The Importance of Vocabulary in Language Learning with Keith Hayden 

What an articulate young man

This was the best of a good bunch of recent videos. Keith is a really modest but knowledgeable and thoughtful guy. You instantly warm to him because he doesn't make wild claims but his tips are logical and useful.

I joined LingQ two days ago. I love it. I have paid monthly, but it’s so good, I think I’ll just get it for the year after this month.

Thank you for posting this! I can’t wait to watch!

For me the question of mass reading&listening vs. focused vocabulary practice boils down to efficiency. I am convinced both methods are effective - in other words if you do a lot of reading you're going to learn words AND if you do less reading, but also a lot of anki etc. you're going to learn words just as well. I am just not sure yet which is the fastest and most sustainable way. These days I believe you should read as much as possible, but also spend a few minutes actually looking at those new words. Maybe once or twice a day try to make a mnemonic connection or two. Write down 3-5 words a day. Stuff that does not take a lot of time, but gives just a little boost to your "natural" process. I am not even reviewing those words. The fact that I paid some attention initially makes it easier to single them out next time I see them in print.

Great interview.

What a nice guy!

I share the same point with you. Vocabulary is the most important branch in languages therefore polyglots people insist to start with acquiring as much as possible that. However and as you say the strategy of acquiring this background can be discussed since it depends from someone to another because we all are heterogenous. For me, as we live in an expansion of technology, it becomes somehow easy to learn foreign language. I think with illustrations and learning words on context that can be really helpful.

Great discussion! I getting back into Spanish. I’ve found myself doing a lot more reading than listening in order to acquire vocabulary. Eventually, I know I will have to start listening a lot more but for the early stages, is it okay to focus on reading with a little of listening thrown in?

Key insight at 7:28

I also want to point out that transcripts are also helpful for those who are hearing impaired. I haven't gotten around to adding them to my podcast, but I definitely should. There's so many good reasons to have them and not real reason not to. I should get around to that and hopefully more people do soon too.

good morning Steve, I can speak English, but I'm not fluently in conversation, so I'm looking for the best way that can help me to speak fluently and I loved your videos, please I want your help with a special classes, is it possible?

Une autre très bonne vidéo :)

Vocabulary is the most important thing when it comes to learning a new language. The rest is the rest altogether. Professor X here. Stay safe.

I'm learning English, and It seems to me that he is literally babbling his words. I feel sad. :( But you guys who already understood them look pretty happy.

تحياتي ما رأيك يأ أستاذنا المحترم لو تعلمني الانجليزية وأعلمك العربية في محادثات مباشرة وبذللك تكون طريقة جديدة شكرا

Interesting! As Steve says, we're all different in what attracts us and works for us. I've learned several languages as an adult, three of them to the C1/C2 level and the approach I've developed for vocabulary learning is a little different from both Steve's and Keith's. One important point for me is that I don't try to learn all vocabulary in each and every text or video I come in contact with -- I'm very selective. I will only occasionally decide to concentrate on learning the vocabulary in a particular text. If you're not highly selective, I find that you end up spending too much time working on memorizing vocabulary compared to other language learning activities. The fact is, memorization and drilling of vocabulary is useful but pretty darn boring. And you do in fact learn new words and expressions through other forms of "playing" with the language so you don't need to spend all of your time memorizing vocabulary. The second thing is that I've determined that as far as I'm concerned, flash cards aren't worth it". I find that good, information-rich flash cards take an excessively long time to create. Yes, using automated tools to create them can save time, but the tools inevitably have limitations...for example, with Linq, the fact is that it's not good at handling expressions that are spread out in pieces throughout a long sentence. And it doesn't necessarily bring in enough context for you to be able to actually identify where the word/expression came from (and to me, context is very important) etc.... I use an alternative method: I create two versions of my chosen text one for "passive" practice and one for "active" practice and I drill with them. Here's an example of what the text designed for "passive" practice might look like: "Um eine solch (1) umstürzlerische Initiative (2) im Keim zu ersticken, betonen die Unternehmen, dass letztlich die Verbraucher für eine verlängerte Garantie zu zahlen hätten: Der steigende Bedarf an Reparaturen würde zusätzliche Kosten für Hersteller und Händler verursachen, (3)was sich unweigerlich in den Preisen niederschlüge. The same text designed for active practice would look like the following: Um eine solch (1)___________ (subversive) Initiative (2)__________(to nip it in the bud), betonen die Unternehmen, dass letztlich die Verbraucher für eine verlängerte Garantie zu zahlen hätten: Der steigende Bedarf an Reparaturen würde zusätzliche Kosten für Hersteller und Händler verursachen, (3)___________(which would inevitably have a negative effect on price. Niederschlag=precipitation; auf etwas niederschlagen=to rain on something i.e. to have a negative effect on something). The three new expressions for me are numbered and highlighted. When I practice the vocabulary, I first drill passively to make sure that I understand what each of these means. If I forgot, then I'll check the "active" text where I have the definition. When I know them all passively, then, a couple of days later, I'll drill the active version and see if I can come up with the exact same expression used in this text. Once I know it both ways, I'll put it away for a couple of months, and then might try drilling it again and see if I still remember. I find this is extremely flexible, takes less time than creating flashcards, you definitely get the vocabulary in context and you're in control of the amount of time you spend drilling vocabulary vs other language learning activities.

Out of interest, what was the podcast you were listening to in Arabic?

How do you learn vocabulary when you cant infer the meanings, and they just don't stick in your mind?

Sympathetic guy. Somali? Definitely East-African phenotype.