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Steve's Youtube Videos - Vocabulary, How To Learn Vocabulary

How To Learn Vocabulary

Hi. Language learning is one of the most enriching, rewarding, satisfying activities we can engage in. If you're interested in this subject, please subscribe to my channel where I talk about my experience in learning 15 languages.

The most important task in language learning, in my opinion, is the acquisition of vocabulary words. If we have enough words, we can make sense of what we're reading or listening to and we can somehow express ourselves. Vocabulary is much more important than grammar. The grammar you acquire gradually as you become familiar with the language, with the words, but first of all you need words.

So how do we acquire vocabulary?

Well, I think there are two sorts of approaches. One is the deliberate study of vocabulary by reading vocabulary lists and trying to memorize them or doing flashcards, keeping handwritten lists, these kinds of things, the other is to learn through a lot of exposure. Now, the strategy that you adopt will depend on your personal preference and also, in my view, on how much time you have.

If you have a lot of time, six-seven hours a day as I did when I was studying Mandarin Chinese 45 years ago, then you can take an hour a day for the deliberate study of vocabulary. However, if you have one hour a day and two-thirds or three-quarters of that time, which I call dead time, is in your car, doing tasks around the house, walking the dog, then I suggest you don't try to deliberately learn the vocabulary.

There is significant research which shows that what they call block learning, where you take some material and try to force yourself to learn it, review it many, many times and go through, for example, your list of vocabulary or your flashcards over and over in the hope of nailing that and mastering it, that is relatively inefficient and that interleaved learning, (interleaving, I suggest you Google the term) in other words, where you come across some information, then you forget it, you go look at some other information and you come back to that first information, so you're sort of interleaving layers of different things, forgetting and relearning, actually enables you to learn things better.

Very quickly, the Law of Diminishing Returns sets in when we're trying deliberately to learn something. It's no longer fresh for our brain and the brain basically pushes back, whereas if you forget and come back to it you learn better. But if you have six-seven hours a day, there's nothing wrong spending some time reviewing flashcards.

If I look at my own pattern where I consume a lot of content through listening and reading and acquiring lots and lots of words, if I had to review them all in flashcards or on lists I would spend my whole… I have to decide. Do I want to spend my time reviewing words in flashcards or do I want to spend that time listening and reading to things of interest. I tend to do the listening and reading, I find that I acquire words very quickly and I have an enjoyable time doing it.

Of course, speaking is also helpful. What you hear the native speakers say while speaking is what I call high resonance, just as interesting content is high resonance. You notice things better if you're engaged in a conversation and you also notice when you weren't able to find the words yourself and then you hear someone else use them. So that's very, very good.

However, in my own case, I prefer to delay that speaking situation unless there's a need, if I'm living in the country where the language is spoken. Otherwise, I prefer to delay it until I have something meaningful to say and can understand what the other person is saying. Otherwise, we end up with a very limited range of language that we're exposed to like, “How are you?” “What's your name?” “What's the weather like?”

Therefore, again, I prefer to give myself that significant exposure through listening and reading, quite confident that the high-frequency words will appear very often, the medium-frequency words will appear less often, but I will eventually get them, and the very low-frequency words, some will stick and some won't. If they're that low frequency, maybe I don't really need them.

Ultimately, the choice is with the learner and my preference is to study in an enjoyable way. If I were in a course somewhere working five-six hours a day having to write an exam, I might take a different approach. There you have it, that's my take on how to acquire vocabulary.

I'll continue once a week with these discussions on language learning and, if you're interested, please subscribe to my channel. Bye for now.

How To Learn Vocabulary Wie man Vokabeln lernt Cómo aprender vocabulario Come imparare il vocabolario Como aprender vocabulário Как выучить словарный запас Як вивчати лексику 如何学习词汇 如何学习词汇 如何學習詞彙

Hi. Oi. Language learning is one of the most enriching, rewarding, satisfying activities we can engage in. O aprendizado de idiomas é uma das atividades mais enriquecedoras, gratificantes e satisfatórias em que podemos nos envolver. Изучение языка - это один из наиболее обогащающих, приносящих пользу и удовлетворение видов деятельности, которыми мы можем заниматься. 语言学习是我们可以从事的最丰富、最有价值、最令人满意的活动之一。 If you’re interested in this subject, please subscribe to my channel where I talk about my experience in learning 15 languages. Se você se interessou por esse assunto, inscreva-se no meu canal onde falo sobre minha experiência no aprendizado de 15 idiomas. 如果您对此主题感兴趣，请订阅我的频道，我将在其中谈论我学习 15 种语言的经验。

The most important task in language learning, in my opinion, is the acquisition of vocabulary words. A tarefa mais importante na aprendizagem de línguas, na minha opinião, é a aquisição de palavras de vocabulário. 在我看来，语言学习中最重要的任务是词汇的习得。 If we have enough words, we can make sense of what we’re reading or listening to and we can somehow express ourselves. Se tivermos palavras suficientes, podemos entender o que estamos lendo ou ouvindo e podemos de alguma forma nos expressar. Vocabulary is much more important than grammar. O vocabulário é muito mais importante do que a gramática. The grammar you acquire gradually as you become familiar with the language, with the words, but first of all you need words. A gramática você adquire gradualmente à medida que se familiariza com a língua, com as palavras, mas antes de tudo você precisa de palavras. 随着你对语言、单词的熟悉，你逐渐掌握的语法，但首先你需要单词。

