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Steve's Youtube Videos - Vocabulary, Learning Basic or Everyday Vocabulary

Learning Basic or Everyday Vocabulary

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann, I haven't done a video in a while.

I've had family visiting, my son and his family from the UK, my brother from Toronto. I was kicked out of my office, so I'm doing it from a different location. I thought I would do a video here because I had a question from one of my viewers, I think he calls himself The Seductive Arts, who said how do you deal with the problem of learning some of the basic vocabulary? I think he's learning Italian and French and he listens to a lot of news. So he has a lot of the vocabulary that relates to news and politics and doesn't know the name of everyday items in those languages and what should I do. This is a subject that comes up all the time.

Someone mentioned before that they had been studying through a lot of listening and reading and then they went somewhere and took a course and the teacher said your case is quite typical, you don't know the names of the most common things in the language. The other day I was talking to my Czech tutor Andre and he started talking about food and said now we're going to talk about the names of the different food stuffs. You know, items on a menu or food products in Czech. I said stop, I won't be able to learn them because I don't have a daily need for those words. So on this subject of how do we learn the basic vocabulary, I believe we learn the vocabulary that's important to us.

It's not necessarily the names of different food items that you're going to buy in a store or order in a restaurant. It's not necessarily the name for comb or refrigerator or even basic things in daily life. If you're not, in fact, living in the language you don't need those basic words. If I lived in the Czech Republic and was eating every day and going to the store every day then I would quickly learn those words, but it's pointless for me, I believe, to have a lesson on the different names of food dishes in Czech if I won't encounter those words again for months. To me, because I'm interested in following the news, then economic terms, political terms, a lot of terms in that regard or from that point of view or in my view.

These kinds of words that come up in a discussion are easier for me to learn because they come up more often and I don't think there's any particular benefit in trying to teach the so-called basic words. The most common words will come up in any case no matter what we're using as learning content. It's also true that in the beginning we tend to learn terms like hello, how are you, my name is, when, why, where, who.

These will come up anyway and it is helpful in the beginning to use simpler, shorter dialogues, but I personally find that if I move along quickly to more demanding content it's still going to be 70-80% of very common vocabulary. So I'm continuing to reinforce my grasp of a lot of common vocabulary and I'm developing specialized vocabulary in areas of interest and as that area of interest changes or as my needs change then I'll have an opportunity to learn other vocabulary. It has never bothered me that in a language where I might be able to discuss economics I might be quite clueless in everyday things.

When I lived in Japan I could do business in Japanese. My wife, who certainly couldn't do business in Japanese, was much better at the store buying things, vegetables and fruit. She knew the names of all these things and communicated very comfortably with the grocer. You learn the language you need for your particular situation. So I'm not a big believer in this idea of the basic vocabulary, it will come anyway, anymore than I'm a believer in learning the basic grammar first.

As I've said before, you can have a sense of what some of the grammatical issues are, but the idea that you can nail down tenses or nail down cases early on in your language learning is certainly not the way I learn. So I just thought I'd do that because I had a request from The Seductive Arts, or whatever his name was, on this subject of what to do when you seem to have these gaps in your vocabulary which often are some very basic words.

That's perfectly normal, in my opinion. If you have a method of learning which, basically, enables you to learn from things of interest to you or you're always doing meaningful things in the language you don't have an artificial dialogue about someone's refrigerator. If you are, basically, doing things that interest you or are engaged in discussions around things that are meaningful to you, you will learn the vocabulary that is useful for that context and as these contexts change and as other words come up more often in your reading, listening, speaking, then you'll learn those words.

If you have a solid base in the language it's never too late and it won't be difficult to learn the names for pen, pencil, refrigerator, exercise or whatever so-called basic words you may need. So there you have it.

Thank you for listening.


Learning Basic or Everyday Vocabulary Lernen eines Grund- oder Alltagswortschatzes Aprender vocabulario básico o cotidiano Apprendre le vocabulaire de base ou de tous les jours Aprender vocabulário básico ou quotidiano Изучение базовой или повседневной лексики Вивчення базової або повсякденної лексики 学习基本词汇或日常词汇 學習基本或日常詞彙

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann, I haven’t done a video in a while. Hi there, Steve Kaufmann, I haven't done a video in a while. Olá, Steve Kaufmann, faz tempo que não faço um vídeo.

