What's the best way to learn vocabulary

[Dutchman]

I was wondering what the best way to learn vocabulary was. I've learned now with 2 ways.
1. learning words like いぬ ,inu ,dog
2. Learning kanji together with vocabulary
月 gatsu, getsu, tsuki moon,month

But whats the better way to learn some vocabulary when you've got a vocab of 50 words or so. first learn words and later learn the kanji ?

[Kasomi]

Well, learning kanji can be a great help. But I think that with everything else in learning, it depends. Maybe learning kanji won't help but rather confuse you even more. Oh, and, practice your hiragana, because I think it's better when you learn with Japanese characters than in Roomaji. But it's your choice.^^ I hope you'll find your own way to learn vocabulary!

[Dutchman]

Well, I won't try to learn in romanji even more. It's very bad to do it, wel not really bad. But if you learn it with kana it helps you practising of course ^^ hmm
I think I'll use both methods and see with wich method I learn the most words in 15 minutes.

[Kasomi]

It isn't really realistic since you can't learn new vocabulary unless you see at least the same words I think around 16 times to remember it and process its meaning in your head, but it could take less time for you, who knows? I think 15 minutes isn't enough, but I can't stop you, so go ahead... Read as much as you can,though. (even if you know only kanas for now, you can learn a big amount of non-kanji words such as そろそろ (soon)、あなた(you) ect., because there is a lot of words that doesn't have a kanji attached to it to remember)

That's what the last thing I had to say.

[Okashi]

When I do vocabulary words I kinda put them in different categories. If they're school objects, I write them down on a piece of paper. I do this for almost any new word I learn. I usually just categorize them by objects/nouns (and where it can be found), verbs, adjectives and so on. Once I've done that to a new word. I first write it in English, than I write it in roomaji, and than in hiragana. That's just the pattern that I use when I learn more and more words.

I also agree with Kasomi.

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by Dutchman

I was wondering what the best way to learn vocabulary was. I've learned now with 2 ways.
1. learning words like いぬ ,inu ,dog
2. Learning kanji together with vocabulary
月 gatsu, getsu, tsuki moon,month

But whats the better way to learn some vocabulary when you've got a vocab of 50 words or so. first learn words and later learn the kanji ?

Builing up a good vocabulary is an important part of learning a foreign language, needless to say. But learning to use new words in the proper context would be far more important.

Let me give you an actual example that I personally witnessed many years ago. When I was studying English in a language school, I had a classmate (another Japanese) who had a 'photographic memory'. He claimed that he had memorized all the words in the first half or so of his English-Japanese dictionary in a few months. All he had to do was to memorize the second half and he was on his way to becoming the master of the English language.

However, my friend failed to become the master because he didn't take nearly enough time to practice using the words that he had learned in the proper context. He didn't try to construct enough sentences using the words. He undoubtedly knew the most words in our class but he was making only average grades. His speaking skills suffered as well as writing because he always had his nose in his dictionary.

I hope that the Japanese learners on this Forum do not follow in this person's footsteps. You could memorize 5,000 beautiful words but you will still sound VERY foreign if you use the wrong particles or not properly conjugated verbs.

After 20 years, this friend of mine still remembers most of the words he memorized back in school. I think he actually knows more English words than I do. But he can hardly speak or write anything in English, so he calls me everytime he has a foreign guest and needs an interpreter.

So, to go back to the main topic, if you know 50 words now, spend lots of time making sentences (or at least phrases) using them. Use your imagination and play with the 50 words like you did as a kid. You have to do it until you feel comfortable using the words. If you feel this process is fun, you will go very far with Japanese. Don't try to learn more words until those 50 words become yours.

One more thing, worry about kanji ONLY if you have already masterd the two systems of kana and you feel 100% confident with them. No one should practice kana and kanji simultaneously. Even Japanese kids don't do that.
So go hiragana--> katakana--> and kanji. One should not practice writing hiragana and katakana simultaneously, either. You will only get confused and frustrated.

[MMM]

That's great advice, Masaegu.

In general, you should start learning hiragana on your first day of Japanese study. You should couple this with basic phrases. Hiragana and Katakana shouldn't take too terribly long to learn. I used to teach high school Japanese, and taught about 10 characters a week, so it took about 3 months, maybe a little longer, to learn both. A motivated person could do it much faster, though. Basically getting hiragana down is the most important first step. Then you can write any word. (You might notice most children's books are written entirely in hiragana.) At the same time, learn some vocab, and play with it. How they flow together will give you exponentially larger abilities to communicate.

If you know 10 verbs, and 3 conjugations, then there is 30 ideas you can put together. Learn just three more verbs, and that number jumps to almost 40. Learning JUST vocab isn't enought...and really isn't even that useful, as Masaegu said. The vocab will come, it's learning the WHY sentences are structured the way they are (particles and conjugation) that give you the ability to communicate and create your own sentences.

[Dutchman]

ok thanks for the advice, but I know most of these things already :P but thanks for the great advice maseagu ^^ I'll practise the grammar more now :P and try to learn more words when I can write sentences without trouble. -_- still need to learn katakana :S