Remembering vocabulary

[rajs20]

Hi,

I was wondering, what kind of system/techniques do you guys use for learning vocabulary? (if any)

Anyways, I don't know if there's something good out there already, so I wrote my own program (I like writing stuff myself so I can customize it). If anyone might be interested in using it, I wouldn't mind sharing it.

It's basically a program that lets you view all the vocab you've learned, and quiz yourself on it using Flash cards. If you want to read about it, I made a little page w/ some info and screenshots:
http://velocity.lunarpages.com/personal_stuff/jvoc.html

Raj

[Kiyotsuki]

That's a great idea for a program. I'm also not sure what else is out there, but I'd really love to give yours a try.

As for vocabulary learning techniques, I haven't developed very many good ones of my own, except for trying to use the new words I learn as often as possible. xD I need to really work on my vocab skills

[Damicci]

I find it easy to make use of the vocabulary as much as possible too. I find I remember stuff alot better when I always tryn9g to think of how to say it or use it in a sentence.

[nemesae]

Lately I've been using Wakan to copypaste lyrics of Japanese artists, learn the words by heart, then try to translate the lyrics by heart, copying down as much as I can to memorise the kanji. So you'll learn words and immediately know how to apply them in texts

[Belgarath]

Vocabulary has always been a big issue for me when learning Japanese, since I always tend to forget most words I think I've learned. Having studied to and fro for a bit more than three years, and finally getting a couple of weeks off from school, I began playing the Japanese version of Final Fantasy V last weekend, and damnit, soon I will probably have doubled my vocabulary! I haven't tried using any special system for remembering the words, just trying to think about what I've learned, and always read everything to myself (especially everything with kanji, it's easy to just watch a compound and think "Hey, I know what that means" and then just continue, but I make sure I remember the reading). Also, many words during certain sections in the game (and any RPG, I guess) tend to be repeated, which - as we all know - is great for remembering :)
Also, even though I have to look up words all the time, it's actually FUN to play, and that doesn't hurt :)

[Bucko]

Hey rajs20, I like the look of your little program there, would be interested in using it myself if you made it available.

[rajs20]

Cool... Yea that's a good point that it really helps to try to use the word in a sentence. Can't really think of a good way to add that into a program though, guess it's just something you get w/ experience.. Also mucking thru a video game in Japanese and looking up words, that's a great idea... Tried that w/ FF4 tho my nihongo isn't quite up to scratch so I was looking a LOT of words up ^_^

Anyways, got a couple of ideas to (hopefully) make the program more stable, might also make it so that new vocab can be added without the use of an HTML editor. When it's finished I'll post up a link.

[Belgarath]

Hehe, FF4 is a hard one, since there are NO kanji what-so-ever! :) I'd suppose it's more demanding on one's vocabulary and grammar skills to get through such a game. FF5 happens to be precisely right for me at the moment :)

Oh, by the way, I ordered a new book the other day, "Building Word Power in Japanese: Using Kanji Prefixes and Suffixes". As the title suggests, it goes through a number of prefixes and suffixes, which can be used to modify words. Seems like a great book, anyone got any comment on it?

[rajs20]

OK! I finished making some improvements to JapVocab.. in particular, now you don't need to use an HTML editor to edit vocab, so anyone can use this program now. If you want to try it, please go here:

http://velocity.lunarpages.com/personal_stuff/jvoc.html

Anyways.. been working on this like mad today, so hope someone out there might find it useful! ^_^

@ Belgarath: Yea, FF4 kind of confusing, hard to tell where one word ends and another begins but then again it'd help if I actually knew more words :)

Hrm, haven't seen that book before but definitely looks useful... Was checking it out @ amazon, looks like it got some really good reviews.

[Bucko]

Awesome rajs20, will try it out tonight!

[dc_johnson45]

Hi,

I was wondering, what kind of system/techniques do you guys use for learning vocabulary? (if any)

Raj
I decided to take the jump and try and learn most of my vocab in its native kanji form. I think overall its had a positive effect, as I gain more kanji, and have a better idea of how kanji relates to vocab. Also, having a 'picture' (the kanji) seems to help me remember the vocab better.

Its best to limit this approach tho. Pick words that will help you advance in kanji. Don't try to do ALL of your vocab in kanji, just the main ones. I pick up 5 to 10 kanji a week this way. Maybe not breakneck speed, but this is in addition to my normal kanji studies.

[-Rudel-]

A good way for me to learn the vocabulary is just writing down the word over and over again until I can write it (kind of fast) and say it fluently without having any sort of trouble.