Comments on: Words in context vs. word lists

By: Language Geek · Words In Context Vs. Word Lists, Part 2

Language Geek · Words In Context Vs. Word Lists, Part 2 — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:46:43 +0000

[...] wrote previously about word lists vs. words in context, and said that I thought for a lot of words, [...]

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 01:31:05 +0000

Thomas: That’s a good idea, to enter tricky words separately from their “father” sentences.

Camilla: Certainly, I agree with you - context is vitally important for getting a feel for many words, especially verbs. I think Thomas nailed it: with concrete nouns, very often, context just isn’t needed. A German courthouse serves, as far as I know, the same purpose as American courthouses. But many words do need context to truly understand them. So, I guess one could say I’m trying to save time by learning the words that I can get without context with simple word-to-word translations. This saves me time that I can apply to learning trickier words, grammar, whatever. Language learning would be a piece of pie if we all had infinite time, eh?

I’m going to keep trying to mix my studies up, using both word lists as well as words in context. Thus far it’s working - we’ll see how I’m doing in 6 months or a year.

By: Camilla

Camilla — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:53:27 +0000

I agree, with everything there has to be balance. Context is most important i think for learning how words ‘feel’. Anyone can learn what words mean in their language, but not the feelings they conjure. Context and familiarity create that, and allow for more creativity in said language.
Plus, situational context and emotional context really help with this - what expression someone pulls when saying a word, etc. Leaning amongst natives is going to give you the best insight into how the words of that language communicate particular states and emotions.

But yes, always balance. Learning completely in context would be confusing as hell, and take forever!
Very interesting topic for a post.

By: Thomas (babelhut.com)

Thomas (babelhut.com) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:28:30 +0000

I add mostly sentences to Anki/Mnemosyne, but lately I’ve been adding straight words too. What I do, is if there are any unknown/tricky words in the sentences I enter, I’ll make a separate entry for just those words. Then I end up seeing the word inside and outside of context. So far it’s helped me to acquire words faster. You are right though - for simple physical object nouns, sometimes the meaning is extremely obvious even without an example sentence for context.