memorizing huge amounts of words

[chips24]

hello
I'm learning Russian and the alphabet, pronouns, prepositions, verb conjucations and other grammar rules were easy for me to learn, i have the basics down, however, i have a hard time learning words. what is the best way to learn large amounts of words? the other parts of speech were a little easy to grasp, but verbs and nouns... there are so many its overwhelming. i have wanted to learn Russian since i was 12 and i think the i have saved the hardest for last.
so what is the best way for me to learn all these words?

[Bachstelze]

All languages have a lot of words. How did you learn all those words in English?

[chips24]

All languages have a lot of words. How did you learn all those words in English?

a lot was repetitive, but English came naturally (obviously, its my first language). i cant learn Russian the same way i learned English because I'm not around it all the time... i don't have the money to travel to a Slavic country. the only reason why everything except verbs and nouns came easy to me in Russian, is because i memorized them in rules, i am very good at remembering rules, thats probably why I'm good at science, but because I'm not around enough to hear nouns and verbs, i have to find a new way to memorize them that will integrate them quickly and efficiently into my mind.

ok, here's an example...

каждый раз, когда собака бежит в столб, он теряет часть своего мышления потенциала.

this is how i "decode" it... i don't know what kazhdyj means... but i know raz means time... kogda=when, sobaka=dog, bezhat'=run v=in... and dont know what stolb means.

the second half i don't know anything except that it starts with "it"...

ok, so that probably looks pretty sad. but i could figure out that the first line meant "every time, when the dog ran into the... "stolb", he..."

i seriously feel like after 3 years of being interested in Russian, i would do a lot better than this. I listen to russian music all the time, i have made flash cards before, but my writing is a little loose, so i usually throw them out, i have got tonnes of books from the central library, but i can never seem to get through the hole thing, and i try to fill notebooks with words to memorize, but i end up writing down so many words that i get overwhelmed, how do you think i should approach this?

*i just realized after looking at for a while... potentsiala= potential

[JDShu]

Repetition, basically. Use any method you want but make sure to do it every day.

[dirghrabadia]

I believe the effective way to learn a language is to travel to the country/region where they speak it, and stay there for sufficient time. Hope you would have enough resources one day, to travel and fulfill your dream. Good luck :)

[Bachstelze]

i cant learn Russian the same way i learned English because I'm not around it all the time... i don't have the money to travel to a Slavic country.

I have spent exactly twenty days in English-speaking countries. That's not relevant today. We have the Internet: read news websites in Russian, go talk with people on Russian forums, buy Russian books from ebay or Amazon, etc.. Immersion is the only way to learn a language. If you don't use a skill, you forget it.

[wilee-nilee]

One of the ways to learn things is to make stories with the words, a mnemonic approach.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic

Never tried it myself, but I know people who have, and it is a noticeable advantage.

I used to have a neighbor who was a retired school teacher that spoke Russian. Their description was that there were two main types of the main language. Of course there are other languages in that region of the world as well.

[hessiess]

Anki and image/story association can work extremely well.

http://ichi2.net/anki/

http://www.fluentin3months.com/imagination-your-key-to-memorizing-hundreds-of-words-quickly/

[del_diablo]

Start watching Russian movies.
Start getting exposed to it.
There is no other way.

[aG93IGRvIGkgdWJ1bnR1Pw==]

каждый раз, когда собака бежит в столб, он теряет часть своего мышления потенциала.

this is how i "decode" it... i don't know what kazhdyj means... but i know raz means time... kogda=when, sobaka=dog, bezhat'=run v=in... and dont know what stolb means.

каждый - every
столб - post/bar (lamp-post or power line post, for example)

It's a proverb, literally it means "every time a dog runs into a lamp post, it gets a little bit dumber. It means even from small wounds, damage accumulates over time.

To learn, as others have said, read russian news sites, participate on russian forums, watch russian TV. It's how I learned English (I'm russian). If you find a word you don't know, don't hesitate to use google translate and wiktionary. They're great for translating individual words, but don't rely on them for translating entire sentences.

Всего хорошего!

[Brunellus]

One of the ways to learn things is to make stories with the words, a mnemonic approach.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic

Never tried it myself, but I know people who have, and it is a noticeable advantage.

I used to have a neighbor who was a retired school teacher that spoke Russian. Their description was that there were two main types of the main language. Of course there are other languages in that region of the world as well.
God, I despise mnemonic devices. As often as not, I remember the mnemonic, but not the underlying data--and what's the use of that?

Learning a language is a matter of repetition. If you can, get hold of Russian films with Russian subtitles.

