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--- language_learning [2011/11/12 23:19]
monkeypuzzle [Vocabulary learning]
+++ language_learning [2012/09/08 20:24] (current)
monkeypuzzle [Difficulties of vocabulary learning]
@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
   - Words tend to acquire different meanings that are somehow synonymous in the native speaker's mind, even though the relationship between these meanings isn't clear for non-natives.
   - Every single word is a world of its own.
-  - Learning words amounts to learn an extremely vast array of topics.
+  - Learning words amounts to learning an extremely vast array of topics.
   - Slang.
   - Inflection makes words unrecognizable.
@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 ==== What can or should be done in order to learn words? ====
-I think that, in order to learn words, it is important to give words what could be called a "sense of place".
+Context, context, context. Use the world in real settings.
-When natives learn words, they are lucky enough to learn them in real use, and thus in the place where the word appears naturally. Many second language learners aren't that lucky, since they must learn everything from books, teachers or media, meaning that the places and forms in which they get in touch with the language are limited.
+==== Eagerness for words ====
-Giving words a "sense of place" means that different words are mentally associated with different places (physical or mental places), and that daily routine reinforces the knowledge of these words as one visits or revisits these places.
+I want to all know words. Even the useless ones.
-I've learned many languages only by reading newspaper articles. Thus, the only places where those language live are those articles. Everytime I reread those articles, I am reminded of the language. But when I'm not reading those articles, the language does no longer exist, because I don't have anything else to do in the language. I have no more places to visit.
+I want to know how you say "plough" in your language, even if I haven't even seen a plough in my life, in any language. I want to know, because knowing what the word for "plough" is, how it declines, where it comes from and what its phonetical structure is, tells me something about your language, and about you, native speaker of the language.
-Places are physical or mental entities. They have a concrete, permanent existence, while words in a foreign language do not. New words especially, they are forgotten as soon as they are understood. Giving words a "sense of place" is an attempt to give words a solid ground in which to live.
+==== Words I don't know are ugly, words I know are beautiful ====
-I guess what I'm saying here is that language learning should be made more lively. But this sentence doesn't fully describe what I feel. Immersing oneself in the language and letting it all come in, picking a word here and there sure works for children. But for me, it is somewhat uncomfortable to just learn a word here and there without worrying about the day in which things start to fall into place. I don't have that patience anymore. I'm not that ignorant either. I can try to grasp the vocabulary of a language at once, as a whole, and cover it as an explorer covers a terrain with the help of a map.
+Repetition is good for learning words. You can call it the [[wp>mere exposure effect]].
-Since there are so many words, the only way to learn them is to divide them into groups and give each group a different treatment. And to give each group a different treatment, one should expose oneself to different experiences in which one naturally encounters each word group.

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