How to learn vocabulary?

Ask specific questions about your target languages. Beginner questions welcome!
rfnsoares
Orange Belt
Posts: 123
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2015 12:39 am
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Languages: Native: Portuguese
B2/C1: English, French, Italian, Spanish and Russian
A2/B1: Romanian, German
A2: Polish, Greek, Hungarian
Dabbling: Croatian, Czech, Swedish, Norwegian, Lithuanian, Finnish, Turkish, Hebrew...
x 266

Re: How to learn vocabulary?

Postby rfnsoares » Sun Sep 24, 2017 4:37 pm

Yes. Reading is the best way to learn new words. When learning verbs I prefer learning them in context and nouns using word lists and review them very often.
To me this method has been worked well so far. Actually it works even better if you learn the nous, the verbs, the adjectives and adverbs which are associated to the root of the word.
3 x
100 Russian novels : 33 / 100

User avatar
arabicwithhamid
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2017 1:49 pm
Languages: Arabic (native)
English (C2)
German (B2)
French (beginner)
x 1

Re: How to learn vocabulary?

Postby arabicwithhamid » Mon Sep 25, 2017 7:56 am

Well.. an important question indeed. Your focus should be to retain the vocabulary you have learned..
Because many learners complain that they forget the vocabulary they learned, especially for difficult languages like Arabic.
I suggest the following:
- For any language: focus on the frequently-used vocabulary, as they will contribute to most of your learning (Pareto principle)
- Read about the forgetting curve and try to brush on your vocabulary
- Use flash cards .. excessively!
- Watch movies to train your ears
- Listen interactively, meaning that you give yourself sufficient time to analyse the sentence, spot the difficult parts and work on them
- learn by writing, not by reading
In my YouTube channel, Learn Arabic with Hamid, I posted a video to discuss this issue and talked about different ways to overcome the problem of difficulty recalling vocab.
best of luck!
0 x

User avatar
leosmith
Brown Belt
Posts: 1341
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2016 10:06 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)
Spanish (adv)
French (int)
German (int)
Japanese (int)
Korean (int)
Mandarin (int)
Portuguese (int)
Russian (int)
Swahili (int)
Tagalog (int)
Thai (int)
x 3104
Contact:

Re: How to learn vocabulary?

Postby leosmith » Mon Sep 25, 2017 11:59 am

arabicwithhamid wrote:Use flash cards .. excessively!

Welcome to the forum. Could you define what you mean by excessively? I'm sure you don't mean 100% of your study time, for example.
learn by writing, not by reading

I think you want to learn by, or as a result of, practicing all the skills, so can you please clarify this? Thanks!
0 x
https://languagecrush.com/reading - try our free multi-language reading tool

Vedun
Orange Belt
Posts: 215
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 1:36 pm
Languages: Bulgarian, English
German, Italian
Russian, Finnish
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3009
x 149

Re: How to learn vocabulary?

Postby Vedun » Mon Sep 25, 2017 8:43 pm

I agree that immersion is the way to go. Especially past a certain point hardly any amount of wordlists and srs can catch up with the amount of vocab you learn by full immersion.

So how to immerse? There's LWT (learn with texts), readlang, aprelo among others - or subbed videos if that's your thing.
0 x

User avatar
arabicwithhamid
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2017 1:49 pm
Languages: Arabic (native)
English (C2)
German (B2)
French (beginner)
x 1

Re: How to learn vocabulary?

Postby arabicwithhamid » Tue Sep 26, 2017 7:58 am

Hi leosmith,

By excessively, I mean a lot..
I know some people do not using flash cards, but it really worked for me - I used this approach as I started to learn German and was really working. Sorry if I was not clear as I did not mean you should not read, on the contrary, it is very important. What I meant is that learning by writing is far more efficient than reading alone. So you write the vocabulary few times instead of reading it only.

The points I listed are different approaches that you can combine together to maximise your effeciency
You can choose whatever works with you. But try to integrate as much methods as you can.
For example:
make short sessions - 30 minutes long - for learning and try make a different approach in each session
regards
1 x

AmitS
White Belt
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:58 am
Location: Israel
Languages: Hebrew (N), English (B2), Spanish (beginner)
x 23

Re: How to learn vocabulary?

Postby AmitS » Fri Oct 06, 2017 9:24 am

ロータス wrote:If not working, try adding definitions. More weeks pass. Still not working? Add sentences you found the words in.

