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LEARNING VOCABULARY |
Words and phrases are the building blocks of language. A rich vocabulary is important to really enjoy any foreign language. However, mastering and remembering large amount of material is time-consuming and a difficult process.
MemoAccelerator is a program supporting the process of learning new words and sentences in foreign languages. You can create your own courses with words and phrases (also with the transcription, sound, images). Applied algorithms of repetitions result in vocabulary being assimilated at the optimal pace.
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There are different techniques of learning vocabulary. Below we collected a few articles concerning these techniques that can be useful for you.
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Learning new vocabulary in a foreign language by Tom Aaron
Learning new vocabulary is one challenge in learning a second language. You have already learned a substantial amount of vocabulary in your first language without making a major effort. For learning and remembering vocabulary in your second language, we would like to suggest three tools.
The first tool that you might find helpful is simply writing down new vocabulary and creating cohort groups. Although the examples presented here are for English, the vocabulary techniques apply to all languages. Suppose we start with the word bark, which has two meanings. One bark would fit into the animal sounds cohort group. The other bark is the outside of a tree trunk. You could write the second bark in the tree cohort group.
Let's try another word: violet. You put violet into the color cohort group. Violet has another meaning, a flower. You put violet into a second group, the flower cohort group.
Imagine you have six dozen cohort groups. You have groups for trees, colors, foods, animal sounds, emotions, clothing. The list is endless. All this grouping takes time. Learning a language takes time.
You can set up your cohort groups in a number of ways. You can make cohort lists on your computer. You can make cohort lists on pieces of paper. One approach is writing each word on a piece of paper and then sorting the pieces of paper into their cohort groups. As you sort the pieces of paper into their cohort groups, remember to say the word out loud, and if you can, you should use the word in a sentence.
Learning new words is time consuming. You need to be industrious. Here's where cohort groups get more complicated. Suppose you write industrious on a piece of paper, and create a new cohort group: the busy group. If you create the busy cohort group, you need to create the not busy cohort group. Words such as productive, diligent, industrious, energetic and studious fit into the busy cohort group.
Next you'll want to put words on pieces of paper to sort into the not busy cohort group. For the not busy group, you'll want slacker, lazy, loafer, sluggish and laidback.
In addition to creating cohort groups, another tool you could try for remembering new vocabulary words is diagramming. One diagramming approach is sorting words into places on a spectrum. Suppose you take all the busy and not busy words that you already have on small pieces of paper. You have energetic, diligent, sluggish, productive, studious, industrious, slacker, lazy, loafer and laidback. If you were to sort these words from the least busy to the busiest, you would have to spend some time thinking about the meaning of each word, moving each word around on the spectrum, saying each word out loud, and using each word in a sentence. I suspect after writing these words down and sorting, you would have a good start to mastering these words sufficiently so that you could understand them when you hear them and use them.
A third tool for remembering new vocabulary is visual images. Suppose you want to remember the word violet. You might draw a mental image of an iris. You would see the iris in your mind's eye and think violet. With visual imaging, you might want to think of two words together, such as violet and violin. You might see yourself playing a violet violin. A visual image of a violet violin might help you to retain both violet and violin.
Visual images, diagramming and cohort groups help you to remember new words because you are linking new vocabulary to something else. Remembering is an easier task when something not yet known is linked with something known. The something known could be already learned words or a visual image. Linking new vocabulary words to already known items in picture form will help you to remember new vocabulary.
You probably already know how you learn best. Some of us learn best when we create visual images while some of us learn best when we do something with our hands. You may discover that combining visual images and diagramming with a pencil enables you to remember better than another approach. You may discover that using a pencil and paper helps you to remember better than using a keyboard and computer.
Learning a new language demands diligence and steady effort. Many people start to learn languages, never moving beyond knowing enough to order food in a restaurant and ask where the hotel is. No matter what your goal, these tools - sorting into cohort groups, arranging spectrums and visualizing images - will help you to steadily progress in your language learning.
Aaron Language Services on the web at
http://www.aaronlanguage.com
provides translation, proofreading, and online English coaching to a primarily Japanese client base.
Article Source: Learning new vocabulary in a foreign language
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18 Tips To Learning A Foreign Language by Becks
1/ STUDY EVERY DAY. A foreign language course is different from any other course you take. Language learning is cumulative: you cannot put it off until the weekend. Study 1 or 2 hours for every class hour if you want an A or B.
2/ DISTRIBUTE YOUR STUDY TIME in 15- to 30-minute periods throughout the day. Focus on a different task each time: vocabulary now, grammar next, etc. Get an overview during the first half hour: spend 10 minutes reviewing dialog, 10 minutes learning new vocabulary, 10 minutes learning new grammar ... so you'll at least have looked at it all. Approximately 80% of your study time should be spent in recitation or practice, including practice in the language lab.
3/ ATTEND AND PARTICIPATE IN CLASS WITHOUT FAIL — even if you are not well prepared. Class time is your primary opportunity for practice. Learn the grammar and vocabulary outside of class in order to make the most of class time. Spend a few minutes "warming up" before each class by speaking or reading the language.