So how do we acquire vocabulary? Então, como adquirimos vocabulário? 那么我们如何获得词汇呢？

Well, I think there are two sorts of approaches. Bem, eu acho que existem dois tipos de abordagens. One is the deliberate study of vocabulary by reading vocabulary lists and trying to memorize them or doing flashcards, keeping handwritten lists, these kinds of things, the other is to learn through a lot of exposure. Uma é o estudo deliberado do vocabulário lendo listas de vocabulário e tentando memorizá-las ou fazendo flashcards, mantendo listas manuscritas, esse tipo de coisa, a outra é aprender através de muita exposição. 一种是通过阅读词汇表并尝试记住它们或做抽认卡，保留手写列表等来刻意学习词汇，另一种是通过大量接触来学习。 Now, the strategy that you adopt will depend on your personal preference and also, in my view, on how much time you have. Agora, a estratégia que você adotar vai depender da sua preferência pessoal e também, a meu ver, de quanto tempo você tem. 现在，您采用的策略将取决于您的个人喜好，在我看来，还取决于您有多少时间。

If you have a lot of time, six-seven hours a day as I did when I was studying Mandarin Chinese 45 years ago, then you can take an hour a day for the deliberate study of vocabulary. Se você tem muito tempo, seis a sete horas por dia, como eu tinha quando estudava mandarim há 45 anos, então você pode tirar uma hora por dia para o estudo deliberado do vocabulário. 如果你有很多时间，每天六七个小时，就像我 45 年前学习普通话时那样，那么你可以每天花一个小时来刻意学习词汇。 However, if you have one hour a day and two-thirds or three-quarters of that time, which I call dead time, is in your car, doing tasks around the house, walking the dog, then I suggest you don’t try to deliberately learn the vocabulary. No entanto, se você tem uma hora por dia e dois terços ou três quartos desse tempo, que eu chamo de tempo morto, é em seu carro, fazendo tarefas em casa, passeando com o cachorro, então sugiro que você não tente para aprender deliberadamente o vocabulário. 但是，如果你每天有一个小时，而那三分之二或四分之三的时间，我称之为死时间，在你的车里，在房子周围做任务，遛狗，那么我建议你不要尝试刻意学习词汇。

There is significant research which shows that what they call block learning, where you take some material and try to force yourself to learn it, review it many, many times and go through, for example, your list of vocabulary or your flashcards over and over in the hope of nailing that and mastering it, that is relatively inefficient and that interleaved learning, (interleaving, I suggest you Google the term) in other words, where you come across some information, then you forget it, you go look at some other information and you come back to that first information, so you’re sort of interleaving layers of different things, forgetting and relearning, actually enables you to learn things better. Há pesquisas significativas que mostram que o que eles chamam de aprendizado em bloco, onde você pega algum material e tenta se forçar a aprendê-lo, revisa-o muitas e muitas vezes e repassa, por exemplo, sua lista de vocabulário ou seus flashcards repetidamente na esperança de acertar isso e dominá-lo, que é relativamente ineficiente e esse aprendizado intercalado, (intercalar, sugiro que você pesquise o termo no Google), em outras palavras, onde você encontra alguma informação, então você esquece, você vai olhar algumas outras informações e você volta para a primeira informação, então você está intercalando camadas de coisas diferentes, esquecendo e reaprendendo, na verdade permite que você aprenda as coisas melhor. 有重要的研究表明他们称之为块学习，你拿一些材料并试图强迫自己学习它，复习很多很多次，然后一遍又一遍地阅读你的词汇表或抽认卡希望能把它搞定并掌握它，那是相对低效的，那交错学习，（交错，我建议你谷歌这个词）换句话说，你在哪里遇到一些信息，然后你忘记了，你去看看一些其他信息，然后你回到第一个信息，所以你有点交错不同的东西层，忘记和重新学习，实际上使你能够更好地学习东西。

Very quickly, the Law of Diminishing Returns sets in when we’re trying deliberately to learn something. Muito rapidamente, a Lei dos Retornos Decrescentes se instala quando estamos tentando deliberadamente aprender alguma coisa. 很快，当我们刻意尝试学习某些东西时，收益递减法则就会出现。 It’s no longer fresh for our brain and the brain basically pushes back, whereas if you forget and come back to it you learn better. Não é mais fresco para o nosso cérebro e o cérebro basicamente empurra para trás, enquanto que se você esquecer e voltar a ele, aprenderá melhor. 它对我们的大脑来说不再新鲜，并且大脑基本上会向后推，而如果你忘记并回到它，你会学得更好。 But if you have six-seven hours a day, there’s nothing wrong spending some time reviewing flashcards. Mas se você tem seis ou sete horas por dia, não há nada de errado em passar algum tempo revisando flashcards. 但如果你每天有六到七个小时，花一些时间复习抽认卡并没有错。

