tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Nov 03 05:02:41 1996

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RE: Vocabulary help needed

At 08:34 PM 11/2/96 -0800, SuStel wrote:
}jatlh qSeroHS:
}
}>  I wanted to request some help from anyone who feels able and willing to
}>  aid me in learning vocabulary - any suggestions as to the best method
}>  are also welcome.
}
}Read, read, read, speak, write, compose, read!
}
}(Unless you're name is Qov, and you memorize vocabulary after seeing it used 
}once . . . !)

:-) I do seem to absorb it faster than most, but "learning all the words" is
a specific goal of mine and I do work at it.  ngoQvammo' munuS jatlhwI' puS
'ach Hol vIlo'meH mu'tay' vISovnIS.  

peghmeywIj vI'angqang:

1. yIbuDQo'

When you see a word you don't know or you need a word you can't remember,
don't turn off your brain and reach for the dictionary.  I'll bet there are
some words you have looked up so many times that you can tell me if they are
on the left or right and top or bottom of the page.  What a silly thing to
have learned when you could just have learned the word.  Put a rubber band
around your dictionary. Before you take it off to look something up, guess
the word.  Even if it is a pure made up guess.  You may actually remember
the word, while you are guessing, you may find your guess was right.  If it
was wrong, look up both the correct word and your guess.  (e.g. if you were
looking for the word for tree and guessed "Sar" you would look up tree and
see that is was really Sor, and then look up Sar and see that it was be
varied or variety.  The only thing you should ever use a computer
translation program for is a spell-checker.  Hooking it up to your
conversations in the MUSH is crippling, unless you have a version that works
over the phone, too, or you don't actually *want* to speak Klingon.

2. yIHaD

Study the vocabulary.  Make vocabulary lists: words with similar sounds,
words with related meanings, words to do with your job.  Read your lists.
Open a random page of TKD's dictionary section and cover up the side that
isn't in alphabetical order.  Go down the page and see how many you know
without uncovering them.  Choose ten you didn't get (feel free to skip
things like lolSeHcha until you think they would be a useful addition to
your vocabulary) and make them your words of the day (or the week if you
aren't force-feeding yourself).  Then *use* them.  Think about them in
boring meetings, use them in conversation on the MUSH, see how few sentences
you can get them all in.  Grin to yourself everytime someone uses one of
your words in English.  

3. yIper
Label your entire home in Klingon.  (I did this, and after two weeks my
husband picked a fallen label of the floor.  "What does it say?" I asked.
He immediately replied "water" and then a look of horror crossed his face.
The label said merely "bIQ" and he had accidentally learned it by seeing it
on the water jug every day.  He was consciously trying *not* to learn
Klingon and he has a poor memory.)  

4. yIlo'
And, as others have said, use it.  Write stories.  If you aren't a
storywriter write anything.  Talk on the MUSH.  Talk to your plants and pets
and furniture. Make a running commentary on yourself. "jISay''eghmoHpu'. DaH
jIb HabmoHwI' vIlel 'ej jIbwIj ghIH vIlIS.  nuqDaq 'oH Ho'
Say'moHwI'wIj'e'?"  You're going to get toothpaste on the mirror anyway,
might as well do it in style.  

I tried making flashcards, but I didn't find it effective.  As SuStel
implied, seeing the word once in context for me is worth a dozen repetitions
in flashcards.  

It also gets easier as you go along, because there are fewer words you don't
know, so encountering a new one becomes an event to be celebrated. 
---
Qov (Robyn Stewart)   [email protected]    tlhIngan Hol ngotlhchu'wI'

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