8 ms·

Can you talk more about how you learned thousands of words? I've been drilling words with quizlet, and find that it takes ~10 drills to burn a given word into

by xaybey 11y ago

Can you talk more about how you learned thousands of words? I've been drilling words with quizlet, and find that it takes ~10 drills to burn a given word into my brain.

ColinWright 11y ago
Why do you think it will take less than that? Why are you assuming that there is a magic bullet? Yes, some people seem to find it easier than others, but acquiring another language takes time. For some people, a lot of time, and there is, to misquote, no "Royal Road to Language."[0] People are always asking for the easy way to do things. Pratchett wrote about this[1][2] in the context of writing. Sometimes there is nothing better than taking a mashup of techniques and just putting in the time. I've never mastered a second language, but I've got to the point of having conversations in acquired languages. I always use the same technique: * Memorise 100 phrases from a phrase book * Memorise 500 words * Substitute memorised words into memorised phrases * Read a book in the target language: preferrably an action novel aimed at 14 year old boys. * Lather, rinse, repeat. [0] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Euclid#Attributed http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Euclid#Attributed [1] http://terrypratchettappreciation.tumblr.com/post/66802407570/terry-pratchetts-advice-for-writers http://terrypratchettappreciation.tumblr.com/post/6680240757... [2] http://jackscarab.tumblr.com/post/105468067469/i-get-asked-all-the-time-in-letters-and-e-mails http://jackscarab.tumblr.com/post/105468067469/i-get-asked-a...
- EliRivers 11y ago
  Why do you think it will take less than that? Why are you assuming that there is a magic bullet? Because surely by now someone has hack disrupted this space with a webapp using DJango and swift across the whole stack with a leveraged angel investor buyout round.
  - pliny 11y ago
    Are you having a stroke, or am I?
    - iends 11y ago
      He's having a Series A.
  - wodenokoto 11y ago
    Sounds like duolingo :)
ianpurton 11y ago
I started out with LinkWords http://www.linkwordlanguages.com/ http://www.linkwordlanguages.com/ Basically using a memeory technique to associate the foreign word with the german. In the end I stopped using their software as it isn't so great and created my own spreadsheet with the word, foreign word and memory link. I then loaded this into some flashcard software on android. Then several times a day I would try to keep on top of my flaschards. After around 6 months I had gotten through the cards and was getting a reasonable recall rate.

by xaybey 11y ago

Can you talk more about how you learned thousands of words? I've been drilling words with quizlet, and find that it takes ~10 drills to burn a given word into my brain.

ColinWright 11y ago

Why do you think it will take less than that? Why are you assuming that there is a magic bullet? Yes, some people seem to find it easier than others, but acquiring another language takes time. For some people, a lot of time, and there is, to misquote, no "Royal Road to Language."[0] People are always asking for the easy way to do things. Pratchett wrote about this[1][2] in the context of writing. Sometimes there is nothing better than taking a mashup of techniques and just putting in the time. I've never mastered a second language, but I've got to the point of having conversations in acquired languages. I always use the same technique: * Memorise 100 phrases from a phrase book * Memorise 500 words * Substitute memorised words into memorised phrases * Read a book in the target language: preferrably an action novel aimed at 14 year old boys. * Lather, rinse, repeat. [0] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Euclid#Attributed http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Euclid#Attributed [1] http://terrypratchettappreciation.tumblr.com/post/66802407570/terry-pratchetts-advice-for-writers http://terrypratchettappreciation.tumblr.com/post/6680240757... [2] http://jackscarab.tumblr.com/post/105468067469/i-get-asked-all-the-time-in-letters-and-e-mails http://jackscarab.tumblr.com/post/105468067469/i-get-asked-a...

EliRivers 11y ago
Why do you think it will take less than that? Why are you assuming that there is a magic bullet? Because surely by now someone has hack disrupted this space with a webapp using DJango and swift across the whole stack with a leveraged angel investor buyout round.
- pliny 11y ago
  Are you having a stroke, or am I?
  - iends 11y ago
    He's having a Series A.
- wodenokoto 11y ago
  Sounds like duolingo :)

ianpurton 11y ago

I started out with LinkWords http://www.linkwordlanguages.com/ http://www.linkwordlanguages.com/ Basically using a memeory technique to associate the foreign word with the german. In the end I stopped using their software as it isn't so great and created my own spreadsheet with the word, foreign word and memory link. I then loaded this into some flashcard software on android. Then several times a day I would try to keep on top of my flaschards. After around 6 months I had gotten through the cards and was getting a reasonable recall rate.