How many new words have you learned in your target language?
I cannot begin to count the number of new words I have learned in Hindi! I am constantly learning new words through my discussions with my language partner and the majority of our sessions consist of going over new vocabulary.
How did you learn them?
My language partner prepares 10 new verbs for me each week and we go over their meaning, conjugations, tenses, and using them in different contexts. In addition, whenever we learn a new topic such as seasons, emotions, furniture, body parts, and days of the week, all of that consists of learning new vocabulary. Most of the time I have heard the words I am learning before but I may not have known their exact meaning or spelling so I write the down. The only problem I have been running into is that I am learning a lot of new words but I need to practice using them more often in order to retain them.
Do you have realistic goals for your acquisition of vocabulary?
In my learning plan I articulated that I wanted to increase my vocabulary so in that sense I have a realistic goal. However, I have not set specific goals of learning x amount of verbs by the end of the semester. I knew I wanted to cover certain topics and the words associated with them and I am achieving that goal, which is good. I think one goal that I can create is to be able to utilize many of the words I have learned in a written paragraph and long, spoken discussion with my language partner.
Replies
I really like that you have set very specific goals when starting your lessons as a language learner. I also liked that you are covering the basics of the language such as grammar first so that you can get deeper into the language later. It is good that you are incorporating these basics into different interesting topics. Good work!
I am glad you are setting realistic goals to learn your target language! I do know a bit of Hindi from watching a ton of Bollywood movies when I was younger, and it is definitely not an easy language. Practice definitely helps with learning any new language and I think that is what has helped me the most in learning Bengali. Have you tried watching Bollywood movies? They are VERY interesting and a lot of them are meaningful. By watching movies, you are able to listen to the words and try to understand the meanings. I often pause after a scene and try to understand what happened. You could also go over this with your learning partner if they have watched movies.
For instance, I recently re-watched the movie Dangaal. Dangaal is about a family who lives in a very paternalistic society, and the father, a former wrestler, of this family, has a great desire in teaching his future son wrestling so he could win a gold medal for his country. However, after countless tries, the father and the mother constantly have daughters. After being disappointed the father soon realizes that he can live his dreams through his daughters as well and he trains his daughters in wrestling. At the end (spoiler alert) his daughter wins a gold medal for wrestling and makes her country and father very proud! I thought this movie was very empowering and meaningful to the culture of India. I hope I did not diverge too much but watching movies really helps with learning the vocabulary of the target language, and this is a movie that will make you want to follow along with the words. You also get a glimpse into the Indian society and culture, which also greatly helps in your journey to learn the language!
Thanks for you comment! Yes I love watching Bollywood movies. I've been watching them since I was younger but I've always used english subtitles. I think if I stray away from those then I can increase my understanding of the language.