Brain Can Learn A New Word In Less Than 15 Minutes

[rijb]

Interesting research. However, practical application might be a challenge...

The brain can learn a new word in less than 15 minutes, according to scientists, whose finding will rob many of the excuse that they can't learn a foreign language.

Edited December 19, 2010 by rijb

[bhoydy]

That sounds about right, it takes me about that many times for a word to sink into my skull, although it depends on how often that word comes up in conversation which can range from 15 hours to 15 months. In all honesty though it's another scientific experiment which is based on what if? If i were to learn like that i would have a fantastic vocabulary with no idea how to put it into practice. This is definitely not how to learn a language as a single method but, repitition does work along with many other styles integrated into your studies.

[rijb]

Active/intentional listening (versus reactive hearing) to everyday conversations, in Thai, seems to help with improving my comprehension skills. And sometimes I learn other things…

[hiero]

thank the maker for Anki.

[rijb]

thank the maker for Anki.

I found the Anki website. Looks interesting. Did you use Anki to learn a language?

[farangnahrak]

I didn't read their scientific paper, but judging by the article, there was no attempt to see how long they retained these memories of new words. It also didn't say how many words can be done in a specific set of time, ie will learning new words with this method overwrite old words.

Even then, at 15 minutes per word, thats only 4 words per hour. The traditional way is faster than that, no?

Subjectively, me and my other farang friends learning Thai all agree that *using* (hearing, reading, writing, and speaking) a Thai word about 30 times over the stretch of a day is enough to permanently learn a new word.