I’ve had family visiting, my son and his family from the UK, my brother from Toronto. Eu tive visitas familiares, meu filho e sua família do Reino Unido, meu irmão de Toronto. I was kicked out of my office, so I’m doing it from a different location. Fui expulso do meu escritório, então estou fazendo isso de um local diferente. I thought I would do a video here because I had a question from one of my viewers, I think he calls himself The Seductive Arts, who said how do you deal with the problem of learning some of the basic vocabulary? Eu pensei em fazer um vídeo aqui porque eu tinha uma pergunta de um dos meus espectadores, acho que ele se autodenomina As Artes Sedutoras, que disse como você lida com o problema de aprender um pouco do vocabulário básico? I think he’s learning Italian and French and he listens to a lot of news. Acho que ele está aprendendo italiano e francês e ouve muitas notícias. So he has a lot of the vocabulary that relates to news and politics and doesn’t know the name of everyday items in those languages and what should I do. Então ele tem muito vocabulário relacionado a notícias e política e não sabe o nome de itens do dia a dia nesses idiomas e o que devo fazer. This is a subject that comes up all the time. Esse é um assunto que surge o tempo todo.

Someone mentioned before that they had been studying through a lot of listening and reading and then they went somewhere and took a course and the teacher said your case is quite typical, you don’t know the names of the most common things in the language. Alguém mencionou antes que eles estavam estudando muito ouvindo e lendo e aí eles foram em algum lugar e fizeram um curso e o professor disse que seu caso é bem típico, você não sabe os nomes das coisas mais comuns na língua. The other day I was talking to my Czech tutor Andre and he started talking about food and said now we’re going to talk about the names of the different food stuffs. Outro dia eu estava conversando com meu tutor tcheco Andre e ele começou a falar sobre comida e disse que agora vamos falar sobre os nomes dos diferentes alimentos. You know, items on a menu or food products in Czech. Você sabe, itens em um menu ou produtos alimentícios em tcheco. I said stop, I won’t be able to learn them because I don’t have a daily need for those words. Eu disse pare, não vou conseguir aprender porque não tenho uma necessidade diária dessas palavras. So on this subject of how do we learn the basic vocabulary, I believe we learn the vocabulary that’s important to us. Então, neste assunto de como aprendemos o vocabulário básico, acredito que aprendemos o vocabulário que é importante para nós.

It’s not necessarily the names of different food items that you’re going to buy in a store or order in a restaurant. Não são necessariamente os nomes dos diferentes alimentos que você vai comprar em uma loja ou pedir em um restaurante. It’s not necessarily the name for comb or refrigerator or even basic things in daily life. Não é necessariamente o nome para pente ou geladeira ou mesmo coisas básicas da vida diária. If you’re not, in fact, living in the language you don’t need those basic words. Se você não está, de fato, vivendo no idioma, não precisa dessas palavras básicas. If I lived in the Czech Republic and was eating every day and going to the store every day then I would quickly learn those words, but it’s pointless for me, I believe, to have a lesson on the different names of food dishes in Czech if I won’t encounter those words again for months. Se eu morasse na República Tcheca e estivesse comendo todos os dias e indo à loja todos os dias, aprenderia rapidamente essas palavras, mas é inútil para mim, acredito, ter uma lição sobre os diferentes nomes de pratos de comida em tcheco se Não vou encontrar essas palavras novamente por meses. To me, because I’m interested in following the news, then economic terms, political terms, a lot of terms in that regard or from that point of view or in my view. Para mim, porque estou interessado em acompanhar as notícias, então termos econômicos, termos políticos, muitos termos nesse sentido ou desse ponto de vista ou na minha visão.

These kinds of words that come up in a discussion are easier for me to learn because they come up more often and I don’t think there’s any particular benefit in trying to teach the so-called basic words. Esses tipos de palavras que surgem em uma discussão são mais fáceis de aprender porque aparecem com mais frequência e não acho que haja nenhum benefício específico em tentar ensinar as chamadas palavras básicas. The most common words will come up in any case no matter what we’re using as learning content. As palavras mais comuns aparecerão em qualquer caso, não importa o que estamos usando como conteúdo de aprendizagem. It’s also true that in the beginning we tend to learn terms like hello, how are you, my name is, when, why, where, who. Também é verdade que, no início, tendemos a aprender termos como olá, como vai, meu nome é, quando, por que, onde, quem.

