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Similar words are confusing when learning new vocab

de Alkanadi, 17 de julio de 2014

Aportes: 25

Idioma: English

Alkanadi (Mostrar perfil) 17 de julio de 2014 09:56:40

I don't think it is a good idea to learn similar words when studying vocab.

Now I always get confused between these words:
Antaux
Ankaux

hieraŭ
hodiaŭ
morgaŭ

The reason why I get them confused is because I studied them at the same time. I learn Antaux within the same day that I learn Ankaux.

What do you think?

NJ Esperantist (Mostrar perfil) 17 de julio de 2014 11:18:46

Alkanadi:I don't think it is a good idea to learn similar words when studying vocab.

Now I always get confused between these words:
Antaŭ
Ankaŭ

hieraŭ
hodiaŭ
morgaŭ

The reason why I get them confused is because I studied them at the same time. I learn Antaŭ within the same day that I learn Ankaŭ.

What do you think?
What you can do it put the words in context in your mind somehow. Sometimes the meathod can get silly, but if it works, then you've accomplished your aim.

Maybe if you think of Antaŭ as being similar to 'Antechamber', a room that comes BEFORE the rest of the house. Or as an Ant that comes BEFORE his friends.

(SILLY ALERT) Maybe think of Ankaŭ an anchor that is carried along ALSO. [Mi ankaŭ kunportas ankron.]

Hieraŭ, Hodiaŭ and Morgaŭ are best memorized as ocurring in that order. Then you only need to really fix Hodiaŭ in you mind as being TODAY. The other two are then in context. Or think of MORgaŭ as being like toMORrow.

It may also help to memorize some short sentences using your troublesome words. Eventually the will stick.

Mustelvulpo (Mostrar perfil) 17 de julio de 2014 12:40:37

Alkanadi:I don't think it is a good idea to learn similar words when studying vocab.
Learning the difference between similar words and not mistaking one for another is crucial when learning vocabulary. It's unavoidable no matter which language you study. I think what you mean to say is that it's not a good idea to learn similar words at the same time. Perhaps this is true, at least for many people. I think that everyone has some confusion during learning and especially when starting a new subject. With time, this confusion generally lessens and finally disappears. If you keep at it, you'll reach a point where words like antaŭ and ankaŭ become distinct from each other and no longer confusing.

ruth3209 (Mostrar perfil) 17 de julio de 2014 13:26:06

"Intense Esperanto" is a very well-designed free app which is great for vocabulary practice. You can choose categories of words to focus on. I found it very helpful, especially for distinguishing between similar words--e.g. per, por, pro, pri--which tripped me up often at the beginning of my Esperanto study.

SWDusono (Mostrar perfil) 17 de julio de 2014 14:46:09

I'm a beginner, and I find that the correlatives are confusing. It is easy for me to confuse "kial" and "kiel," "kiam" and "kiom."

ruth3209 (Mostrar perfil) 17 de julio de 2014 15:42:11

The correlatives can be a bit of a hurdle at the beginning, but you will certainly get the hang of them soon. The Intense Esperanto app is great for practicing, but the most important thing is to just keep at it, keep reading, keep studying and use the language as much as possible. Good luck, and welcome to Esperanto!

kaŝperanto (Mostrar perfil) 17 de julio de 2014 18:26:31

I would disagree; it is good that you happened to study the similar words simultaneously. If you hadn't you'd be susceptible to misunderstanding later on when you don't realize that they are two distinct words.

Ankaux, antaux, and other common (non-e-suffix) adverbs and prepositions (usually -aux words) are very important words to learn. I found I stumbled on them frequently, so for several weeks I would study nothing else but these words. There is a lot more subtlety to Esperanto's prepositions (sur and super; cxirkaux, preter, inter, and apud) that is important to learn. Getting these words and all of the standard affixes learned is a big step towards proficiency, and you'll spend less time in a dictionary once you've got them down.

The correlatives are also very important to understand. For me, I could almost always deduce the meaning or correct usage after thinking about it for a bit. This was problematic when listening to Esperanto, though, since I would lose understanding as soon as I hit one I didn't know by heart. It just takes some time to get the correlatives internalized, I'm afraid. I still sometimes read "what I wanted to read" and I'll see a kiel where a kial was or vice-versa.

I also came up with weird mental ways to learn some words, like "anstataux" kind of sounds like a botched pronunciation of "instead of".

sergejm (Mostrar perfil) 17 de julio de 2014 18:27:38

Who knows Russain, can read about origin of correlatives here: http://mevamevo.livejournal.com/251846.html

Rugxdoma (Mostrar perfil) 17 de julio de 2014 18:30:00

It is general praxis when teaching things which are likely to be mixed up by the learner, that you let some time pass between introducing them. That gives the learner the feeling that there is one thing he/she is really familiar with, while the other one will be conceived as an interesting newcomer. Then they are not so similar any longer. In mathematics, you often don't teach sin and cos and tan during the same lesson, for example, though they do not differ theoretically.

When you teach yourself, then you have to decide whether to do like this, or whether the difficulty is small enough that you can confront both items at the same time.

In the previous posts you have got some good advice how you can contrast words, and understand or memorise both of them at the same time.

Rugxdoma (Mostrar perfil) 17 de julio de 2014 18:42:04

kaŝperanto:I also came up with weird mental ways to learn some words, like "anstataux" kind of sounds like a botched pronunciation of "instead of".
This is not a weird mem at all. Anstataux is from the German words an + statt. The English word is built of more or less the same elements: in + stead. In both cases a preposition and place.

But you are right, one should not be afraid of weird rules, if they are helpful and not confusing when you have got many of them.

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