My main method of learning vocabulary is SRS with Anki. I only add words that have a more or less 1 to 1 correspondence between L1 & L2, i.e. those words that make good candidates for flashcards. Of course this leaves a big gap: those L2 words that don't map quite so nicely to a single L1 word. So am wondering how people tackle learning these words. I am interested in hearing about different approaches because, as always, not all methods work for all people and I'd like to find something that would suit me. And of course, hopefully it will be a useful resource for others.
If you mean only one word translation cards. Otherwise many/most words between languages share an imperfect mapping of meaning, and the term in one language can be broader or narrower, which is why I prefer multi-word definitions. Such definitions also help avoid misunderstandings due to English homonyms. As to synonyms, there are almost perfect synonyms, whereas with others they differ by fine nuances or by register. Usually for the major langs well represented with English based learning material, there books devoted to the topic, like maybe the "Big Red Book" series. For Russian, perhaps Big Dog or someone can suggest such a book. Unless you are fairly far along in your studies, I wouldn't even worry about it until you come across them naturally. It is easier to learn one word and have that stick, and then later to learn synonyms since you then have an additional hook to hang its meaning on.
The most important thing to do is learn to trust your memory -- you remember more than you think, but uncertainty suppresses your ability to recall. Somebody asked me a few weeks ago what the Gaelic for "pretending" was... and I knew it. It's not a term I had ever put in Anki. It's not a term I even used much. If I'm not far wrong, I only ever came across it in a discussion of... what the Gaelic for "pretending" was, and that would even have been 5 or more years ago. I'm still amazed that I recalled it at all, bit that's all down to relaxing and trusting the good ol' neurones.
(this isn't revenge for your post about wade ) Can you give some examples, because just about everything maps closely enough for me.
Yeah, right pull the other one! I would say this is usually more of a problem with verbs. Just like you I don't have examples to hand, but when I next start inputting vocab (probably tomorrow) I shall return with some. Could you perhaps give an example of some of your multi-word definitions? I try to keep mine as single word cards, but sometimes add a little extra info. e.g. "Untidy (person)" & "Untidy (room)" for two different russian words for untidy. I don't know if that's what you had in mind. As regards to output, yes one can survive with just one of a set of synonyms fairly well. But of course, for comprehension it's not quite so helpful as you won't understand the other synonyms when they are used. I did buy the book "Using Russian Synonyms", but I found it quite disappointing. Despite being fairly thick, it rarely contains the words I'm looking for. When I do find an entry the explanation of the differences can be somewhat lacking. For reference my level is B1, possibly slightly higher as I got good marks in my exam and a few months have passed since then.
[front side] aufmerksam aufmerksam sein aufmerksam verfolgen aufmerksam zuhören [back side] attentive (auf+akk to), observant, considerate pay attention follow closely listen attentively ------------------------------ [front side] überwinden (überwindt, überwand, hat überwunden) ein Hindernis überwinden große Entfernungen zu Fuß überwinden den Krebs / den Hunger in der Welt überwinden wollen sich (selbst) überwinden sich dazu überwinden zu (+inf) ich musste mich überwinden, (um) zu(+inf) sich zu einer Arbeit überwinden müssen [back side] to overcome; get over; get past clear a hurdle cover great distances on foot want to beat cancer / eradicate hunger from the world overcome one’s inhibitions; force o.s. bring /get o.s. to (+inf) I had to force myself to (+inf), I really had to make an effort to (+inf) force o.s. to do a job
Let me give an example that illustrates the importance of multi-word definitions to distinguish English homonyms and words with multiple meanings. This week from the German novel I am currently reading, I learned the word: der Vorwand = pretext, excuse in the same book I learned: die Ausflucht = Vorwand: excuse and I had previously learned: die Ausrede = excuse Ausrede is the word for excuse as in making an excuse, or an excuse for something you did. Vorwand and Ausflucht are words for excuse meaning pretext for. With Ausflucht, the dictionary used Vorwand as an indicator that it was a synonym of Ausflucht, and since I copied that, I didn't bother to add "pretext" as with Vorwand. Now of course you could merely use "pretext" for the first two words for the definition and not mix it up with the definition for the other, and in fact these online dictionaries tend too far in the direction of providing colloquial English definitions instead of more literal ones. Sometimes a couple synonyms will differ only in register, and following the dictionary I add geh in blue, which denotes gehoben, or upper register, and the same with dialectal variant notes like österr., südd., schweiz. The more words you get to know the more connections your brain will make between them, and often when learning a new synonym, another one will pop into your head. Because of that, I am not sure it pays to learn synonyms together at once rather than as one goes. Subsequent ones have a memory hook to attach to.
