In my first fieldwork, right after graduating college, I was
faced with learning two languages. Fortunately, Peace Corps taught us Pijin, but we
had to learn Kwaio on our own. There were no textbooks, it was not a written
language (although missionaries had devised a phonetic writing system), and the
dictionary was by an anthropologist, so not all that useful for everyday usage.
Fortunately those missionary linguists who develop writing
systems for languages around the world so that they could have potential
converts read the Bible are darned good linguists. One of them gave us lovely
little book about how to learn an unwritten language. We followed that book
like, well, the bible. And we learned
Kwaio. We not only learned Kwaio, I developed a literacy program for the
Kwaio-initiated schools. (As far as I can recall the book was Alan Healey,
editor. 1975. Language
Learner’s Field Guide. Ukarumpa, EHD, Papua New Guinea: Summer
Institute of Linguistics Printing Department.)
Your basic problem with language is increasing your
vocabulary and that requires memorization. Obviously, you should use
flashcards, but those do not work. Why? Because you are not moving your
vocabulary from short-term to long-term memory. If you memorize a hundred words
for the weekly quiz, great, but do you remember those in 2 weeks? Maybe, maybe
not. It’s very frustrating. It is not
sticking in your long-term memory. How
do you get it there?
The Secret is to stagger your flashcards.
The technical term, it turns out, is called spaced repetition.
This is what I do (I have used it for every single language
I have learned since I learned Kwaio, btw).
Each day, select a set of 10 (not more!) vocabularies words
to memorize. That’s Set 1.
When you make up Set 1, make a cover card with dates. The
dates will be Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 5, Day 10, Day 17, Day 41, Day 71, Day
131 … and that’s it. If there are any
words in that set that you do not remember at the end of that time, you can
cycle them back into a new set at the end of that time. [nb, you can add in a day
after Day 17, on Day 28, in which case your schedule will be 17, 28, 58, 128,
218.]
Only 10 cards?
What? You have way more to
memorize than that, don’t you? Yup.
So, on Day 2, you make up another set and you label that Day
2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 6, Day 11, Day 18, Day 42, Day 72, Day 132.
On Day 3, you make up yet another set and you label that Day
3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 7, Day 12, Day 19, Day 43, Day 73, Day 133.
On Day 4, the set is Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 8, Day 13, Day
20, Day 44, Day 74, Day 134.
Day 5, the set is Day 5, 6, 7, 9, 14, 21, 45, 75, 135.
Day 6, the set is Day 6, 7, 8, 10, 15, 22, 46, 76, 136.
Obviously, you need to figure this out with a calendar – I
put the actual dates on the covers for the flashcard, otherwise it’s confusing.
It will look like this (sort of – in fact, doing it this way
is a bit confusing, I am sure I missed some dates. The point is to let you see
what your flashcard exercises will look like from week to week).
