Let the words overflow.

At a Japanese restaurant, it is quite common for the waitress to pour cold sake into your glass until it overflows into the wooden "masu", or cup that it is sitting in. This gives you a sense of abundance. It makes you feel good. You don't really worry about  how to actually drink every last drop of the sake, because before it is all gone, your waitress will pour some more, and again overflow the glass.

The same principle applies to learning words in a language. I am always surprised at people who religiously study lists of words, trying in vain to remember them all. They go back over the ones they can't remember. But the fact is that some words are hard to remember and remain hard to remember for a long time.

I just let the words overflow. I find new words in my reading and listening. I save them by the thousands to my personal database which is much too large to review systematically. I review my saved words sporadically. But I keep on running into these words again and again in my reading and listening. Gradually I get to know them naturally, some sooner and some later.

In just over 3 years of Russian self-study at LingQ, I have saved close to 29,000 words. The system tells me that I know close to 59,000 words. Do I know them in fact? I can't say for sure, but when I open up new content to read, I see relatively few words that I do not know. I certainly did not review them all deliberately. I just let them flow over me, like sake overflowing the cup.

Comments

[Shea]

Very similar to how I study vocabulary. I use iKnow to study lists but even after I "complete" them I don't really know them 100% I'd say. However, I use that as just a "get familiar" with the words and in my reading and listening is when I truly "learn" them. I study for recognition, not to "know" :)

[Neil Murray]

Nice analogy. Struck a chord with me. Some words stick right away; others stick only after hearing them again and again and again.

NEIL

[Kevin Geoghegan]

Why bother saving words?

[Steve Kaufmann]

Kevin, because I keep on running into them highlighted in yellow in my texts as I read on LingQ. And the random review does help, as long as I do not try to learn them just by reviewing them.

[Girl]

Do you recommend vocabulary programs/software like Verbal Advantage, Word Smart, Ultimate Vocabulary, Million Dollar vocabulary?

Are they waste of time and money?

[Girl]

Do you recommend vocabulary programs/software like Verbal Advantage, Word Smart, Ultimate Vocabulary, Million Dollar vocabulary?

Are they waste of time and money?

[Girl]

Do you recommend vocabulary programs/software like Verbal Advantage, Word Smart, Ultimate Vocabulary, Million Dollar vocabulary?

Are they waste of time and money?

[Girl]

Do you recommend vocabulary programs/software like Verbal Advantage, Word Smart, Ultimate Vocabulary, Million Dollar vocabulary?

Are they waste of time and money?

[Steve Kaufmann]

I recommend spending most of your time listening and reading, and, of course, using LingQ.

[Sven]

Hello Steve Kaufmann,
I use LINQ for english oral exam.. And i can see that my english speaking is much more fluent than before... In French I have a written exam. Can you give me some advices except using LINQ ??? Thank you in advance. Sven from Germany.

[Steve Kaufmann]

You can only write using the words that you know. So studying with LingQ is the core, the foundation. You need words and phrases, and you need them to come naturally.

To improve the accuracy of you writing, you need to write more. You can have your writing corrected by a tutor at LingQ. Then you need to save the words and phrases that you used incorrectly and review them, and try using them again and again. This goes for English or French at LingQ, or any other language for that matter.

[Òscar]

I agree that is good to write if you want to improve your writing. But it's also very important keeping reading a lot.
Kevin, the magic of Lingq is that you save the new words super fast. It doesn't affect to your pace reading.

[Yvette]

I so enjoyed reading this commentary and metaphor for words overflowing! I have experienced what you say about words. Vocabulary building, word acquisition, if you will happens when I run across a word a few times. Words such as "l’âme, la peau, répandu" are examples of words that have stuck without having had to force them into recall, into use.

[Kevin Geoghegan]

And the random review does help, as long as I do not try to learn them just by reviewing them.

But surely, Steve, just by reading/listening more, you are already doing a random review?

I can see how saving words and keeping a score of how many words you know might be good motivation for some people. But apart from that, I'm unconvinced that it serves any useful purpose.

[Steve Kaufmann]

Kevin,

I save the words, I get a dictionary definition. I get to review some of them from time to time according to criteria of my choice. Every time I read a new text I see the words that are unknown in blue, the ones I am learning in yellow and the known words are unhighlighted. When I choose new content I can pick items that have an appropriate level of new words based on my database. If I am having trouble with certain aspects of the language say verbs of motion in Russian, I can tag them and review them in the vocab section.

I have seen my unknown words decline from roughly 50% to under 10%.

I may not review all my words, but I know they are there to review when I want to. I always import Russian texts that I find into LingQ. I just do like to read them without this ability to capture what i have been doing. What I choose to do with these captured or saved words, I will decide later.

I have the feeling that I am explaining the same things over and over. What specifically do you not understand?

[Steve Kaufmann]

I meant to write "I just do like to read them without this ability to capture what i have been doing. "