4/ MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE IN THE CLASS. Get to know your classmates so you will feel you are among friends. Visit your instructor during office hours to get acquainted: explain your goals and apprehensions about the course.
5/ LEARN ENGLISH GRAMMAR IF YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW IT. Grammar is the skeleton of a language, its basic structure: you must learn it. Review a simplified English grammar text. Compare new grammatical structures in your foreign language to their English equivalents.
6/ PRACTICE FOR TESTS by doing what you will have to do on the test. If the test will require you to write, then study by writing — including spelling and accents. If you will be asked to listen, then practice listening. Ask for practice questions; make up your own test questions. Invent variations on patterns and forms. Over-learn: study beyond the point of recognition to mastery.
7/ DEVELOP A GOOD ATTITUDE. Have a clear personal reason for taking the class. Set personal goals for what you want to learn. Leave perfectionism at the door; give yourself permission to make mistakes and learn from them.
8/ Join several e-mail discussion lists in the target language.
If you´re just starting out, look for lists which have native speakers. At the beginning, you might help them with their English. As you progress, you should be able to write more and more of your messages in the foreign language.
I can´t stress enough the importance of daily e-mail correspondence with native speakers. Not only will this give you regular opportunities to read and write the language, you will also gain invaluable contacts, and learn fascinating things about foreign cultures.
9/ Join a language club.
You can sometimes find these at local colleges. I attended a university which had weekly ´coffee hours´ in several languages during which learners and native speakers could get together and chat. From time to time people from the local community would join us. Take every opportunity to speak the language. Don´t be afraid of mistakes. Just open your mouth and let it come out. You´ll gradually get better at it. Nothing builds confidence more than discovering that you can successfully converse with people in a foreign language.
10/ Consider taking a total immersion course. These are offered at many universities usually during the summer. You can find out what´s available by doing an Internet search or consulting a college foreign language department.
11/ Chose the right course. This must reflect what you actually need to know, how you best earn and how much time you have available.
12/ Get equipped. Have a nice notebook for jotting down interesting vocabulary. Invest in the right sort of dictionary and grammar book. Establish a working routine.
13/ Make the most of listening. Use the tapes and CDs, which go with your course over and over and over.
14/ Make the most of speaking. Practise with other learners. Read the dialogues as they are in your textbook. Then change the mood as you read - be polite, enthusiastic, bored, grumpy. Then change the words slightly.
15/ Make the most of reading - look out for "junk mail" and free leaflets everywhere. Go to foreign Internet sites. Look out for reading schemes for foreign language learners and for native speakers who are struggling readers. Then find the type of texts you are familiar with.
16/ Make the most of writing. Adapt what you've already met and make it your own. Then check you work for the five points of grammar.
17/ Get yourself an email partner - someone who is learning English ambitions similar to yours. Write to each other and support each other. Use English half the time and the language you are studying the rest of the time. Correct each other. Do some tandem learning.
18/ Make the most of your time in the country where they speak that language. Use all of the senses to take in what happens there. Carry on collecting.
All of these ideas are further developed to learning a foreign language. Hope these ways will help you to learn successfully.
Find your Study Guides and Strategies at Education News and more online education information online
Article Source: 18 Tips To Learning A Foreign Language
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For ESL Learners: Five Tips to Help You Remember New English Vocabulary Words by Joan Pougiales, Ph.D.
Learning new vocabulary is easy. Remembering new vocabulary is much more difficult. This is what my students tell me all the time.
Experts who study memory say that we need to hear or see or use a new word at least 50 times before we can actually ´own´ the word ourselves. So here´s some tips to help you remember the new English words that you learn:
Tip #1
Write your new words on sticky notes and put them in prominent places in your house or office − next to the bathroom mirror, on the refrigerator or kitchen cabinets, or on your computer monitor or locker at work. This way you will see the words frequently and improve your ability to keep them in your memory.
Tip #2
Write your new words in a notebook and review them for 5 minutes every day until you have mastered the words.
Tip #3
Make flashcards for your new words and study them every day until you have mastered the words.
Tip #4
Take 3 or 4 new words and try to write a sentence or paragraph that includes all of them and still makes sense. This is what´s called a ´holistic´ approach to learning vocabulary because it requires that you use your whole brain, and this helps you to remember the words.
Tip #5
Experts say that we store words in ´schema´ structures. For example, in our schema for ´restaurant,´ we store a multitude of words, like: table, waitress, waiter, cook, food, chair, menu, check, tip, etc. In our schema for hospitals, we store words like: doctor, nurse, bed, surgery, needle, medicine, pills, etc. So put your new vocabulary words into schemas, and you will have an easier time remembering them.
Joan Pougiales, Ph.D. has taught English as a Second Language for over 30 years to college-bound students in the U.S., as well as to adult immigrants and refugees. Her web site is devoted to helping refugees and immigrants, beginning and intermediate students, to learn English and succeed in their new lives in the U.S. Visit her at www.growenglish.com.
Article Source: For ESL Learners: Five Tips to Help You Remember New English Vocabulary Words
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 Further articles concerning learning vocabulary.
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