|
March 1
Set 1
|
March 2
Set 1
Set 2
|
March 3
Set 1
Set 2
Set 3
|
March 4
Set 2
Set 3
Set 4
|
March 5
Set 1
Set 3
Set 4
Set 5
|
March 6
Set 2
Set 4
Set 5
Set 6
|
March 7
Set 3
Set 5
Set 6
Set 7
|
|
March 8
Set 4
Set 6
Set 7
Set 8
|
March 9
Set 5
Set 7
Set 8
Set 9
|
March 10
Set 1
Set 6
Set 8
Set 9
Set 10
|
March 11
Set 2
Set 7
Set 9
Set 10
Set 11
|
March 12
Set 3
Set 8
Set 10
Set 11
Set 12
|
March 13
Set 4
Set 9
Set 11
Set 12
Set 13
|
March 14
Set 5
Set 10
Set 12
Set 13
Set 14
|
|
March 15
Set 6
Set 11
Set 13
Set 14
Set 15
|
March 16
Set 7
Set 12
Set 14
Set 15
Set 16
|
March 17
Set 1
Set 8
Set 13
Set 15
Set 16
Set 17
|
March 18
Set 2
Set 14
Set 17
Set 18
|
March 19
Set 3
Set 15
Set 17
Set 18
Set 19
|
March 20
Set 4
Set 11
Set 16
Set 18
Set 19
Set 20
|
March 21
Set 5
Set 12
Set 17
Set 19
Set 20
Set 21
|
|
March 22
Set 6
Set 13
Set 18
Set 20
Set 21
Set 22
|
March 23
Set 7
Set 14
Set 19
Set 21
Set 22
Set 23
|
March 24
Set 8
Set 15
Set 20
Set 22
Set 23
Set 24
|
March 25
Set 9
Set 16
Set 21
Set 23
Set 24
Set 25
|
March 26
Set 10
Set 17
Set 22
Set 24
Set 25
Set 26
|
March 27
Set 11
Set 18
Set 23
Set 25
Set 26
Set 27
|
March 28
Set 12
Set 19
Set 24
Set 26
Set 27
Set 28
|
|
March 30
Set 13
Set 20
Set 25
Set 27
Set 28
Set 29
|
March 31
Set 14
Set 21
Set 26
Set 28
Set 29
Set 30
|
April 1
Set 15
Set 22
Set 27
Set 29
Set 30
Set 31
|
April 2
Set 16
Set 23
Set 28
Set 30
Set 31
Set 32
|
April 3
Set 17
Set 24
Set 29
Set 31
Set 32
Set 33
|
April 4
Set 18
Set 25
Set 30
Set 32
Set 33
Set 34
|
April 5
Set 19
Set 26
Set 31
Set 33
Set 34
Set 35
|
|
April 6
Set 20
Set 27
Set 32
Set 34
Set 35
Set 36
|
April 7
Set 21
Set 28
Set 33
Set 35
Set 36
Set 37
|
April 8
Set 22
Set 29
Set 34
Set 36
Set 37
Set 38
|
April 9
Set 23
Set 30
Set 35
Set 37
Set 38
Set 39
|
April 10
Set 1
Set 24
Set 31
Set 36
Set 38
Set 39
Set 40
|
April 11
Set 2
Set 25
Set 32
Set 37
Set 39
Set 40
Set 41
|
April 12
Set 3
Set 26
Set 33
Set 38
Set 40
Set 41
Set 42
|
|
April 13
Set 4
Set 27
Set 34
Set 39
Set 41
Set 42
Set 43
|
April 14
Set 5
Set 28
Set 35
Set 40
Set 42
Set 43
Set 44
|
April 15
Set 6
Set 29
Set 36
Set 41
Set 43
Set 44
Set 45
|
April 16
Set 7
Set 30
Set 37
Set 42
Set 44
Set 45
Set 46
|
April 17
Set 8
Set 31
Set 38
Set 43
Set 45
Set 46
Set 47
|
April 18
Set 9
Set 32
Set 39
Set 44
Set 46
Set 47
Set 48
|
April 19
Set 10
Set 33
Set 40
Set 45
Set 47
Set 48
Set 49
|
|
April 20
Set 11
Set 34
Set 41
Set 46
Set 48
Set 49
Set 50
… and so
on
|
April 21
Set 12
Set 35
Set 42
Set 47
Set 49
Set 50
|
April 22
Set 13
Set 36
Set 43
Set 48
Set 50
|
April 23
Set 14
Set 37
Set 44
Set 49
|
April 24
Set 15
Set 38
Set 45
Set 50
|
April 25
Set 16
Set 39
Set 46
|
April 26
Set 17
Set 40
Set 47
|
|
April 27
Set 18
Set 41
Set 48
|
April 28
Set 19
Set 42
Set 49
|
April 29
Set 20
Set 43
Set 50
|
April 30
Set 21
Set 44
|
May 1
Set 22
Set 45
|
May 2
Set 23
Set 46
|
May 3
Set 24
Set 47
|
|
May 4
Set 25
Set 48
|
May 5
Set 26
Set 49
|
May 6
Set 27
Set 50
|
May 7
Set 28
|
May 8
Set 29
|
May 9
Set 30
|
May 10
Set 31
|
|
May 11
Set 1
Set 32
|
May 12
Set 2
Set 33
|
May 13
Set 3
Set 34
|
May 14
Set 4
Set 35
|
May 15
Set 5
Set 36
|
May 16
Set 6
Set 37
|
May 17
Set 7
Set 38
|
|
May 18
Set 8
Set 39
|
May 19
Set 9
Set 40
|
May 20
Set 10
Set 41
|
May 21
Set 11
Set 42
|
May 22
Set 12
Set 43
|
May 23
Set 13
Set 44
|
May 24
Set 14
Set 45
|
|
May 25
Set 15
Set 46
|