Personally, I'm not a big card flipper. But they certainly can be a great tool when you learn to make them work for you. (I just don't like making them..) One thing to look out for is, even those words that translate more or less directly between L1 and L2, can be used quite differently between the two languages. For example, one might translate to English "This is very powerful tea!" as opposed to "This if very strong tea!" Neither are wrong, but it's clear which sounds more natural. Now..all of that to say this: Context is key. To learn a word, I always look at the translations, of course. But then I go find example sentences using that word (although, I almost always find new words while reading and therefore, see the example 1st, then translate.) Even at this point, I don't expect to remember anything about the word; just to remember having seen the word before. That is when watching shows in that language (or better yet, cartoons) comes in handy. Because after the first time I notice the word being used, I hear it almost every time after that, and it simply becomes a game of extracting meaning out of this train wreck of semi-familiar words that I know I've seen somewhere before. Depending on the word, it takes me about 3 to 10 examples (w/ a dictionary close by) before it sticks, and of course the more times I hear or read each word in context, the broader my definitions for them become. And eventually, knowing when to use идти or пойти for to go is almost "instinctual," for lack of a better word lol.. To sum it up, my advice would be: - When using flashcards, expect to learn no more and no less than what's on the other side of that flashcard. - Then take what you've learned using cards, and start building upon that foundation by reading and listening. Only then, do little nuances in meaning begin to clear up. Anyway, to each their own method..just keep experimenting and trying new things, because even a real solid method can go stale when it's your ONLY method. Either that or I lack discipline..don't know which yet haha. Hope this helps someone.
Hmmm... I've been thinking about this. I do use primarily bidirectional one word cards with audio for the L2. I can produce these pretty rapidly using the magic of software. As I mentioned about I do sometimes add small bits of information to qualify the meaning, and as I'm studying Russian I always tack on whether it's imperfective or perfective if the word is a verb. And it's only really just occurred to me that I could resolve some (all?) cases just by having a unidirectional card. For example возить -> take is fine, but you can't have it go back in the other direction because "take" maps to about a squillion different Russian words. Anywhere here are two examples of tricky words: питaние -> feeding, supply, diet, catering сесть -> to sit down, to land, to go down, to shrink, to run down. I should mention how I review as well, I always give my answer out loud, before flipping to see the answer. For me getting the pronunciation right is part of getting the correct answer. And somehow saying an L1 word out loud stops me from cheating, and is the equivalent of "giving your final answer". Most of the time I'm learning new words taken from a text that I'm reading, or from conversations I've had, so although it's not on the card, generally I'm getting an element of context too. Peregrinus, I'm interested to know how you do your reviews. One of the advantages to my approach is that is very black and white as to whether you got the answer right or not. Not that I'm touting my approach as a good one particularly. Whilst the samples you give illustrate how to cover meanings quite well, I would imagine it's harder to determine if you answered "correctly"? I agree with Big Dog, this is good advice. I do read and listen everyday, but it's more intensive than extensive. Currently, I have to look up lots of words when reading and I just find it a bit of a slog. It's the old problem of finding i+1 material that doesn't send you to sleep. I do watch Russian TV series too, but films without subtitles are still a step too far. Definitely open to using flashcards less and taking up other techniques, providing they are effective and don't send me to sleep. Why I can do flashcards I don't know, it's probably the geek in me...
I can generally learn 2 or 3 words of the definition at a time. If I have to reorder the definition to make that easier I do. If I am having difficulty I try to get just a toehold and learn only one word of the definition, to which I add to later on subsequent reviews. Threads where I talk about Anki and how I use it: I am a teenage Anki whore Anki vs Gold Lists vs Iversen-style Wordlists The "I just deleted my Anki deck" celebration thread Anki with minimal failing Need anki help - this should be easy right?
