Faster Foreign Language Learning

Sometimes those in favor of a more communicative approach to foreign language vocabulary learning look down on vocabulary lists as an artificial way to build vocabulary. Personally, I don’t believe vocabulary lists are as evil as they’re made out to be.

After all, popular SRS (spaced repetition software) or flashcard programs like Anki, Mnemosyne, Supermemo, jMemorize which few people seem to take issue with, are essentially vocabulary lists.

You don’t absolutely need lists to learn vocabulary—particularly if you have a good auditory memory and get a lot of conversation practice—but if you use them well, they can speed up your learning.

Where many learners go wrong is in:

All these problems are easy to correct.

Take Vocabulary from Authentic Material

Be wary of looking up words in a bilingual dictionary and writing down the translation. This really is an artificial way to learn. In the early stages when you’re working on your first 500 or so words, though, it’s pretty much unavoidable. Your phrasebook or course book gives you little verbal goodies like “Good morning” and “How are you?” and you add them to your list. No worries. That’s a perfectly fine way to build a basic vocabulary.

As soon as you can, though, build your vocabulary from authentic material (anything meant for native speakers, not foreign learners). Even if you’re an absolute beginner, pop songs and light reading magazines are not beyond you. If nothing else, listen or read (yes, without understanding) and look up only those words you’ve come across at least twice.

Try not to collect more words than you can actually learn. The average learner can pick up about seven new words a day, not including the “freebies” like cognates and words that are just plain catchy. If you’re making lists of 20 or more words a day and can’t remember most of those words three days later, you’re overdoing it. Slow down and focus really learning on a few essential words at a time.

Collect Phrases for Context

When you come across an interesting word, if at all possible, write down the whole sentence you saw or heard it in. If that’s not possible, a least write down some of the words used with that new word. Even partial phrases like “the stairs to the basement” or “parked in the garage” provide some context and give you some examples of grammar structures.

An easy way to collect phrases for words in more widely spoken languages is to plug the word into a search engine and see what comes up. Stick with newspapers, government sites and other authority sites to avoid collecting bad grammar.

If Google doesn’t turn up much for your target language and you can a teacher or handy native speaker, write out some sentences of your own and have them checked.

Make up Mnemonics

Unless you have a great memory, looking at words and repeating the translations over and over will only waste your time and frustrate you. Instead of forcing words into your memory by dint of repetition, give each new word a “hook” to make it easier to remember.

The classic example is the “linkword technique” in which you link the new word to a word you already know in a way that’s memorable to you. Say you want to remember that the French for “but” is “mais,” which rhymes with the English word may. Based on that you think up a story to link the two words.

For example, “When Mother let us do something, there was always a catch. If we asked, ‘May we…?’ she answered, ‘Yes, you may, but only if…’” There are a variety of these memory techniques to choose from depending on your personal preference. Anything that’s meaningful and memorable to you personally is fair game.

Use Your Words

Because it’s classier than throwing a tantrum. And even with the best mnemonics in the world, at a certain point, you’re going to start forgetting the words you don’t use. Reading and listening provide review and go a long way towards helping you retain your vocabulary. If you’re studying a dead language, it’s probably all you need (unless you want hold an erudite conversation at the local Latin club).

Otherwise, though, you may find you have trouble remember those words and putting them into sentences fast enough to have a conversation. It is entirely possible to understand everything you hear in a certain language, yet not be able to speak it.

Lists have their place in foreign language vocabulary learning, but they aren’t enough in and of themselves to really build a strong, active vocabulary. What’s more, poorly made lists can waste your time with words you’ll never need to use. Created carefully and used creatively, though, they can be a huge help in building your foreign language vocabulary.

Related posts:

1. Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning Made Really Easy
2. Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning: Which Words to Learn First
3. How to Learn Foreign Language Vocabulary When You Have No Time to Study
4. Learning a Foreign Language: Tips for Learning Grammar
5. Vocabulary For Unexpected Childcare: “Will You Watch my Kid for a Minute?”

Tags: foreign language vocabulary learning, learning vocabulary, remembering foreign words, vocabularly lists