Language learning word lists

[''']

I raised this topic some years ago and have yet to find any satisfactory answer. Does anyone have any targeted way of learning vocabulary? Like any list for a given language or perhaps even a pan-language list of a hew hundred words which should be enough for most daily conversations? I'm sort of tinkering with making one at the moment which should make sense for most (western) languages focusing on vocabulary for parts of a house, travel, food, shopping, cooking, learning, working, etc, but I dunno, how big should a list be in order to be enough for actually discussing your day? How long is too long for beginner level? What topics do you think come up a lot which we don't often think about? Anyone have any good word lists for languages while we're at it?

[Lur]

Huh, I think I wouldn't know. I sometimes have thematic lists of stuff that interests me, usually not required for day to day conversation (it's often stuff related to nature). And also to compare the lexicon between dialects (variants of the same word or use of different words for the same thing).

[linguoboy]

One thing I used to do was draw pictures of the human body and label the most prominent parts. This was in imitation of an assignment we had in Spanish class when I was younger.

Nowadays, I don't find that studying off of lists is very helpful. Instead, I try to make a point of whenever I find myself saying, "I wonder what that's called in X?" immediately looking up the word (which thanks to mobile technology is more easy than ever). Most of the vocabulary I retain, though, I pick up by reading.

[Lur]

Nowadays, I don't find that studying off of lists is very helpful. Instead, I try to make a point of whenever I find myself saying, "I wonder what that's called in X?" immediately looking up the word (which thanks to mobile technology is more easy than ever).

I do this all the time. Even in class

[vijayjohn]

Sorry for the long post since I really doubt this is what you're looking for at all, but most of the languages that I'm studying (well, that I was studying...) and that I have very little familiarity with are unwritten, so for those languages, I rely on wordlists a lot. I make little wordlists right here on UniLang (in threads for said languages) by surrounding the word in the target language with spoiler tags, so it's a bit like flashcards or something, I guess. So basically every item in the list is like this:

[something in English] = [equivalent in target language]

For Malayalam, sometimes I reverse the order, so that it's the English equivalent that's surrounded by spoiler tags, because I know Malayalam well enough that sometimes the more relevant part to remember is the exact meaning, and sometimes I try to quiz myself on all the translations of a word given in my Malayalam-English dictionary. For example, there's a word that I already knew to mean 'danger(ous)' or 'accident', but my dictionary claims it also means 'risk', 'fault', 'mischief', 'difficulty', and 'evil', so I list that word like this:

അപകടം = danger, accident, risk, fault, mischief, difficulty, evil

There's also a special word in Malayalam for "16 km" (I don't know why; all I know is there's a proverb with that term in it), but since there are no other special words I know of like that for particular distances, it's a lot easier for me to see "16 km" and remember the Malayalam term than it is for me to see the Malayalam term and remember that it means exactly 16 km. If that makes any sense.

[''']

Nowadays, I don't find that studying off of lists is very helpful. Instead, I try to make a point of whenever I find myself saying, "I wonder what that's called in X?" immediately looking up the word (which thanks to mobile technology is more easy than ever). Most of the vocabulary I retain, though, I pick up by reading.

Which is fine for once you can already use the language but I'm more interested in something which will get you from 0 to the conversational level

[OldBoring]

In that case I wouldn't make my own word list, cause I would use a language course, a phrasebook or a reader that already have word lists.
That said, I hate learning through word lists, where words are taken out of the context. I prefer reading texts or sentences and then look up the words I don't know.

[linguoboy]

That said, I hate learning through word lists, where words are taken out of the context. I prefer reading texts or sentences and then look up the words I don't know.

IME, unless you're just really good at rote memorisation, you'll recall them much better when you learn them in context. Several people I know rather than making lists take Post-It notes and stick them on everything around them so they get constant reinforcement just going about their daily routine.

[Michael]

Although I prefer learning through context just as much as the average joe on UL, I don't mind word lists at all, especially thematic ones. Then again, I have Anki to assist me with all the rote memorization my love of word lists entails.

[vijayjohn]

I'd use the words I have listed in context, except I think the only way that's possible is if I wrote a multilingual drama or skit or something.

[Covered]

i'm building my own word list based on other lists. i'm trying to make it as short as possible. http://coveredweb.netau.net/wordlist