Improving Russian vocabulary?
I've noticed that my biggest problem with learning Russian has been my inability to remember vocabulary. I can remember (most of) the rules for which gender/case/tense gets what ending, but I spend far too much time looking up words in a dictionary.
Does anyone have any recommendations for effective ways to learn foreign language (particularly Russian) vocabulary? I'm well aware that there's no "shortcut" to learning a language, but maybe some of you have some useful suggestions!
Thanks a lot!
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Tagged with: dictionary • foreign language • learning russian • looking up words • russian vocabulary • tense
Filed under: Russian - Written and Spoken
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Привет. :]
Write. Write them. Every new word you learn write it three times, five times, ten times, and the english meaning next to it. My last term’s teacher required it from us, and I find it REALLY helps. Even though this term’s teacher does not require it, I always do it, just to help. :]
Increasing vocabulary is one of the hardest aspects of russian – as you said, remembering the case rules is doable, because they are finite, but the vocabulary seems truly infinite!
(though, in my experience in helping russians learn english, english seems to have a ton more vocab .. we have many different ways of saying a single word in russian).
anyway, what I try to use, when Im on the ball, is a fantastic software program called Anki. I would only advertise it here because it’s completely free.
http://ichi2.net/anki/
it’s basically vocab building software that tests you at intervals designed to maximise your retention. Ive used it with some success, but as always, regular practice is the key, which is also my biggest struggle. But I try to learn at least two new words every day.
let me know how you go with it, or if you discover a secret technique!
These guys helped me learn Italian and REMEMBER It, I cant say enough for their Memorization Methods…I saw it on NBC news
Here’s the Russian Demo Link…They use a memory method called LINKWORD
http://www.unforgettablelanguages.com/frames_a6.html
If you can remember Russian grammar rules then you have good memory. That’s great. I think you need to start making a list of words (or small cards) and trying to remember them instead of looking them up in the dictionary every time.
Try this TRADITIONAL METHOD:
Next time you find myself looking up a word in a dictionary, think if that word is useful for you in the future. If yes, add it to a list of words that you want to memorize. Try to create a list with about 20-30 new Russian words along with their English translations.
Write out 20 to 30 new words in a column. Put foreign words on the left and their translation to your native language on the right. Now read the whole list line by line and try to remember the words. Then take a 10-minute break. Then repeat them again and take another 5-minute break. Keep doing that several times until you feel that you remember the words.
( If you don’t like lists, it may be a good idea to make small cards with Russian words on one side and their translation on the other side )
Finally, review your word list in 10 hours. Then review it each 24 hours until you have at least four revisions. The key is to review your list at least four times. By that time you will have the words committed to memory quiet well.
I hope this method will work for you!
Alex
~ http://learningrussian.net ~
( I manage this free site for learning Russian )