Tips on Learning New Words

[The Rose Dragon]

I've got a Basic Japanese 111 quiz tomorrow, which is about furniture and other objects. There are 39 words to be learned / memorized, which kinda daunts me right now. Some are easy (especially those written with katakana, since nearly all of them are very similar to their English counterparts), but the others like mezamashi-tokei (means alarm clock) are more difficult. I can remember the tokei part, since it is the same in normal clocks, but mezamashi- is not so easy.

So, any suggestions on how to study for my quiz?

[Spiryt]

Some correlations/associations are always nice.

Those noble boards already provided you one.

Remember: alarm clock has feces in it, ergo ****. :smallamused:


Other than that, I recall that when I had to learn all (or most popular, anyway about.... 200? 250?) german verb forms for tomorrow (or even yesterday), I also recorded my voice reciting some of them, and randomly played it from time to time.... While trying to remember others, for example.

[grimbold]

in my chinese class i just try to remember 1 specific part of each word and that typically helps

[Dr.Epic]

Flash cards are ideal when learning vocab.

[SilentNight]

My Japanese quiz prep generally consisted of simply repeating both words one after the other and then quizzing myself, not great for retention but it worked. Apart from that, try visualizing the object in question when you say the word, works even better if you can through in an emotion with it.

[Haruki-kun]

Instead of learning what the word translates to, try to remember what the word MEANS. This is a very common problem with people trying to learn other languages. If you had more time, I'd sugest outting post-its on your room's furniture... in a hurry, I'd suggest just reading them over and over again until you remember them.

[VeisuItaTyhjyys]

Songs, either of others' creation or your own; it's just easier to remember things when they have a tune.

[Traab]

The best way to memorize is not to just read the info over and over again, but to read it a couple times, say it out loud several times, then once you have a few words down, start quizing yourself verbally until you have them down pat. Then move to the next set of words and repeat. Once you have a couple sets done, combine the two to make sure you have them all together, then move on to the next set of three or four. Play with the words, try to fit them into sentences. Sheer repetition doesnt always work, so after you go through the entire list like I said, then you can start doing things like using them in sentences. Speak it in english with just the japanese vocab switched out. "I need to turn on my mezamashi-tokei tonight." Things like that. It helps to associate the term with the english word you would normally use.

[The Rose Dragon]

Oh, this is great.

Turns out the teacher forgot we were supposed to have a quiz, so we're having the quiz on Wednesday.

...what's the point of saying you're gonna make a quiz if you forget to make a quiz?

On the other hand, we have finally finished learning all of hiragana, from a to n.