These will come up anyway and it is helpful in the beginning to use simpler, shorter dialogues, but I personally find that if I move along quickly to more demanding content it’s still going to be 70-80% of very common vocabulary. Eles aparecerão de qualquer maneira e é útil no começo usar diálogos mais simples e curtos, mas pessoalmente acho que se eu avançar rapidamente para um conteúdo mais exigente, ainda será 70-80% do vocabulário muito comum. So I’m continuing to reinforce my grasp of a lot of common vocabulary and I’m developing specialized vocabulary in areas of interest and as that area of interest changes or as my needs change then I’ll have an opportunity to learn other vocabulary. Então, continuo reforçando minha compreensão de um monte de vocabulário comum e estou desenvolvendo vocabulário especializado em áreas de interesse e, à medida que essa área de interesse muda ou minhas necessidades mudam, terei a oportunidade de aprender outro vocabulário. It has never bothered me that in a language where I might be able to discuss economics I might be quite clueless in everyday things. Nunca me incomodou que em uma língua em que eu pudesse discutir economia eu pudesse ser completamente ignorante em coisas cotidianas.

When I lived in Japan I could do business in Japanese. Quando eu morava no Japão, eu podia fazer negócios em japonês. My wife, who certainly couldn’t do business in Japanese, was much better at the store buying things, vegetables and fruit. Minha esposa, que certamente não sabia fazer negócios em japonês, era muito melhor na loja comprando coisas, legumes e frutas. She knew the names of all these things and communicated very comfortably with the grocer. Ela sabia os nomes de todas essas coisas e se comunicava muito confortavelmente com o merceeiro. You learn the language you need for your particular situation. Você aprende o idioma que você precisa para sua situação particular. So I’m not a big believer in this idea of the basic vocabulary, it will come anyway, anymore than I’m a believer in learning the basic grammar first. Portanto, não acredito muito nessa ideia do vocabulário básico, ela virá de qualquer maneira, mais do que acredito em aprender a gramática básica primeiro.

As I’ve said before, you can have a sense of what some of the grammatical issues are, but the idea that you can nail down tenses or nail down cases early on in your language learning is certainly not the way I learn. Como eu disse antes, você pode ter uma noção de quais são algumas das questões gramaticais, mas a ideia de que você pode definir tempos ou casos no início de seu aprendizado de idiomas certamente não é a maneira que eu aprendo. So I just thought I’d do that because I had a request from The Seductive Arts, or whatever his name was, on this subject of what to do when you seem to have these gaps in your vocabulary which often are some very basic words. Então eu pensei em fazer isso porque eu tinha um pedido do The Seduction Arts, ou seja lá qual fosse o nome dele, sobre o que fazer quando você parece ter essas lacunas em seu vocabulário que geralmente são algumas palavras muito básicas.

That’s perfectly normal, in my opinion. Isso é perfeitamente normal, na minha opinião. If you have a method of learning which, basically, enables you to learn from things of interest to you or you’re always doing meaningful things in the language you don’t have an artificial dialogue about someone’s refrigerator. Se você tem um método de aprendizado que, basicamente, permite que você aprenda com coisas que lhe interessam ou está sempre fazendo coisas significativas no idioma, você não tem um diálogo artificial sobre a geladeira de alguém. If you are, basically, doing things that interest you or are engaged in discussions around things that are meaningful to you, you will learn the vocabulary that is useful for that context and as these contexts change and as other words come up more often in your reading, listening, speaking, then you’ll learn those words. Se você está, basicamente, fazendo coisas que lhe interessam ou está envolvido em discussões sobre coisas que são significativas para você, você aprenderá o vocabulário que é útil para esse contexto e à medida que esses contextos mudam e outras palavras surgem com mais frequência em seu lendo, ouvindo, falando, então você aprenderá essas palavras.

If you have a solid base in the language it’s never too late and it won’t be difficult to learn the names for pen, pencil, refrigerator, exercise or whatever so-called basic words you may need. Se você tem uma base sólida no idioma, nunca é tarde demais e não será difícil aprender os nomes de caneta, lápis, geladeira, exercício ou quaisquer palavras ditas básicas que você possa precisar. So there you have it. Então você tem isso.

Thank you for listening. Obrigado por ouvir.