To “get by” in a language it takes a vocabulary of about 120 basic ords. Anne Merritt explains ho to learn them.
若想把一门外语说得“凑合得过去”，至少需要掌握120个基本。语言学家Anne Merritt 向我们解释该如何这些。
When trying to learn a foreign language, most of us have the same plaint: “I’m just not good at memorising.” Learning ne vocabulary can be daunting, especially for busy adults hose minds are already occupied ith ork, family, and other responsibilities.
我们中的绝大部分人，对于一门新语言都有相同的抱怨“我记性不好。”的确，新是挺让人望而生畏的，尤其对于那些已经被工作、家庭和其他责任占领了全部心思的成年人来说。
A fort? Linguists say that to “get by” in a language, such as directing a taxi or asking for a phone number, it takes a vocabulary of about 120 basic ords. It’s a manageable goal, and a firm foundation for beginners. Here are eight tips for getting there:
令人安慰的消息来了语言学家表示，想把一门语言说得勉强能凑合着用，比如能基本满足跟出租车司机指路、问别人要电话号码这样的事，只需要掌握120个基本就行。这是个可以达到的目标，对于初学者而言，也是坚实的基础。若想达到以下目标，我们提供了8个小贴士
1. Set realistic goals
确定比较现实的目标
Fet the long vocabulary sheets, or reading the dictionary. Experts say that learners are capable or retaining 10-20 ords per hour. If you do 15 minutes of self- per day, set a eekly vocabulary goal of 20-25 ords and phrases. That’s only six eeks until the 120-ord “survival kit” is learned and memorised.
把书、厚字典先扔到一边儿去吧。专家认为，每人每小时能够掌握10-20个。如果你每天都15分钟，那么可以把每周计划量设置为20-25个生词及词组。这样一来，只需要6个礼拜，你就能学会并牢记住那120个“生存必备”啦。
2. Cluster
使用分组记忆法
Those one-ord-a-day language learning apps may feel convenient, but thematically, they’re all over the place, delivering a chain of unrelated ords: envelope, tired, January, receive, onion. Focus on a single theme each eek. The mind naturally clusters connected ords together, so learning, say, types of eather in one lesson, and parts of the body the next, orks in tune ith your brain’s natural system for classifying information.
有些“一日一词”之类的语言类应用可能看着挺方便，但实际上呢，他们杂乱无章地把一堆毫无联系的摆到你面前，比如信封、疲惫、一月、接受、洋葱等等。不如一周只一个主题。这样就可以把相关的连起来，一起记忆。比如，第一节课，你可以只与“天气”有关的；下一次课呢，“身体部位”……如此这般，你的大脑会自然地将信息分类。
3. Avoid opposites
不要用“反义词法”来记忆
It might seem logical to opposites together: hot/cold, expensive/cheap. It isn't. A learning hiccup called 'cross association' can occur, hen you learn to ords so closely together you end up mixing them up. If a Spanish student learns 'alays' (siempre) and 'never' (nunca) together, they might later dra on one ord hen they mean to use the other. Instead, the more mon ord first (eg: deep) and, once it’s retained, learn its opposite (shallo).
看上去，似乎记忆反义词是挺不错的方法冷/热、昂贵/便宜。其实不然，它会导致“联想混淆”，让你把两个总是一起记忆的混到一块儿去了。假如一个西班牙学生学，把”alays永远”（西语siempre）和”never从不”(西语nunca)放在一起记忆，他很可能会在对话中使用与其本意相反的那个词。我们应该先常用的，比如“deep”（深）；等掌握了它，再学反义词“shallo”（浅）。
4. Dissect ne ords
剖析生词
When encountering a ne ord, take a look at its structure. Many ords consist of prefixes and suffixes, and an understanding of these parts of speech is advantageous. The French ord désagréable, for example, contains the negating prefix dés- and the adjective-forming suffix –able. Studying these affixes can help you to understand conjugation and structure, and make educated guesses hen encountering ne vocabulary.
看到一个生词，就该先琢磨它的结构。很多都有前缀/后缀，一旦掌握了这些前后缀，对辨识词义的帮助极大。比如法语“désagréable”中含有否定义的前缀“dés-”和表形容词属性的后缀“-able”。学会这些缀词能帮你理解词形、结构，以及正确推测出生词的含义。