May 26
Set 16
Set 47
|
May 27
Set 17
Set 48
|
May 28
Set 18
Set 49
|
May 29
Set 19
Set 50
|
May 31
Set 20
|
May 31
Set 21
|
|
June 1
Set 22
|
June 2
Set 23
|
June 3
Set 24
|
June 4
Set 25
|
June 5
Set 26
|
June 6
Set 27
|
June 7
Set 28
|
|
June 8
Set 29
|
June 9
Set 30
|
June 10
Set 31
|
June 11
Set 32
|
June 12
Set 33
|
June 13
Set 34
|
June 14
Set 35
|
|
June 15
Set 36
|
June 16
Set 37
|
June 17
Set 38
|
June 18
Set 39
|
June 19
Set 40
|
June 20
Set 41
|
June 21
Set 42
|
|
June 22
Set 43
|
June 23
Set 44
|
June 24
Set 45
|
June 25
Set 46
|
June 26
Set 47
|
June 27
Set 48
|
June 28
Set 49
|
|
June 29
Set 50
|
June 30
|
July 1
|
July 2
|
July 4
|
July 5
|
July 6
|
|
July 7
|
July 8
|
July 9
|
July 10
|
July 11
Set 1
|
July 12
Set 2
|
July 13
Set 3
… and so
on
|
I laid this out so that you can see why you only have 10 flashcards
in a group – they add up. On some days, you will be doing 70 words a night! But
note that on some of those days, such as April 20, two of those sets are older
sets and you will likely go through those pretty quickly. They might be words
that you use fairly regularly in class, or just often enough for you to
recognize them quite quickly. You will
likely have to work hardest at the newest flashcards on days 1-5. Still, you
need to be aware of this scheduling so as not to overload yourself.
Another advantage of this system is that instead of
memorizing a big batch of cards all together, these are split up. When you use
a language, the words are not conveniently grouped according to your flashcard
organization. You need to mix it up, learn the words in different contexts.
This system helps with that. You will variously do Set 4 with Sets 2, 3, 1, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 27, 34, 39, 41, 42, 43, 35, 134 … This
improves your ability to remember vocabulary in new contexts.
Obviously this system is not in concordance with the
semester schedule. For one thing, you probably focus on vocabulary memorization
leading up to a quiz or test, whereas this is an everyday activity. Every. Single. Day. This is regardless of how
much new vocabulary is assigned in any given week. Finally, the schedule goes beyond the
semester. And who wants to study after the semester is over?
You do. The only way to learn a language (or at least pass
your classes) is to memorize. Use a system and just plain memorize. Keep going after the semester is over (even
if you do not add new flashcard groups) so that you will start the second
semester strong.
A final hint: memorize as your last activity at night
before going to sleep. That vastly improves your retention.
This is my ‘secret.’ Devote a lot of time to memorization,
especially in the first semester or two of language learning – schedule that
time in – so that you will build up the vocabulary to comprehend the
language. There is no short-cut around
this. You simply haven’t got the vocabulary to enjoy conversations or reading
short stories, so build the vocabulary. But know that it’s just time, like a
game. Get your vocabulary from short-term to long-term memory, and you will do
better.
And, btw, you also need to be willing to make fool of
yourself as you try to speak. But the language-learner as village idiot is a
topic for another blog.
1 comment:
Very nice.
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