Vocabulary Building

[shariperkins.livejournal.com]

What methods do you use for quick vocabulary building? Are there particular texts you use? Learner's Dictionaries? Do you study words in catagories -- such as by root? I'm looking to expand my vocabulary swiftly, and I'd love input on how people here have quickly and effectively incorperated new words into their active (and passive) vocabulary.

Comments

[oikade.livejournal.com]

The easiest way for me has been to learn from songs. Whatever interests me - old Russian folk songs, opera and pop music. If your vocabulary is small, pop music is the most accessible place to start. I also find this good for improving my listening comprehension and pronounciation. Just find the lyrics online and try to sing along with the music!

[khathi.livejournal.com]

I never actually studied Russian from scratch, being a native speaker ;), but for English and Japanese the stuff like learner's dictionaries and thematic collections in textbooks were most effective for me.

[khathi.livejournal.com]

I'd call it rather counterproductive, in fact, as this way you tend to remember only poetical context and meanings of the words, which is not always correspond to basic meaning of a word.

[oikade.livejournal.com]

Have you tried it? If you have and found it counterproductive, that just goes to show that different things work well for different people.

I think I was clear that this is something that works well for me. I don't have the problem with it that you suggest, and find it a quick way to learn lots of new words.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_viola/]

I don't know what level you're at, but I'm trying to improve my vocabulary as well at the moment and I'm using First 1000 Words in Russian (http://www.usborne.co.uk/languages/other_languages/other_languages_title.asp?Primary=1727) to build on basic vocabulary and it's great because I can get anyone at home to test me on it, because they have the pronunciations written phonetically underneath the Russian word.

This book is laid out with pictures of locations and the things you find there, so what I like about it is that I can test myself say when standing at a bus-stop or a check-out, to see how many things around me I can name. (Clearly my vocabulary level is not very high!) It's useful because I've found that I tend to know all kinds of literary or linguistic terms, but not basic things like birds or trees.

I'm also working through a reader, which is very useful as well because it has a vocabulary at the back, so I don't depend too much on my dictionary.

[fox-c.livejournal.com]

I actually find reading helps me the most - either books or newspapers and then LOTS of conversation practice (this last bit I'm dreadfully short on).

I have found Roots of the Russian Language (2http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0844242675/sr=8-1/qid=1155043276/ref=sr_1_1/026-6653832-7945246?ie=UTF8&s=gateway") by G.Z. Patrick to be *very* helpful though.

[khathi.livejournal.com]

Yep, I've tried it. Well, I won't object, if it worked for you -- that's fine. But as you said, different thigs work for different people, so I believe that the wider spectrum of opinions is better.
One particular problem in this case is that I've tried this method for Japanese, which has REALLY big difference between poetic and prosaic speech. Even grammar is changed sometimes.

[katya91670.livejournal.com]

I agree..I find that reading, text book, newspapers etc., and speaking when you can helps. Songs are good too. For some reason when something is sung, regardless of the poetic use, it helps to reinforce what you have learned. Remember your songs from childhood? That was done to help build vocabulary. We must remember,we all started our languages from scratch. It could have been as a baby or when we were older. That is why it feels like you're a kid again when starting a new lanaguage. Try a children's book to start and work your way up like you did when you were little. It works wonderfully! Good Luck!

[belacane.livejournal.com]

I read, speak, or watch tv, and then pick out about 10-15 words that I don't know, memorize them, and put them into sentences, and try to use them as much as possible.

The best ones come up when I'm speakig russian with a native speaker, since they're words that I'd probably use most often.

gl!

[belacane.livejournal.com]

songs are great!
especially when they're running through your head... an the new words get stuck!

[forever--more.livejournal.com]

I don't remember what it was called, but there is a downloadable Russian program on the internet that in regular intervals - say every hour - brings up a window with a vocabulary word in Russian. You type the meaning in English and if you're correct a certain amount of times it replaces that vocab. word with a new one.
It works very well from the constant repetition, especially if you use the computer a lot.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I'd tend to agree, though I'd never learned Russian as a foreign language ;-) My English started from listening to the Beatles. In fact, this, and then reading books (nonfiction first, then a lot of fiction,) was all I did as a study: I never studied English formally.

[phoenix-riddle.livejournal.com]

What reader do you have?

[phoenix-riddle.livejournal.com]

That is one of the most innovative methods for learning that I have ever heard. Outstanding!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_viola/]

If you remember the name of that, please let us know!

корня

[captainfisto.livejournal.com]

roots of the russian language by G.Z. Patrick

i am using this approach right now and it is working great. russian really pieces together nicely and knowing the prefixes/suffixes is, in my mind, essential for comprehension...so it just follows that the roots are too.

my one and only post is from my "root of the week" i won't post like that often because it is better for me to just write it on paper. i got mine off half.com for 5$ it has examples and some sentences, i then supplement those words with a dictionary (putting other prefixes on the root) to get a broader picture of the root and it's meaning. i have only looked at a few roots so far, and am just working through one a week. but if you are in intense study mode you could do 1 or more a day.

i would also recommend starting with the prefixes and suffixes, then moving on the roots. i found that to be helpful.