Vocabulary Friends

A few days back, @alysonrwalker asked a question about vocabulary: "@McOxen how long does it take for a student to learn vocab? My boss asked & I thought you might know." Here's my answer, and the first post of what I hope will be many about language learning.

Currently, I'm of the mind that there's a moment when a word is learned.  Harnessing that moment and reproducing it is learning to learn. We have to harness the moment when we put a word in our head and have access to it there, rather than on paper. This takes complete concentration and attention.

Of course, learning can be forgotten––especially if we don't practice what we've learned. In this way, learning vocab is a lifelong process. We're always learning language––even English. We pick up words, learn new collocations, phrases, slang. This, I suppose is the bad answer to the question: "How long does it take to learn vocab?"   ≥ F O R E V E R

But this is also good news. Because of the way that we learn and learn vocab, it's important to USE what we've learned. By that, I mean that we need to learn words in context. For example, take (perhaps) the most common real life situation of learning vocab: meeting someone and learning their name. As the old trick says, use their name 3 times in that first conversation and you'll have it down. If you really want to remember the person, learn about them or, better yet, have a shared experience with them.

The same is true of vocab. Learn it in context. I've found that if I just can't get a word in my head, I look it up in a story that I know well and associate it to the story, or a verse that I already have memorized. In this way, I attach words to the stories that I try to read and re-read, the stories that are a part of The Story.  Just like learning someone's name, we need to learn vocabulary as it is connected to the word's story and, if we can, share a life-experience with the word.  

Take a word that I just learned today הרה = conceive or be pregnant.  I learned the word in context of Genesis 16, where Sarai is unable to become pregnant and gives her servant Hagar to Abram so that she may conceive.  The word shows up over and over in the context of the story––driving the story-line forward.  But I can also relate to the word myself through lives of friends who have had difficulty conceiving.  Indeed, the desperation and joy that I've experienced helps me to get to know Sarai, Abram, and Hagar as they pursue הרה.   

This leads me to a final tip of what not to do. Artificial mnemonics aren't all that effective for learning vocab. These mnemonics just take up extra hard drive space and just give you something else to forget. You really need to learn the word and how its used within the language. 

I hope to post more on vocabulary and vocabulary building in the future, but for now, check out these resources, which will keep your nose in texts––which is the best way to know your vocabulary friends.

English and Hebrew resources––take 'em to church with you. You'll still be able to read when called on, and you'll be able to follow in church:

The NET/NA27 (fantastic helps in the footnotes!) is down to $25!

JPS/MT is also a fantastic tool!