Recommendations for vocabulary learning?

[jd144]

Hi everyone

So i've been learning Mandarin for around a year now. I have a class at university, as well as doing a lot of self study. I also have chinese friends who i (try to) have conversations with. The main problem i have though is vocab. Currently with the books i am using (Chinese in Steps), the lessons appear to be getting really grammatical (currently on chinese in steps v3), and i feel i should be learning more vocab, opposed to this level of grammer.

Can anyone offer any hints or tips for vocab learning? Its my first post too, so im happy to add any futher information if required.

[cababunga]

Specifically for vocab learning most will recommend you Spaced repetition system (a.k.a. SRS). This was discussed numerous times on these forums. If you type SRS into the search box above, you'll find plenty of discussions about software you can choose from and strategies you can employ.

[drungood]

1) Find a word you don't know from some native resource (TV/movie/radio/book/person)

2) Look up the word on nciku.com/dict.cn/jukuu.com/Pleco

3) Add any example sentences you think are worth knowing to Anki

(Pronunciation/audio on front, hanzi+meaning on back)

basically the alljapaneseallthetime.com method

btw if you don't already know your hanzi, lookup Heisig Remembering the Hanzi.

[bande]

Snigel on the forum has his own blog called Hacking Chinese where he has several posts on learning vocabulary. They may be too extreme for some, but the advice is well worth contemplating. The website is www.hackingchinese.com.

[jbradfor]

I'll have to disagree slightly with drungood's method. It's not that it won't work -- it will -- but that I don't think it's very time-effective, especially that the beginning to intermediate levels. The main flaw to me is that it can be hard to know what are common words, until you know enough words to know what is common. To find words to learn at the beginning, I would recommend NOT using native material, but rather instructional material that, one hopes, is more likely to use the more common words.

[johnk]

Hi,

I never got along with spaced repetition systems though they are highly recommended here.

I would recommend doing some reading. The chinese breeze readers are a good start. I found the first one or two tedious, but I find I can read the later ones easily and and I actually find the latest one (青凤) entertaining.

I also read(*) the news articles on www.xiaoma.info. And I occasionally look at the www.freexinwen.com bilingual news.

Starting reading is not easy, but I reckon its the way to go.

johnK

(*) read in this context means using the mouse over function a lot.

[Shelley]

Hello,

i think all of the suggestions made are good, you need to choose one that suits you.

Ii also used the chinese in steps books at my university evening class. I was wondering where you are. i am in UK, in southampton. i only ask cos i wondered where else they use these books.

I reached stage 2A and passed, but stopped because I wasn't really keen on doing exams as I am learning for pleasure and found the timetable for asignments and exams a bit too demanding for me.

I think a variety of materials, sources and methods are the best way to keep it interesting.

SRS flashcards seem to be the favorite for vocab learning but it can get a bit boring, I also recommend writing ( with a pen and paper) the characters as I believe this is the best way to remember them. I can recommend Hanzi grids (there is a thread about it on this forum)

Enjoy

Shelley

[jd144]

Hi. Thanks for the advice everyone! Shelley, im at York University, UK.

[Shelley]

I wonder if this is the generally used course book in the UK. I am not sure if I think its the best choice, but its not too bad. My first teacher ( private classes) used Practical chinese reader, a bit dated now but I liked the general layout and the way it progressed.There is a new version now, i haven't seen it but it might be worth a look.

[Brad Patterson 包德]

I'll agree with Drungod above. I use pleco and flash cards with any new vocabulary and as long as I review it a few times over a week, then again within the month, most of the time it sticks. Repetition, and then above all needing to use that vocab within your daily context makes it immediate, but it's not everything that we learn that falls into that box.

[Flare]

I'd also agree with Drungod's approach. Interacting with the new vocab by writing it out, making example sentences and adding them to Pleco or Anki decks helps tremendously. For me the interaction is key. Without that the vocab does not elevate from a list of meaningless words on a page. It is a more laborious approach though. Some people are good at rote learning and can get vocab lists into their heads fairly quickly.

When I started learning Chinese in an intense language program I became overwhelmed with the vocab halfway through. It really takes time to find a way of studying that works for you. In learning Chinese language, learning to learn is equally important since it is so different from Western languages.

A mnemonic method for studying characters such as Heisig or Matthews & Matthews is invaluable as well.