Words of multiple meanings--What is the best way to memorize ?
I have always been memorizing words based on two objectives
Objective 1: The ability to recognize the word when I see it
Objective 2: The ability to produce the word when I need to express its meaning
In the process of learning with anki, I find it extremely difficult and tasking when I encounter multiple-meanings words with many different, and usually hardly interrelated meanings.
Experienced SRS users indicate we should always avoid enumerations and sets. But if I don’t enumerate these meanings, I somehow feel I’m not actually on the sure way of fully grasping the meaning of the word.
Here is an example word:
掛かる
Meanings:
1. hang
2. to take
3. to come into view
4. o come under (a contract, a tax)
5. to start (engines, motors)
6. to attend
7. to be caught in
this word掛かる actually has 14 meanings, way more than the 7 ones that I listed. Some of the meanings are closer but most of them are not.
The way I was learning this word was to create a note with “Cloze” note type. And apply cloze deletion on each one of the meaning. In anki editor, it will look like this:
Text Field:
掛かる
Meanings:
1. {{c1::hang}}
2. {{c2::to take}}
3. {{c3::to come into view}}
4. {{c4::to come under (a contract, a tax)}}
5. {{c5::to start (engines, motors)}}
6. {{c6::to attend}}
7. {{c7::to be caught in}}
Extra Field:
Example Sentences:
1.blah blah blah….
2….
3….
....
7….
As you can see, in each anki repetition for this word, I will have to recall one meaning out of the 7 ones. This process is very painstaking. But I’m not sure if there is a better way.
As to my second learning objective, which is to make myself being able to produce this word. I create the following anki card.
Cloze field:
Example Sentence1: blah blah blah….. {{c1::掛かる…}}… blah blah blah
Extra Field:
Meanings:
1. hang
2. to take
3. to come into view
4. to come under (a contract, a tax)
5. to start (engines, motors)
6. to attend
7. to be caught in
The logic is to learn to be able to produce the word in a contextual sentence. When checking the answer, I will skim through the list of meanings shown in the extra field to obtain a general sense of the word but will remember the only one meaning which correspond to the example sentence in text field.
My question or my doubt is if I can omit the objective 1 and only create cards that accomplish object 2. This assumption is based on the supposition that if I can produce the word, I certainly will be able to recognize the word.
Any thoughts on this perspective? Thanks in advance!
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1 Posted by Vit on 15 Dec, 2014 03:35 PM
I have always been memorizing words based on two objectives
Objective 1: The ability to recognize the word ...
Objective 2: The ability to produce the word ...
.... usually hardly interrelated meanings.
Experienced users indicate we should {always} avoid enumerations and sets.
But if I don’t enumerate these meanings, I ... I’m not ... fully grasping the meaning of the word.
The way I was learning this word was to create a note with “Cloze” note type.
... in each repetition for this word, I will have to Select one meaning out of the 7 ones. This process is very painstaking.
But I’m not sure if there is a better way.
As to my second learning objective, .... Production ...
Example Sentence1: blah blah blah….. {{c1::掛かる…}}… blah blah blah
My question or my doubt is if I can omit the objective 1 and only create cards that accomplish objective 2.
PS. If u want more suggestions from other users, the old Google forum has a few good posts.
2 Posted by 2691264235 on 17 Dec, 2014 02:33 AM
Hi Vit! Thanks for the detailed explanations!
I totally got your ideas. I was way too greedy, trying to catch multiple rabbits at the same time.
I still have one question, in Production learning phase, do you think it's a good idea to create a cloze on the new word in a sentence which contains that word? In other words, do you think the sentence could become an unwanted promoting effect? I do it in the hope that the sentence could serve as a real context.
I would love to see your small deck! Please post. Thanks!
3 Posted by Vit on 18 Dec, 2014 09:34 PM
Hi, xyz.
...in Production learning phase, do you think it's a good idea to create a cloze on the new word in a sentence which contains that word? In other words, do you think the sentence could become an unwanted promoting effect? I do it in the hope that the sentence could serve as a real context.
Any questions are welcomed.
System closed this discussion on 22 Feb, 2016 11:42 PM.