I have probably learned about 300 words of french since I started learning it this semester. The large majority of which I learned through the online application Duolingo. What the application does is teach small lessons that introduce a small number of new vocabulary words. Most new words are introduced as part of a phrase or sentence, rather than just simply memorizing new vocabulary words. I recognize that eventually I will need to do more extensive vocabulary expansion exercises, but since I have such a small vocabulary and grasp on the grammar of french, I’m not ready yet to just start learning a huge number of new vocabulary words. Along with Duolingo, I also used lists of cognates from both spanish and english to help me learn similar words, but also to become accustomed to the differences between the languages.
I don’t have any specific goals for learning vocabulary as far as number of words, but rather sufficiency in reading comprehension and speaking ability. As long as I have a large enough vocabulary to effectively communicate by circumlocution, then I will be happy with my speaking vocabulary. For reading comprehension, I often have a hard time with any sentence that I haven’t read before just because I have such little experience with reading french. The only way I see myself getting better with reading is to continue to read and expand my vocabulary.
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