Learning vocabulary from lists

How to maximise the time you spend learning the vocab from the

vocab lists from this course

Beware of the serial effect!!!

= learning the order which the words come in the list rather than

the meaning of the words!

So, mix up the order in which you learn the vocab items (use cards?)

Translation will help you

But, make sure you have got the correct translation!

Words/phrases translate differently in different contexts

e.g. leo.org gives us all these possibilities for ‘division’!!!:

i division die Abteilung ii division [comm.] die Aufspaltung ii division die Aufteilung ii division der Bereich - einer Firma ii division das Divis ii division die Division ii division die Einreihung ii division die Einteilung ii division [comm.] der Geschäftsbereich ii division der Geschäftszweig ii division die Gliederung ii division der Hammelsprung ii division die Spaltung ii division [comm.] die Sparte ii division [sport.] die Spielklasse ii division die Teilung ii division der Teilungsstrich i division die Trennlinie ii division die Trennung ii division - of a company [comm.] der Unternehmensbereich ii division die Unterteilung ii division die Verteilung ii division der Werksbereich ii division die Zerteilung ii division - of a company [comm.] Bereich eines Unternehmens

Repetition!

The interval between the repetitions should get progressively longer if you want to get these words/phrases into your ‘long-term memory’ :

e.g. after a day

after 3 days

after a week

after two weeks

after 3 weeks

Just ‘rote learning’ (saying/writing words again

& again) won’t help you very much

You need to retrieve the words (‘get them from

your memory’) when you are repeating the words

A way of retrieving a word/phrase

- from a translation (look at German word, think of English word)

This may be enough for words that you find easy, but for more difficult words you have to practice using the words (engaging with their meaning) and translate it

An efficient way of retrieving a word/phrase by using it!:

- Write an example sentenceGood example sentences are not easy, they take thought (and so time)!

But the more thought the more learning!

A good example sentence should include elements of the words meaning, e.g:

Definition of a foundation: an organization that is established to provide money for a particular purpose, for example charity, or that does research on a particular subject.

Bad example sentence: ‘He works for a foundation’ - to think of this sentence you don’t need to engage with the key aspects of meaning.

Good example sentence: ‘The board of the foundation meet once a year to decide which students to give grants to this year’ – to write this sentence you have to engage with the charity aspect and the providing money aspect of the words meaning

Save the example sentence and use it to test yourself the next

time you want to recall the word!

‘The board of the f___________ meet once a year to decide which students to give grants to this year’

Reading the example sentence aloud will probably help you

Personalising the sentence will probably help you (making it relevant to your life)

You need to think of the sentence! Don’t use somebody else’s sentence. Thinking of the sentence is when most of the learning is happening!

An efficient ways of starting to learn phrases/words on your

lists:

- by categorising

To think of the categories and to put words in categories you have to think very carefully about the meaning of the words

← here is a PDF example

(double click)

Using cards

- English word/phrase on one side and translation on the other- mix up the order of the cards regularly (to avoid serial effect)- each time you ‘practice’ a card, put the date on it, and store it with other cards of the same date (so you know when to repeat it next)- OK to mix up thematic areas (learning words with similar meaning at the same time can have a negative effect)- concentrate on the difficult words/phrases! (remove the easy ones, don’t waste your time!)- in one ‘session’, first English to German, then German to English

Using cards

deliverable

machbar

Using cards

But remember: translating alone is not enough, it doesn’t give

you enough detail about context and ‘grammar’ to use the word or be sure of its context for the meaning you want in English…

e.g. ‘deliverable’ has at least two meanings in business English. Make sure you’re learning the meaning that you want to!

DELIVERBABLE // noun, adjective

noun [C, usually pl.]

(Commerce; Production)a piece of work that must be completed, especially as part of a long project:The development team have agreed on dates for all deliverables, including the final product. tracking project deliverables with specific software

adjective [not usually before noun]that can be achieved, provided or delivered:Is the proposal deliverable? The futures contract becomes deliverable on January 31. deliverable results The company believes its takeover offer is deliverable.

So add the necessary information to your cards…

Using cards

Deliverables(project management)

Die Ergebnisse (eines Projekts)

Example of how context is key! This is from a discussion thread on leo.org:

Übersetzung: Arbeitsergebnisse für Kunden

Quellen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deliverablehttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projektmanagement

Kommentar:

Das kommt wohl aus dem Projektmanagement, dort sind die "Deliverables" die Ergebnisse, die eine Untergruppe des Projekts zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt (Meilenstein) liefern muss.Leider wird in unserer Firma auch alles anglizert, daher weiss ich keine gute Übersetzung für die Customer Deliverables.Schau doch mal in die Links, dort werden die Details genau erklärt.

The Keyword Technique

If you think you are a strong ‘visual learner’ then research shows that this will probably work very well for you for difficult words:

Thinking of an image which links the English word with the meaning of the German word

e.g.

(deliverable)

Link between German & English:

“LIVE auf ORF, Österreich 3, Frankreich 1”

= „das Ergebnis von Projekt Frankreich-Schlagen“

Image = scoreboard showing ‘das Ergebnis’

And this is your ‘donkey bridge’!

Summary

• translation is not enough but will help you

• repeat in ways in which you have to think about the meaning of a word

• repeat in short ‘sessions’ but often

• the vocab list for this course is too long to learn ‘last minute’!

• context!