Pourquoi et comment mémoriser du VOCABULAIRE | Français COURANT + sous-titres et transcription PDF.

Hello and welcome to the podcast Fluidity, episode 134. So today I'm going to first come back to the importance of memorizing as much vocabulary as possible, explain to you why it's important, and then I'll tell you how to remember it. But for that, stay tuned! A few months ago, I made an episode where I explained why vocabulary was more important than grammar in order to understand and speak French, even if grammar is not to be left out either. In summary, a language is made up of several tens of thousands of words that we need to understand at least to then use a certain part of it. To memorize vocabulary, there are common principles to all that we cannot do without, and then everyone can add tips they like. I will explain everything to you. But first, try to imagine the number of words you have heard in your mother tongue since you were born. These are thousands and thousands of words. And also imagine the number of times you have heard them. It is many times incalculable, an astronomical amount of repetition for each word, each conjugation, etc. Which means that you, as a French learner, you will have to immerse yourself in the language as much as possible to try to learn as much vocabulary as you have done with your mother tongue since you were a baby. Another thing, does a 6-year-old know as many words as an adult who has 30? The answer is no, of course. So even after spending 6 years living in his mother tongue, listening to it and practicing it every day, a 6-year-old still has a lot of vocabulary to discover and assimilate. Which means that even after 5 or 6 years of optimized immersion in French, I confirm that you will still have a lot of words to learn. I'm not telling you this to scare you or to discourage you, but so that you realize how long it takes to learn a language because of the gigantic amount of vocabulary and the amount of repetition it takes to assimilate it. This is why you must be as close as possible to the language because it is by being exposed to it that a native memorizes his mother tongue and you must also spend as much time as possible with French. So first of all, to learn and memorize vocabulary, immersion is mandatory. Whether it's reading or listening, it is essential to immerse yourself in French from the first day of your learning and never stop. Yes, because when you learn a language, you run after the vocabulary. That means that first of all, there will always be new words to learn given the quantity and then you lose the words you've already learned by not using them. So you have to hear and read all the vocabulary forever. So you're going to need a lot of patience because this whole process takes time. Then immersion is important because it gives you context. If I happen to tell you the word dog or the word car, they are easy to understand without the sentence that goes with it. But a lot of words need context, either because they have a meaning that does not exist in your mother tongue, or because they have several completely different meanings, or because they have several meanings but very few different, or because they are used only in very specific situations. For example, in Spanish, there are two verbs to be and even if they are the most basic verbs, it took me a long time to understand which one is used in which case. Even knowing the theory, I needed a lot of context, a lot of example sentences, real life and a lot of time to assimilate them well and then use them well. So it is the context brought by all this immersion that will make you unconsciously memorize the vocabulary and thanks to which you will know when to use such or such word. Without context, your brain does not understand well how and at what precise moment to use all the vocabulary so you will memorize it badly. But if your brain knows that such a word goes well in such or such a situation, you will know how to express it more easily when the time comes. Learning in context is another basic principle to never forget. For your immersion, you can listen to podcasts or the radio, watch YouTube, TV, movies or series, but you have to diversify the sources and subjects to acquire the most varied vocabulary possible. And I would like to introduce you to a very practical platform to watch series or movies, but specially designed for learners. It is a site where you can transform your entertainment time into language learning. You can progress in French in a playful and easy way simply by watching TV. Lingopie is a video service on demand like Netflix, but designed for language learning, including French of course. You have the choice between lots of local French shows with all possible genres, drama, crime, comedy, documentaries and even children's shows. You watch the program quietly installed, you can activate the subtitles in French or in your native language and you can also click on the words to translate them instantly, which saves you a lot of time. So we just talked about immersion, which is essential to memorize vocabulary well. Then, if you want to go a little faster, you can add to other memorization techniques, but it does not replace your listening and reading. It's a complement. There are, for example, word lists or vocabulary lists. Some people write down all the new words on a notebook in order to write them manually to better memorize them. There are other people who stick post-its, these little pieces of self-adhesive paper, everywhere in their home to be surrounded by words or expressions and see them all the time to remember them. You can also use spaced repetition applications. In this regard, adopt the method you like and that works for you, but beware of certain things. If you make vocabulary lists, write the complete sentence that goes with the word to get the context, but also the content where you read it or heard it, in order to be able to easily read the passage if you have a doubt about the meaning of the word. Also note the timecode, or the moment when the word appears in a film or series, or the page of the book and the line in the page. Also be careful not to write everything down in your lists, because we tend to want to remember absolutely all the words we hear or read. Don't forget that the more the word is frequently used, the more it will naturally come back in the contents, so the more you will memorize it thanks to its frequency of repetition. Conversely, there are words that are rarely used and that you will read or hear little often, i.e. vocabulary that you should only understand passive vocabulary. Because if you note absolutely all the new words, you will have gigantic vocabulary lists to revise, so it can discourage you, and it's the worst thing that could happen to you. So try to note the words that you will use first. It is not necessary to learn all the vocabulary of a specific theme. For example, it is useless to learn the name of all the animals that exist. The most common will come back naturally, such as the dog, the cat, the fish, the cow, and so on. In any case, with the Lingopai website, you will see the word in context thanks to the subtitles, and by clicking on it, you will be able to see its definition and save it directly in your personal vocabulary list to be able to revise it regularly. And when you go to revise your list, you can immediately see the extract of the content where the word appeared. So there too, it saves you a lot of time to create word lists. Lingopai offers you a free 7-day trial, if you want to try it without obligation. If you are interested, click on the link in the description to request your free trial, and you will get a special discount on their subscription thanks to the partnerships that I have with them. The last piece of advice I would like to give you to memorize your vocabulary is to practice, so to speak a lot. It seems obvious, and we never do it enough, often because we are afraid to start. Practicing vocabulary helps to memorize it better. It makes words more concrete, and the brain will activate them better later on. And when you pronounce them, your ear hears them, so it reinforces memorization even more. In short, the biggest part of the job is to do the same as what you did for your mother tongue, that is to say, a lot of immersion regularly. So listen and read content that you like and practice your speech and writing. All this is inevitable, crucial and essential. And then you can add other memorization techniques like vocabulary lists, if you like to do it, and if you have enough time to revise them regularly. Some will tell you that vocabulary lists are useless, but if it works for you, that you like it and that you have the time, then do it. I hope these tips will be useful to you. Thank you all for watching or listening to this episode. I hope you learned a lot of French as usual. If you stayed until here, the episode interested you, so put a little like. Do not hesitate to subscribe to my YouTube channel and to my podcast. And I'll see you soon!