The problem in this way is that if you write the words into a notebook line by line, then you won't be able to edit the word by adding definitions/sentences, because it requires more lines and space, which are already taken by other words.
Even if you leave some lines in advance, it will come out cumbersome and won't be uniform and comfortable to look at.
That's why I've been thinking about using a notebook software, which will allow me to edit and organize my content, and may even allow me to use more advanced options, such as hiding terms, for testing myself.
As for this topic, I think I'll open a separate thread.
memoryman wrote:Personally I like to use language software to introduce me to new vocab and give me practice using it

I also like such softwares (like Duolingo), but the problem is that they are only suitable for beginners (as far as I know). I don't know any software that teaches advanced vocabulary words and then gives you to practice them through context.
If you know one, please let me know. I agree that if you practice using a word, it'll stick better. But as I said, as far as I know, this option is unavailable for intermediate-advanced learners..
rdearman wrote:If you want to learn new words. You want to learn them in context. You don't want to use SRS or lists. Then you just need to read, a lot. Read, read, read, read. You'll learn the word in context, you'll not have to bother with electronic stuff, and you can visually see it on the page. It is what people did before computers, so we know it will work.
aaleks wrote:
rdearman wrote:Read, read, read, read.

Well, it's exactly what I did :) and I'm sure I will do if one day I start to learn French, Spanish or revive my German. I hate worklist since school, so it seems I don't have much of options :)

Actually, I have thought about start reading already on an early stage, after finishing some beginner's courses. But the fact that I might not cover some of the top few thousands most common words from those initial courses made me change my mind to go for a frequency list first. I want to make sure that I know these kind of words first, before actually start reading.
Also, how do you learn new words and remember them just by reading alone? Why don't you recommend memorizing words from a list? Don't you think it is more efficient to remember their meaning(s) over time?
1 x

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
x 6093
Contact:

Re: How to learn vocabulary?

Postby tarvos » Fri Oct 06, 2017 12:20 pm

I have memorized words from lists before (it was common back in the day in school). The thing is, though, that for the languages I speak best, I may have learned some of the basic vocabulary from lists, but the majority of it in context when I was using the language through my basic skills. I have never even touched a Spanish word list; I started with a few Assimil lessons, got bored, and once I got to Spain I just took it from there.

Six months in and I had all the vocabulary I needed just from my workplace.
2 x
I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

aaleks
Blue Belt
Posts: 884
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2017 7:04 pm
Languages: Russian (N)
x 1910

Re: How to learn vocabulary?

Postby aaleks » Fri Oct 06, 2017 3:55 pm

AmitS wrote:Also, how do you learn new words and remember them just by reading alone? Why don't you recommend memorizing words from a list? Don't you think it is more efficient to remember their meaning(s) over time?

In my case just looking words up while reading a book has been enough. Of course, I've not just looked up and moved on, I've really done my best to memorize every single of them. In most cases I've had to look up one word several times, but I've been OK with it. And it's a kind of spaced repetition as well. But I'm not going to advertise, or recommend, this approach as the most effective one. Many people would just give up reading a book if they have to look up too many words. So for them it won't work.
To be honest, I used something like grammar cards while studying German some time ago. I was leafing through the cards practically on a daily basis. I guess it's close to using wordlists and the like.
0 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
x 17566

Re: How to learn vocabulary?

Postby Cavesa » Sat Oct 07, 2017 6:12 pm

rdearman wrote:If you want to learn new words. You want to learn them in context. You don't want to use SRS or lists. Then you just need to read, a lot. Read, read, read, read. You'll learn the word in context, you'll not have to bother with electronic stuff, and you can visually see it on the page. It is what people did before computers, so we know it will work.


I still cannot understand why people take it as two exclusive options. I find a mix of SRS and tons of context to be the best. Of course it is possible to learn without SRS! But SRS, unless you hate it, can make the process faster.

Reviewing in Anki doesn't mean you are not learning in context. As long as it is a word encountered somewhere, as long as the learner has a lot of input.

It is possible to learn without SRSing, I have great experience with extensive reading. A mix is great. But SRS only is a problem. I have no clue why there are people who just SRS wordlists as their main learning activity. There are people on the internet, who keep recommending each other to learn with Duolingo+Memrise and "then just speak and speak". This is a sure way to fail and get disappointed.
5 x

User avatar
rdearman
Site Admin
Posts: 7231
Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 4:18 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: English (N)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1836
x 23127
Contact:

Re: How to learn vocabulary?

Postby rdearman » Sat Oct 07, 2017 6:15 pm

I recommend both anki and reading, but the OP specifically set out the criteria. So no electronic devices and no lists is basically just reading. :lol:
2 x
: 0 / 150 Read 150 books in 2024

My YouTube Channel
The Autodidactic Podcast
My Author's Newsletter

I post on this forum with mobile devices, so excuse short msgs and typos.


Return to “Practical Questions and Advice”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests