulary.

So it makes me think...
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Re: Question on Goldlist Method

Postby Brun Ugle » Tue Mar 21, 2017 9:34 pm

I think a lot of people have been confused about it because he answered it on his blog. But yeah, the only thing you have to avoid looking at is the actual list that you wrote in your notebook.

I only just started my experiment with the method today, so it was a bit of a coincidence to see your question here. I really don't know if it will work or not. I do find that physically writing things down helps me remember them, so I'm hoping this method will work for me.
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Re: Question on Goldlist Method

Postby Spraker » Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:32 pm

Hi!

I have been using the Goldlist method for some time, with different intensities, and also worried about the words that "has not to be seen" in order for the short/long-term memory strategy to work. My decision is not to worry about those words that reappear often, as you will learn them anyhow. The goldlist method is more for the words that does not occur often enough to force them selves to be learned, those that tend to fall out of the short-term memory multiple times, because of their infrequency. If you study some thematic, you can label the lists with the theme on the top, and return to them after you finished the topic.

My problem is that I am a bit too much of a perfectionist, wanting to remember not only words, but also their spelling. So I only look at the words in my L1 when rehearsing, testing if I know the words with spelling in L2. I think I should start looking on both lists instead, as that is how the method is meant to be used, as far as I understand. How do you do your rehearsing?
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Re: Question on Goldlist Method

Postby Speakeasy » Sat Mar 25, 2017 3:26 am

You might wish to know that a discussion thread was opened in May, 2016 ...

The Gold List Method
http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2804
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qeadz
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Re: Question on Goldlist Method

Postby qeadz » Mon Mar 27, 2017 9:04 pm

Right in that thread some other threads are mentioned. This was one I had found and was reading:

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... ?TID=19713

Many many pages into it the guy behind the Goldlist method hops on and even has some back and forth with people debating the method.

I don't recall whether it was in this thread or elsewhere but the guy did mention that humans are like elephants - they don't forget. And that the Goldlist method was about getting it into long-term memory. Presumably with the assumption that once it is there, it never leaves. He also makes a claim somewhere that if one commits many thousands of words to long-term memory using this method that if the learner immerses in the target language environment some time later, the words will just flow fluently within a few days of immersion.

Anyway I'm sure it has been discussed already and I shall peruse the other thread linked too! Thanks.
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Re: Question on Goldlist Method

Postby elco2 » Tue Mar 28, 2017 9:08 am

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Re: Question on Goldlist Method

Postby Iversen » Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:59 am

The inventor of the method has written something about it on his website. If I have understood it right the explanation behind the destillation process is that the words you eliminate will be remembered BECAUSE you throw them out - methinks something about bad conscience about throwing them out? Or a sense of loss, which the mind counteracts by storing those words while it still has access to them? And those words you keep will of course get one more round where you have a chance to learn them.
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