【E36】-17 Some Ways about How to Remember New Words

Run in the family Hereditary Inherited Genetic 遗传性 Illnesses / disease These can run in the family. They can be hereditary, inherited or genetic. But if we are talking about bad habits, or personalities, we SHOULD NOT use hereditary, inherited or genetic. We should use the expression 'runs in the family' For example: He and his dad both have very bad tempers. It runs in the family. Would you like to discuss some ways about how to remember new words? Memorizing is fine for tests and exams. But it is not good for real life. Don’t just learn a new word. Learn a phrase. Homework If we are trying to remember this word, then we should make a phrase with it. For example: Do your homework Do your homework Start your homework Finish your homework Etc. Saying the word out loud! Then repeat it! Again, and AGAIN, … and AGAIN! This helps the brain remember the pronunciation of the word. And it also helps us remember how to use the words in a situation. All my friends used to think I was crazy when I was studying Chinese! Because we were all foreigners studying together. So I didn't have many Chinese people around me to practice with. So I would talk to myself I would ask myself questions. And I would try to answer my own questions If we don't have other interesting people around us to talk to, we can be our own interesting conversation partner I think if we use a language for long enough, we start thinking in that language as well. Sometimes I have conversations with people but later I will forget which language we spoke in. This is also a good sign. It means that we really understood the conversation. We understood the meaning of it. My wife and I speak in 3 or 4 languages all the time. So I sometimes forget what language we had a conversation in. English and Bengali （孟加拉语） These are both my native languages. My parents are from Bangladesh (孟加拉） and I lived there for some time as well. But I think my English is better than my Bengali. I speak casual Bengali. But my English is of a much higher level than most English speakers. Because I have lived in many different English speaking countries. And I have studied subjects that need a higher level of English language. I also read 3 or 4 books every day when I was younger. For example: I can't do what you told me. It's way too 麻烦. Make somebody else do it. This is a sentence that I might say to my friends. For example, I know a lot Chinese people who say 'fighting' to mean 'I'm trying hard'. I don't know where this comes from. [偷笑] It sounds very strange to English speakers I think that most of you speak better English than I speak Bengali. And Bengali is my parents' language If we learn a second language, then it becomes much easier to understand and learn a third or fourth language. Even though we started talking about learning new words, do you think tonight's discussion was interesting? We never need to know all the words in a language. We don't need to know all the grammar in a language. We just need to be able to express our ideas and thoughts clearly. You are all already doing that! You can understand what I'm saying in English, and I can understand what you are saying as well! This is usually enough when we learn a new language. But we will keep practicing, and try to make our language skills perfect!