A fun way to learn new vocabulary
A method to learn new vocabulary
If you want to learn new vocabulary in your target language, I have a fun way to learn. Create a list of the famous Politicians, actors and actresses, historical figures etc that you already know. Then create a list of friends you know. Then create a list of towns and cities you already know. Next, translate these names if possible and you will find many have English meanings. You may not know it but you may know fifty or more common useful words in your target language. For example, the ‘city of angels’ is Los Angeles, in Spanish. Ex-chancellor Kohl in Germany was really cabbage, as Kohl means cabbage in German. Or take the President of Poland, President Kaczyński, where Kaczyński means ducky. Think of some American movie stars etc ,for example Brittany Spears, although the spelling may not always be exact, her last name is like a spear or phalanx. Even Captain Kirk could sound like church as kirk is the old English word for church. Or what about Brad Pitt, pit like hole. Or Angelina Jolie, which sounds like jolly, and for a foreigner, they might remember this word this way. What about, Billy Idol, Danny Ocean, a character in Ocean’s Eleven. Elvis Presley sounds like prestige or priestly. Spiderman, or Batman are other examples in English and for sure you target language will have names you know but, do not know the meaning. What about the town of Łodz in Poland it means boat in English. The most common last name Poland is Kowalski, which means Smith or blacksmith of course. There are perhaps hundreds of associations you can find in your target language. You can even make a mind map of all these associations if you like to draw and are a visual learner. In any event by creating name association you will have free vocabulary in your target languages, easy to learn, easy and fun to remember.
Tags: How to learn a language, learn vocabulary, learn words, MP3, music, Poland, Polish
RSS feed for comments on this post
September 6, 2007at 1:36 pm
I think this method is perhaps good for general associations, but not necessarily for learning the actual vocab items. Kaczynski is not a ducky (I’m sure you know that it’s “kaczka”, but Polish people would rather use the nickname “kaczor” in this context, as kaczka is female and the Kaczynkis are definitely males.) Kowalski again doesn’t mean “blacksmith”, which would be “kowal”. It’s like you were trying to tell someone that “Newman” actually means “new”.