remembering words

[taiwaneseguy1146]

What is the best way to make sure that you never forget new words that you learn?

[nipponman]

well...use them.

[taiwaneseguy1146]

I meant remembering how to write words, not just their meanings. Granted, I could still apply your advice of "use them" by writing them in sentences, but how will I remember words that I learned a long time ago? It would take a ridiculous amount of time to write one sentence for every single word that I know.

[MarkKang]

You need to have a review system that adjusts repetition frequency to longer time periods as the information becomes more solidified in your long term memory.

[Phaco]

Well, here in China kids are asked to write something like a "diary" everyday after school in which they write what they did during the day..it can help remembering words !

Some of my Chinese friends also told me it could be helpful (after understanding it) to copy articles from books or magazines like "读者", "青年文摘"...

[nipponman]

I meant remembering how to write words, not just their meanings. Granted, I could still apply your advice of "use them" by writing them in sentences, but how will I remember words that I learned a long time ago? It would take a ridiculous amount of time to write one sentence for every single word that I know

well... learn the characters!... hehe just kidding seriously though, why would you forget how to write the words if you knew the characters? And then if you knew the meaning of the words you should have no problem. we are talking about ci2, not zi4 right? Also, when I say use them, you got to speak man! If you use them in sentences mentally, write them down, etc. you should never forget! Hope that helps,

nipponman

[盤古]

Unless you live in a Chinese-speaking society, you are bound to forget words every now and then. If I hadn't gone to Chinese school when I first came to the U.S., I would've forgotten much more Chinese than I already have, having lived in the U.S. for over 15 years already.

It's the same with any language. I remember after my third year in the U.S., I went back to Taiwan for two months during the summer and when I got back, I had to almost re-learn English again, it was quite painful...

[taiwaneseguy1146]

Sorry nipponman, I should've clarified that I meant zi4, not ci2. My problem is that many times I will forget small things about how to write the word, such as where a dash goes etc.

[Pravit]

I have the same problem, taiwaneseguy. I just got back to learning Chinese after stopping a while ago, with the intention this time of learning to write the characters(last time I only tried to read them since I figured learning to write would be a bother). I can memorize how to write many characters very quickly. But then a week later, I come back and I've almost completely forgotten how to write them(though thankfully, I still recognize them in reading).

[nipponman]

Sorry nipponman, I should've clarified that I meant zi4, not ci2. My problem is that many times I will forget small things about how to write the word, such as where a dash goes etc.

Oh, thats much different. I remember that experience, hasn't happened to me in 6-7 years though. Just write them over and over again. My simple method is write, write, write. Matter of fact, I'll tell you the way I learned 3000* characters in just 6 months. Someone asked me a while ago how I managed to do this and I couldn't remember then. But now since I have begun to review characters, I come across some abstract ones that I have to rememorize.

So I'll give you a pm with the techniques I used shortly.

nipponman

* I say 3000 because that's how many was in all 9 grades in CQuickTrans, but there are some among that group that I have forgotten, etc. So really I know the ones I need for reading.

[gato]

My simple method is write, write, write. Matter of fact, I'll tell you the way I learned 3000* characters in just 6 months. Someone asked me a while ago how I managed to do this and I couldn't remember then.So I'll give you a pm with the techniques I used shortly.

Why don't just post here and share it with all of us?

[Hofmann]

Yes. Do tell.

A set of tools I've found to be quite useful:

POPjisyo is by far the most useful tool I've found.

Hanconv I use for quick conversions.

This tool will help you look up words in books, newspapers, etc. Writing it is faster than looking it up with radicals. There's all ready something like this in Windows, but this works better.

...and of course, this dictionary.

[Pravit]

I've been writing, writing, and writing - with the result that I remember them all perfectly for a couple days, then I learn some more characters and it's as if the old ones are pushed out of my memory I'd certainly like to see your techniques.

[Phaco]

wouahhh thanks Hofmann, POPjisyo is really a very useful webpage !

I have been dreaming of finding such webpage/software for months and it finally became true

It is especially useful to get the pronunciation of a character as well as its meaning. Before this I had to copy/paste articles to my 森林词典...

[nipponman]

I'd certainly like to see your techniques.

Yes. Do tell.

Why don't just post here and share it with all of us?

Wow, didn't realize there was the demand. Ok, I'll start a new thread on the topic.

nipponman

[Hofmann]

Hmm...I wonder why that link didn't work. Anyway, when I said "This tool will help you look up words in books, newspapers, etc," "This tool" should be "This tool."

I also wonder why I can't edit my posts.