If I look at my own pattern where I consume a lot of content through listening and reading and acquiring lots and lots of words, if I had to review them all in flashcards or on lists I would spend my whole… I have to decide. Se eu olhar para o meu próprio padrão onde eu consumo muito conteúdo ouvindo e lendo e adquirindo muitas e muitas palavras, se eu tivesse que revisá-las todas em flashcards ou em listas eu gastaria todo o meu… Eu tenho que decidir. 如果我看看我自己的模式，我通过听、读和获取大量的单词来消耗大量的内容，如果我必须在抽认卡或列表中回顾它们，我会花掉我的全部……我必须做出决定。 Do I want to spend my time reviewing words in flashcards or do I want to spend that time listening and reading to things of interest. Eu quero gastar meu tempo revisando palavras em flashcards ou eu quero gastar esse tempo ouvindo e lendo coisas de interesse. 我是想花时间复习抽认卡中的单词，还是想花时间听和阅读感兴趣的东西。 I tend to do the listening and reading, I find that I acquire words very quickly and I have an enjoyable time doing it. Eu costumo fazer a escuta e a leitura, acho que adquiro palavras muito rapidamente e me divirto fazendo isso. 我倾向于做听力和阅读，我发现我很快就掌握了单词，而且我玩得很开心。

Of course, speaking is also helpful. Claro, falar também é útil. 当然，说话也是有帮助的。 What you hear the native speakers say while speaking is what I call high resonance, just as interesting content is high resonance. O que você ouve os falantes nativos dizerem enquanto falam é o que eu chamo de alta ressonância, assim como conteúdo interessante é alta ressonância. 你在说话的时候听到母语者说的就是我所说的高共鸣，就像有趣的内容是高共鸣一样。 You notice things better if you’re engaged in a conversation and you also notice when you weren’t able to find the words yourself and then you hear someone else use them. Você percebe as coisas melhor se estiver envolvido em uma conversa e também percebe quando não conseguiu encontrar as palavras por conta própria e então ouve alguém usá-las. 如果您参与对话，您会更好地注意到事情，并且您还会注意到您自己无法找到单词然后听到其他人使用它们时。 So that’s very, very good. Então isso é muito, muito bom. 所以这非常非常好。

However, in my own case, I prefer to delay that speaking situation unless there’s a need, if I’m living in the country where the language is spoken. No entanto, no meu caso, prefiro adiar essa situação de fala, a menos que haja necessidade, se eu estiver morando no país onde a língua é falada. 但是，在我自己的情况下，除非有需要，如果我住在说这种语言的国家，我宁愿推迟那种说话的情况。 Otherwise, I prefer to delay it until I have something meaningful to say and can understand what the other person is saying. Caso contrário, prefiro adiar até que tenha algo significativo a dizer e possa entender o que a outra pessoa está dizendo. Otherwise, we end up with a very limited range of language that we’re exposed to like, “How are you?” “What’s your name?” “What’s the weather like?” Caso contrário, acabamos com uma gama muito limitada de linguagem à qual somos expostos, como: “Como você está?” "Qual o seu nome?" "Como está o tempo?" 否则，我们最终会接触到非常有限的语言，比如“你好吗？” “你叫什么名字？” “天气如何？”

Therefore, again, I prefer to give myself that significant exposure through listening and reading, quite confident that the high-frequency words will appear very often, the medium-frequency words will appear less often, but I will eventually get them, and the very low-frequency words, some will stick and some won’t. Portanto, novamente, prefiro me dar essa exposição significativa através da audição e da leitura, bastante confiante de que as palavras de alta frequência aparecerão com muita frequência, as palavras de média frequência aparecerão com menos frequência, mas eventualmente as obterei, e as palavras de baixa frequência, algumas vão ficar e outras não. 因此，再次，我更喜欢通过听力和阅读给自己显着的曝光，非常有信心高频词会经常出现，中频词会很少出现，但我最终会得到它们，并且非常低频词，有些会粘，有些不会。 If they’re that low frequency, maybe I don’t really need them. Se eles são de baixa frequência, talvez eu realmente não precise deles. 如果它们的频率那么低，也许我真的不需要它们。

Ultimately, the choice is with the learner and my preference is to study in an enjoyable way. Em última análise, a escolha é do aluno e minha preferência é estudar de forma prazerosa. 最终，选择权在于学习者，而我的偏好是以愉快的方式学习。 If I were in a course somewhere working five-six hours a day having to write an exam, I might take a different approach. Se eu estivesse em um curso em algum lugar trabalhando de cinco a seis horas por dia tendo que fazer um exame, eu poderia adotar uma abordagem diferente. 如果我在一门课程中每天工作五六个小时必须参加考试，我可能会采取不同的方法。 There you have it, that’s my take on how to acquire vocabulary. Aí está, essa é a minha opinião sobre como adquirir vocabulário. 好了，这就是我对如何获取词汇的看法。

I’ll continue once a week with these discussions on language learning and, if you’re interested, please subscribe to my channel. Continuarei uma vez por semana com essas discussões sobre aprendizado de idiomas e, se você estiver interessado, inscreva-se no meu canal. Bye for now. Пока.