[Simian Man]

The only way to learn *anything* is to use it. There is no magic other way.


read news websites in Russian, go talk with people on Russian forums, buy Russian books from ebay or Amazon, etc.. Immersion is the only way to learn a language. If you don't use a skill, you forget it.

Definitely.

[handy]

Different ways of learning suit different people, due to the way their mind works.

Some people may have noticed that there may exist a strength of cognisance in someone that they know, that has made it clear to themselves that there exist other ways of "thinking/feeling/seeing/hearing/knowing/remembering/being" than the ways they do it themselves.

Anyway, another way to learn things is to make (or buy if it exists) a recording of what you want to learn, & play it to yourself whilst using a light & sound system.

Light & sound systems use the frequency following response of the brain (brainwave entrainment) to change the predominant brainwave frequency.

By using one of these systems, you can have it take you down into the theta range (where we are at our most suggestible) & have the knowledge that you are looking to learn be played simultaneously through the headphones, as L&S systems allow for the input of other sounds (music, whatever).

If you are interested Photosonix (http://www.photosonix.com/) make a good range of products.

I know about this stuff as it helped me a great deal years ago. To the point where I used to import these systems from a variety of companies in the States, & sell them, mostly to natural therapists here in Oz.

[The Real Dave]

I'm currently learning German and Irish as a natural English speaker, and I've found that you don't ever really need to know what every bit of a sentence means, just enough to get the gist ;)


After that, learning things like Prepositions and Irregular Verbs, the best way is to simply sing them off, or make a word from the first letter of each, like FUDGEBOW

Fur, Um, Durch, Gegen, Entlang, Bis, Ohne, Wider. German prepositions that always take Accusative case :) You just got to be able to rattle them off. Eventually, you won't even need to think about them, the sentences will simply come to mind, and you'll realise that it's right.

That and, try to watch Russian TV, or listen to Russian Radio (via Internet?). It helps to try and immerse yourself in the language.

[TriBlox6432]

Find some people to talk to in Russian? I mean, learning German I spent at least an hour everyday only speaking in German. So yeah. xD

[spcwingo]

Immersion is the only way to learn a language.

I agree 100% on this one. It's the way that you learned your first language. Trying to memorize the words then translating in your head doesn't work that well (that's how I tried to learn Spanish...BTW, I still can't speak Spanish that well even after 2 yrs of classes).

[Windows Nerd]

Memorizing a language is not learning a language. You need to be exposed to it and learn gradually, as you would with your native language and with any other 2nd language.

[TTanae]

make yourself some flash cards and post sticky notes on items around your house so when you look at the item you look at the word :) just an idea

[lloyd_b]

It may sound a little demeaning, but I'd suggest picking up some children's books written in Russian. Start with a 2nd or 3rd grade level book, and read through it, keeping your English/Russian dictionary handy. Keep at that level until you can understand such books easily, then step up a few grade levels and try again.

(Russian language comic books would be superb for this as well, if you can find some).

Another suggestion would be to pick up a couple of Russian language audio books. The voices in audio books are typically much easier to follow than a normal conversation, though you'll probably still have to pause/rewind periodically at first until you gain some skill at parsing the spoken language. If you can, find an audio book version of something that you have the printed form of, then read the printed book while playing the audio tape.

The very best way is, of course, to find a patient Russian speaker to work with you, but that may be hard to manage :)

Lloyd B.

[wisemoose]

Yep, what Bach said. Even if you can not go to a slavic country. There are plenty of options open for you to learn the same way you learned your first language. Go on, sign up to Russian news-groups, with topics (other than the Russian language). And pick something that would interest you even if it was in your own language. That way you have motivation to look up words you don't know. And no, it's not the fastest way - that would be mind numbing repetition practice. But to use the language is the least boring way to learn it. Always!

[3Miro]

The way I learned English was through a rather brutal program at school, when I was 14. For a whole year (two semesters) we took what in USA would be called 50 credit hours (25 each semester). At the end, I could understand people that spoke English in movies and books, but when I came to the USA I still had hard time getting used to it (especially speaking).

One of the things that helped me a lot in the beginning was Cartoon network. I had no chance of understanding Shakespeare, but cartoons were simple enough. On the other hand, I found songs to be more damaging then helpful, but this may vary from person to person.

BTW: if you get a chance to travel, keep in mind that most Slavic countries don't speak Russian, so make sure to pick a correct one.

[Red_Steve]

Start watching Russian movies.
Start getting exposed to it.
There is no other way.

This. Being exposed to the language in real life or better yet forced to use it in normal day to day activity will make the words come like natural to you.