Korean Memorizing Korean Vocabulary Anyone Have Some Tips?

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Psy
Tuesday 21st of November 2006 01:26:40 PM
Memorizing Korean Vocabulary: At this point, I've fooled around with enough languages to be able to say, with certainty, that Korean words are just [b]plum hard[/b] to remember. Maybe it's the subtle vowel distinctions... maybe it's having to keep tabs on the shifting consonants and aspirations... who knows? Anyway, it's left me forgetting words at an alarming rate. Any suggestions?


mteric
Wednesday 22nd of November 2006 12:50:04 AM
Yeah, remembering korean words is difficult. But then, I'm fairly new to the language, so everything seems difficult. :D

I think you're right though, the language has a lot of subtle attributes that make memorizing words harder. Maybe getting used to those subtleties is part of getting better at absorbing vocabulary faster.



Psy
Saturday 25th of November 2006 11:39:03 AM
I was afraid of that.

One thing I've read is that you can do yourself a big service by learning the hanja and figuring out what the roots and constructions of words are. Since I've already learned the jyouyou kanji from my Japanese studies, this isn't a major issue for me, but it's a huge obstacle for people just starting out. Anyhow, it seems to work, and as yet this is the closest thing I've come to a mnemonic device for Korean. For example:

À½·á¼ö [ëæÖùâ©] (uem-ryo-su, drink [consume-material-water])
À½½Ä [ëæãÝ] (uem-shik, food [consume-eat])

The relationship between the two words is made a lot clearer through the hanja. It may not be the best (it certainly isn't the easiest!) way, but it's all I've found so far.


mteric
Monday 27th of November 2006 04:07:10 AM
That's a very good point. I think the hanja will help a lot! I just looked up a few words and they are very similar to the kanji/Japanese pronunciations.

선생 [先生] teacher
차 [茶] tea
모자 [帽子] hat

On slightly different note, how do you like to memorize words, as far as any language goes? Do you use index cards, software...?


Psy
Tuesday 28th of November 2006 12:05:03 AM
It really depends on what suits the words. With Korean, index cards/hanja seem like the only reliable aids. For other languages, I'll used any and all types of mnemonics that apply to a given word. For example, if the new word sounds similar to a word I already know, I'll try to create a relation in my head between the two. If the sound suggests a picture (however strange), I'll visualize the picture. For lists, it is possible to link a number of words together by their own meanings, or by utilizing what are called the Loci, Peg, and Phonetic mnemonics. All of these things may seem like crutches, but they actually do help the transition from short to long term memory. [url=http://www.amazon.com/Your-Memory-How-Works-Improve/dp/1569246297/sr=8-1/qid=1164645486/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-9544339-8604610?ie=UTF8&s=books]Your Memory by Kenneth Higbee is a lot of help with matters like this, so check it out if you're interested in memory studies. (as a language student you probably should be...)

Other times, you just encounter a word and somehow [b]know[/b] that you won't have trouble with it. There the memorization is just automatic, with no aid necessary. I still have no idea what causes this, but always love it when it happens. There are other words that do the exact opposite (eoseo oseyo, ¾î¼­ ¿À¼­¿ä, anyone?).


mteric
Wednesday 29th of November 2006 12:13:16 PM
Yeah, I suppose I should investigate more on the workings of memory. I have found that mnemonic techniques have been very effective for me as well, although I don't know the technical terms for them. Visualization and imagination seem to be big keys for making things stick in my head. Also, I find that I remember words better if I can relate it back to a conversation from a movie or some other form of audio. Ultimately, I think using the language every day, even if it's just for a short period, keeps your mind in the right mode, which in turn makes things easier to absorb.


fairykarma
Monday 12th of February 2007 01:22:05 PM
I can only memorize the words using the romanizations of the words. If I tried memorizing using Hangul, I wouldn't get anywhere.

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