What is the best way to enrich your vocab ?

[caddy_caddy]

Hello ,
Sorry I 'm bothering you with my problem but I really need your advice .
I'm very anxious and under too much stress cz I 'm having an exam in translation after two weeks .
Usually I don't skip any word in any context without understanding its meaning ,but as u know It's a slow process to enrich your vocab .

Now I 'm making a new plan : memorizing words directly from the dictionary . I fear it's foolish to do that and very risky . Words stick in your mind when read in a scene within a novel or a play .I Don't know for how long could I keep them in my memory .
By now I'm done with 50 pages . The dictionary has 667 pages and if I study harder I could finish it in due time .

I know I can do it but what I don't know is if I can recall the words back when needed . I thinK my brain would be crowded with words and past experiences are not encouraging at all :rolleyes5::rolleyes5:

[dafydd manton]

You could try listening to good radio, or merely reading good books, and if you find a word, look it up and go through it with a highlighter pen. Periodically, flick through the dictionary, and only worry about those words you've had to mark. If you still can't remember a word, outline in a second colour. A method I used for learning German or Russian vocab in the Air Force, and it works, but without the tedium.

[Patrick_Bateman]

Umm....reading maybe?

[Serena03]

It is not usually a good idea to cram, you need to gradually let the information sink in. Excessive reading is commonly the number one recommendation for vocabulary enhancement. Keep a list of words you encounter to look up later and try using the words within your everyday speech. The more you use the words, the better you will know them.

[Hurricane]

Read lots. Listen to people reading or speaking. Look up words you don't know and read it again.

Knowing words by reading them from the dictionary doesn't work (well, for me at least, you might be different). Knowing words in the context of a sentence or phrase does.

[Silas Thorne]

You said that you have an exam in translation in two weeks. Don't try and memorise the dictionary! It's absolutely the worst thing you could do. How much of the 50 pages do you remember/
Ideas: group words together by topics, or learn words that are similar (synonyms) and words that are opposite (antonyms) to words you already know.You could try testing yourself on your vocabulary by using flashcards. If you only need to sight a word and translate it, then flashcards might be useful.
Whatever you want to do, don't get stressed about it. Any way is better than trying to memorise the dictionary. Do what you can in the two weeks you have left and then feel comfortable with it.

[Paulclem]

Context is important with words, so read and use the words in either speech or writing to embed them. Interaction will make them stick better, and give you the contect. i would do this in combination with reading, listening and using Silas' and Daffyd's ideas - which are tried and tested.

[Propter W.]

Yep, I think these kind people have given you some very sound advice.

Do you have any idea what type of text you'll need to translate? If so, I would advise you to read similar texts.

Are you sure you're not allowed to use a dictionary? Is it some sort of entry exam or a means to test your knowledge of a foreign language? If not, you should be allowed to use a one.

[caddy_caddy]

Yep, I think these kind people have given you some very sound advice.

Do you have any idea what type of text you'll need to translate? If so, I would advise you to read similar texts.

Are you sure you're not allowed to use a dictionary? Is it some sort of entry exam or a means to test your knowledge of a foreign language? If not, you should be allowed to use a one.
It 's an entry exam and we're not allowed to use a dictionary .I couldn't get samples for the previous exams but I know it would be two" literary "texts: one from Arabic into English and the other from English into Arabic . For that reason I think the dictionary would be more helpful to me . It helps me to know the accurate meaning in Arabic .

A lot of words are very confusing and you should be able to differentiate between them in translation, to find the " very word " not any other that is close in meaning .Moreover , in dictionary you discover that some words have more than six or seven different meanings , yet you know one or two out of them. In literature your reading could be very misleading if you don't know the different meanings of just one word, especially in poetry . That what makes me very anxious . :rolleyes5:

[Propter W.]

It 's an entry exam and we're not allowed to use a dictionary .I couldn't get samples for the previous exams but I know it would be two" literary "texts: one from Arabic into English and the other from English into Arabic . For that reason I think the dictionary would be more helpful to me . It helps me to know the accurate meaning in Arabic .

A lot of words are very confusing and you should be able to differentiate between them in translation, to find the " very word " not any other that is close in meaning .Moreover , in dictionary you discover that some words have more than six or seven different meanings , yet you know one or two out of them. In literature your reading could be very misleading if you don't know the different meanings of just one word, especially in poetry . That what makes me very anxious . :rolleyes5:

I just wrote you a very lenghty reply, but lost it all!

If they want you to translate poetry, their expectations are unreasonable high and they'd have absolutely no fair way of assessing your translation.

I think you should ask yourself what the point of this exam is. It is very likely (although without context, I can't really say) that they want to test your command of both languages. They won't expect you to hand in a perfect translation, if such a thing even exists! They will probably focus on whether or not your text is fluent and whether or not you've made any basic mistakes. If you translate a specialised, archaic or uncommon word incorrectly, that's not such a big deal. No one can know all words. Not even professional translators work without dictionaries.

I'd say: focus on fluency! When you revise ask yourself whether your texts reads like an original English/Arabic text. Is it a whole? Is it consistent (think about register e.g. 'to die', 'to expire' and 'to kick the bucket' all mean the same thing, but will be used differently)?

Identify the type of text (in this case literary) and think about the conventions of literary texts in Arabic and English.

Don't leave blanks! If you can't find the correct word, use an antonym with a negation or an adjective instead of a noun (the man is tall/the man isn't short -- the miser/the cheap/mean man). Be creative. Solve the problem. Make an educated guess, if you have to, but don't leave a blank.

Convey the information given correctly! You'd be surprised how often people write the opposite of what was originally written.

Pay attention to signal words (firstly, secondly, and, moreover, furthermore...) and references! If you forget the translate them or translate them incorrectly, it can really ruin the fluency of your text. Does 'it' refer to the correct antecedent? Is it clear to whom or what pronouns refer? It might be clear or disambiguous in the original but due to sentence structure or whatever, not in the target text.

Finally, don't stress too much. There's no such thing as a perfect translation. Don't fret over a few difficult words. If it's a very uncommon, infrequently, archaic... word, they probably won't even expect you to get it right. That's why dictionaries exist and that's why even professional translators (not to mention native speakers!) use them all the time.

[caddy_caddy]

I'll take everything you said into consideration ; it's of great help .
Thank u all .

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Read Brian Bean's posts.

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[Pensive]

Read Brian Bean's posts.

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:thumbs_up