Where would you get your vocabulary?

To get good at conversation, where would you get vocab from?

1
9.1%

6
54.5%

0
0%

3
27.3%

1
9.1%

0
0%

This poll will run forever.

Posts1630Likes1092Joined18/3/2018LocationBellingham / US
Native
English
Learning German
Other Chinese - Mandarin, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Thai

I know that many learners don't use things like SRSs, flashcards, wordlists, etc. But if you had time to learn some vocabulary that way, and your primary goal was to be able to converse smoothly in your language, where would you get your vocabulary from?

In Thailand now. Next up Tanzania and Philippines.

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#1
Posts114Likes81Joined8/10/2018LocationPH
Native
English, Tagalog
Learning Japanese

I'd get it from conversations and mine words accordingly. There's a deck that I used before that did just that, I believe it was Coke2k. It was arranged in such a way that new words are added and old vocab were used in the sample sentences to reinforce learning.


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#2
Posts1630Likes1092Joined18/3/2018LocationBellingham / US
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English
Learning German
Other Chinese - Mandarin, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Thai

Mel.Palogan wrote:
I'd get it from conversations and mine words accordingly. There's a deck that I used before that did just that, I believe it was Coke2k.

Do you mean core2k for Japanese? That's a pre-made deck, and doesn't come from your conversation. I've edited the poll to clear this up, and added the ability to change your vote if you'd like.

In Thailand now. Next up Tanzania and Philippines.

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1
#3
Posts114Likes81Joined8/10/2018LocationPH
Native
English, Tagalog
Learning Japanese

Yup that's it, it was a premade deck made of "conversations" made of sentences and patterns. I guess it is better suited in option #5 though. Not the best approach I have to admit but I didn't have the luxury of having a lot of language partners back then.


The best really is to talk to people and to take note of new words, grammar and such.


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#4
Posts0Likes0Joined4/10/2018Location
Native
Chinese - Mandarin, English, Chinese - Cantonese
Other French, Indonesian, Russian, Thai, Vietnamese

I need text, so usually a reading of sorts, no matter how unnatural. I am so beyond hopeless with listening that I actually need people to write their names down for me before I get it.

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#5
Posts1630Likes1092Joined18/3/2018LocationBellingham / US
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English
Learning German
Other Chinese - Mandarin, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Thai

meifeng wrote:
I need text, so usually a reading of sorts, no matter how unnatural.

I have the same problem, but I just take notes during my conversations and study them later. So that vocabulary definitely comes from my conversations. I've had problems with other sources, such as books, because it always turns out that a lower percentage of those words are ones I really need for conversation. 

In Thailand now. Next up Tanzania and Philippines.

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#6
Posts1630Likes1092Joined18/3/2018LocationBellingham / US
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English
Learning German
Other Chinese - Mandarin, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Thai

Mel.Palogan wrote:
it was a premade deck made of "conversations"

Can you cite this? I thought someone just used the 2000 most frequent words to make sentences with audio.

wrote:
I guess it is better suited in option #5

Feel free to change your vote.

In Thailand now. Next up Tanzania and Philippines.

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1
#7
Posts114Likes81Joined8/10/2018LocationPH
Native
English, Tagalog
Learning Japanese

leosmith wrote:
Mel.Palogan wrote:
it was a premade deck made of "conversations"

Can you cite this? I thought someone just used the 2000 most frequent words to make sentences with audio.

It's from an old Iknow deck that was moved to Anki. This is the only one that I found, it's not arranged with the conversation format that I used but the sentences are here: https://iknow.jp/courses/19063


Another deck I remember is called Kanji in Context, It it was similar to Core but the sentences are much more interconnected from what I could recall.

leosmith wrote:

wrote:
I guess it is better suited in option #5
Feel free to change your vote.


done, thanks for the reminder


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#8
Posts0Likes0Joined3/9/2018LocationSkopje / MK
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Macedonian
Other Arabic - Gulf, English, French, Spanish, Serbian

I usually get it from written conversations, I like dialogue. I get engaged in group online conversations and note down their speeches and words I am unfamiliar with. Books amaze me to, so that too, but I agree that rarely do we need for a colloquial conversation the vocabulary used in a book for example. Depends of the genre of book though right. But I do prefer a sort of teacher and a live conversation so I can engage, learn and practice at the same time. But reading news and forums like these inspire me too and I often note down vocabulary through this too. Listening is not my biggest strength when I am trying to learn new words :)) 


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#9
Posts0Likes0Joined6/10/2018LocationLagos / NG
Native
English
Other French

Mine would have to be from my own reading and also listening to other people speak. For example, there are a lot of English words that I've come across and added to my vocabulary simply by reading a book, watching a movie or just listening to someone speak.

Kevwe A.

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#15
Posts0Likes0Joined4/9/2018LocationCaracas / VE
Native
Spanish
Learning German, Italian
Other English

I voted for listening. I also read them, but I prefer to hear natives speaking and do some mimic.

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#16
Posts230Likes123Joined16/9/2018Location
Native
Spanish
Other English, Italian

I increased my vocabulary with books and dictionaries whenever I found new words while reading, I look up their meanings and then memorize them.

-Ari-

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#17
Posts0Likes0Joined15/10/2018LocationLingayen, Pangasinan / PH
Native
English, Tagalog
Learning Japanese, Korean
Other Arabic - Standard

I'm on the listening side. I've learned how to converse in Arabic without knowing how to read it. But eventually, I forced myself to learn (although not all) their alphabet as well. A good teacher or a friend to speak to would also be a good resource.

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#18
Posts0Likes0Joined5/6/2018LocationLapu-lapu / PH
Native
Cebuano, Tagalog
Other English

Mainly from my own conversations and listening.

Charlyn Amoin

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#19
Posts0Likes0Joined8/7/2018LocationAlmeria / ES
Native
English
Other Arabic - Egyptian, French, German, Spanish

If I ever want to learn large volumes of vocab, then reading when I teach we use flashcards and then play pairs or what's missing or hangman to test the retention, but my students are all under 11 (apart from my c1)

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#20
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