Memorising foreign vocabulary (through handmade lists)

It is important to make sure you have already memorised the information you are adding to your SRS. SRS keeps you from forgetting, but it is not optimised for memorisation. Trying to learn cards through repetition is likely to lead to a lot of those cards being failed repeatedly. This article introduces my favourite way of learning vocabulary prior to SRSing.



The method


There are no doubt many ways to learn vocabulary prior to SRSing, from rote memorisation to using those words in context. In my opinion, the most time-efficient method is the following:

1.  On a sheet of paper, starting with the first line, right a word on the left of the line, and its translation on the right. Repeat until you reach the bottom of the page.
2. Quiz yourself on the words, revealing each answer as you go (hide the column you are testing yourself on with a piece of paper).
3. Write down the words you failed on another piece of paper and repeat. If you fail some words again, write them down on a third piece of paper and repeat, until no words remain.
4. Add all the words to the SRS of your choice.

Some advice

It can be a good idea to wait between writing down the words and quizzing yourself, so you can make sure you won't forget the words you remembered too soon. If you find it hard to remember vocabulary in your target language, and you are failing a lot of words, testing yourself as soon as possible should help strengthen your memory of them. You can also try making a few lists of about 7 elements ("plus or minus 2" - the number of elements than can supposedly be stored in our short-term memory, although in practice, things get a bit more complicated than this - experiment!), and consolidate the forgotten words into new 7 elements lists.

In addition, make sure you are not learning those words devoid of all context: adding example sentences to your cards is a good idea. You can search for the words you are unsure of online, to get a better idea of how and when they are used.

Finally, prioritise your learning: beginners should learn basic, frequent words (don't learn every new word you can find!) ; intermediate and advanced learners should learn words as they encounter them, and from good quality word lists (collocations are a great idea for intermediate and advanced learners). Don't waste time on infrequent words unless you have already covered all the vocabulary you usually encounter/need. (Of course, you will learn many more words through exposure to the language: don't forget to get as much input in your target language as possible.)


Others do it too


Here is an amusing video from GO! Billy Korean detailing a very similar process:




The author draws a line in the middle of a sheet of paper, and then writes the translation (English here) of each word starting from the top line of the page. The equivalent in a foreign language (Korean here) is written starting from the bottom of the page. Here is an example:

one
two
three
-------------
tres
dos
uno


The page is then cut in two along the line previously drawn.
When it is time to review, one places the pieces of paper on top of each other, and can then reveal the solutions line by line by moving the top piece of paper up by one line, so that words that one hasn't been tested on yet remain hidden.