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> mass-memorizing words as if they're an Asian studying for a chemistry test. Is this appropriate language to use?
Stereotypical but not inappropriate. Using chemistry in this example is kinda bad, anyone that studied it knows that it's much less memorization and much more understanding that is involved.
No, vocabulary is the most important part of learning a language if you want to use to it to actually communicate, or consume media in that language. And learning vocabulary takes a lot of time. You can join exactly zero conversations about everyday topics without knowing at least a few hundred, better a few thousand words. You can't even read stories for toddlers without knowing a few hundred words. Grammar won't he…
However just trying to memorize vocabulary is not the best approach. The reason is that it's hard to memorize vocabulary without associating certain emotions and experiences with them.
Actually using the language daily, even if you only know 100 words is the most important part. You will learn and memorize new words much quicker that way.
Another good practical approach is to change your computer's OS language to the target language as soon as possible - you'll have to remember new words fast and those words will stick forever!
I don't think thats a big revelation or secret though.
No, vocabulary is the most important part of learning a language if you want to use to it to actually communicate, or consume media in that language. And learning vocabulary takes a lot of time. You can join exactly zero conversations about everyday topics without knowing at least a few hundred, better a few thousand words. You can't even read stories for toddlers without knowing a few hundred words. Grammar won't he…
I did not read the article and agree that vocabulary is crucial. However just trying to memorize vocabulary is not the best approach. The reason is that it's hard to memorize vocabulary without associating certain emotions and experiences with them. Actually using the language daily, even if you only know 100 words is the most important part. You will learn and memorize new words much quicker that way. Another good p…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Stereotypical but not inappropriate. Using chemistry in this example is kinda bad, anyone that studied it knows that it's much less memorization and much more understanding that is involved.
Perpetuating racial stereotypes isn't inappropriate?
This is the first heading I read and it’s good the author write it upfront because I know his page is total bullshit.
Vocabulary is the most important thing in language learning since even without any grammar you can get basic communication done ("I hungry, please pizza"), while you can master all the grammar of a language you won’t go far without vocabulary.
Also while it’s good to give an opinion on the internet, it’s better to look at the half century of research in the field, starting by Nation book(s).
However, vocabulary acquisition shouldn't be constrained to the typical or more salient nouns and adjectives. It is absolutely crucial to acquaint oneself with discourse markers (adverbs, prepositional phrases, etcetera), conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, and other less markedly semantic and more functional elements. The main goal throughout the entire process should be becoming capable of producing intelligible sentences right off the bat about anything that crosses one's mind, without many hiccups. Of course, grammar, phonetics, and phonology must be taken into account as well, and a good grounding on their mechanisms is indispensable for anyone that aims to be proficient.
I'm writing a manual on language learning right now, and I've spent a very long time thinking and testing many different hypotheses and methods I've come up with through the years. It's quite an interesting topic, but I reckon many of the considerations that would make one proficient in learning languages can also be applied to any other learning process (learning to code, learning to play a musical instrument...), so it is probable that adopting a more general perspective would be beneficial.
No, vocabulary is the most important part of learning a language if you want to use to it to actually communicate, or consume media in that language. And learning vocabulary takes a lot of time. You can join exactly zero conversations about everyday topics without knowing at least a few hundred, better a few thousand words. You can't even read stories for toddlers without knowing a few hundred words. Grammar won't he…
Vocabulary is still kind of important. I think that learning the top 3000 words in any language will get you far. Start with 100, then 500, then 1000 etc.
I pictured an electron app, with words ordered by usage frequency, with mouseover for translation and speech, dynamic colorization for various relationships, and a window for browsing chinese websites, with their content tied back to the pane of words. I've never seen anything like that, but for me it had a feel of "but of course - how else would I best go about learning to read Chinese?"
> mass-memorizing words as if they're an Asian studying for a chemistry test. Is this appropriate language to use?
Stereotypical but not inappropriate. Using chemistry in this example is kinda bad, anyone that studied it knows that it's much less memorization and much more understanding that is involved.
That is the bad part? SOME white people (I mean crazies like Steve Sailer, not the average HN user) have a funny worldview. When white people perform better than black/latino people in tests, It is because of genetics. When East-Asian people perform better than white it is because they are mindless drones that only are good for rote memorization tests and creativity is a better marker for intelligence anyway.
As others have already noted, vocabulary is the most important aspect with regards to learning a language to a good-enough extent; that is, with regards to making oneself capable of constructing sentences (as non-grammatical as they may be, or as unconventional as they may sound to a native or to a fluent individual, in spite of being deemed "technically correct") that can be understood by other people competent in a…
My recent research finding (that needs to be confirmed with new data I collected) is that East-Asian L2 learners of English have a gap in knowledge of adjectives/adverbs in comparison of nouns. The nouns causing them problem are in the 3000 frequency vocabulary band while the adj/adv they don’t know are in the 2000 frequency band. That’s a very huge gap. So you are totally right that other part of speech that nouns should be given more attention.