How do you Study "Frequency Dictionary Books"?

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german2k01
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How do you Study "Frequency Dictionary Books"?

Postby german2k01 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 7:19 pm

Hello Guys,

I have a query in regards to studying the frequency dictionary books. They are available in different languages including German. You can easily purchase them on Amazon. The thing is, these books are not available in pdf format. Therefore, it is not easy to copy and paste words; their meanings, or corresponding sentences in an SRS software like Anki. A book can go up to 3000 words then the subsequent books can cover words up to 10,000. Link: https://www.amazon.de/s?k=frequency+dictionary+books&ref=nb_sb_noss

I am trying to figure out how to retain these words in my long-term memory. And, how many words per day should I target?
Is there an algorithm that I should follow to repeat the already covered words again on a different day? Are there any sound strategies that I can adopt for my purpose?

Any thoughts, please. Thanks

EDIT: Now I checked their official website and have just noticed that these books are also available in pdf format if you purchase from their website. So now what should be the strategy?
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Re: How do you Study "Frequency Dictionary Books"?

Postby rdearman » Tue Nov 30, 2021 7:34 pm

You might want to check out Iversen's Guide to Learning Languages on language learning and using wordlists.
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Re: How do you Study "Frequency Dictionary Books"?

Postby Iversen » Tue Nov 30, 2021 7:46 pm

I have written about precisely this topic in the thread about language learning 20-30 years ago, and my general answer is that everybody has to learn the very common words (including the 'grammar words'), but because they have many different uses and meanings and often are irregular you can't learn enough about them from a dictionary - and definitely not from a typical frequency dictionary, which just lists the words (to boot without translations). A good normal bilingual dictionary with many practical examples would be better, but at least for the grammar words the logical step must be to learn the details from a grammar.

The common, but not VERY common words could be learn bulkwise from a dictionary, but instead of frequency dictionaries I would prefer plucking the interesting words myself from an ordinary dictionary, coupled with finding new words in study texts and running them through Anki or wordlists or whichever system you fancy. My favorite is of course the three-column wordlist layout, which I have described in my language learning guide section 2, but others may have other preferences.

And even rarer words should be selected on the basis of your own interests, not learned just because some other people have used them. Only when you have obtained a passive vocabulary that permits you to read comfortably with limited use of a dictionary could it be relevant to run through a frequency list to fill out the remaining holes.

Some dictionaries indicate when a given word is rare or regional, but it would be nice to have more precise indications - however as part of the informations in a normal dictionary and not in the form of a list. After all, who cares whether a word is number 1117 or 2117 on such a list ...
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Re: How do you Study "Frequency Dictionary Books"?

Postby german2k01 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:07 pm

I have written about precisely this topic in the thread about language learning 20-30 years ago, and my general answer is that everybody has to learn the very common words (including the 'grammar words'), but because they have many different uses and meanings and often are irregular you can't learn enough about them from a dictionary - and definitely not from a typical frequency dictionary, which just lists the words (to boot without translations).


What if these "frequency dictionaries" have reformed over the years; Currently they offer English translations as well in the form of sentences; would you STILL not prefer using them? I am attaching a sample of such a frequency dictionary for your consideration.

FrequencyDictionaryBook_Sample.JPG
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Re: How do you Study "Frequency Dictionary Books"?

Postby Iversen » Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:30 pm

The one you show here is far better than the barebone lists I have seen earlier. It squanders space so I can't really see it as a book on paper, and onscreen you would only see a few words at any one time. But in a more concise form (with the same informations) it might be useful. And I would see it as an improvement on a normal dictionary if the position of a word on a (hopefully reliable) frequency list was listed alongside gender and morphology and typical constructions.
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Re: How do you Study "Frequency Dictionary Books"?

Postby german2k01 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:46 pm

Iversen wrote:The one you show here is far better than the barebone lists I have seen earlier. It squanders space so I can't really see it as a book on paper, and onscreen you would only see a few words at any one time. But in a more concise form (with the same informations) it might be useful. And I would see it as an improvement on a normal dictionary if the position of a word on a (hopefully reliable) frequency list was listed alongside gender and morphology and typical constructions.


Another sample from a different frequency dictionary.
FrequencyDictionary_Sample_RandellJones_Erwin.JPG
FrequencyDictionary_Sample1_RandellJones_Erwin.JPG


What do you make of it?
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Re: How do you Study "Frequency Dictionary Books"?

Postby Iversen » Tue Nov 30, 2021 9:03 pm

Sometimes the world improves... frequency lists apparent have become useful.

On a related note: until recently you would get hit numbers every time you searched for something in Google, and I often used them to find out whether something I was going to write was current language at all. But then Google changed the setup of its results so that first it showed advertisments, then it tried to guess what I might want to know and only far down or on the next page I would find the things I actually wanted to know. For a time I used a special page for 'advanced' searches, but now that has also been ruined. I even experimented with Bing (not better), but now I have just accepted that the world sometimes takes big steps backwards.
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Re: How do you Study "Frequency Dictionary Books"?

Postby german2k01 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 9:08 pm

FreqDicSample2_Erwin_JuppMohring.JPG
FreqDicSample1_Erwin_JuppMohring.JPG
FreqDicSample_Erwin_JuppMohring.JPG


Another sample from a different frequency dictionary. These are three different frequency dictionaries that have a different layout in regards to giving out information. You can easily see that they have reformed over the years and are no longer simple wordlists.
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Re: How do you Study "Frequency Dictionary Books"?

Postby blackcoffee » Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:27 pm

Iversen wrote:The one you show here is far better than the barebone lists I have seen earlier. It squanders space so I can't really see it as a book on paper, and onscreen you would only see a few words at any one time. But in a more concise form (with the same informations) it might be useful. And I would see it as an improvement on a normal dictionary if the position of a word on a (hopefully reliable) frequency list was listed alongside gender and morphology and typical constructions.


Just as a side note, I think white space is greatly underrated. I think I learn more from a nice clear layout of text with plenty of white space.

I know publishers have had and still have practical reasons to condense lots information into a more compact space, but I love an uncluttered page with just the right information and lots of white space.
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Re: How do you Study "Frequency Dictionary Books"?

Postby DaveAgain » Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:52 pm

Iversen wrote:Sometimes the world improves... frequency lists apparent have become useful.

On a related note: until recently you would get hit numbers every time you searched for something in Google, and I often used them to find out whether something I was going to write was current language at all. But then Google changed the setup of its results so that first it showed advertisments, then it tried to guess what I might want to know and only far down or on the next page I would find the things I actually wanted to know. For a time I used a special page for 'advanced' searches, but now that has also been ruined. I even experimented with Bing (not better), but now I have just accepted that the world sometimes takes big steps backwards.
There used to be a lot buzz around the Russian search engine yandex.ru. I use duckduckgo.com.
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