How I learn vocab despite dyslexia, and you can too.

#fanguage, #dysleixa, #vocab, #languagelearning, #spelling, #success, #remember

This week's post is the reason why I started my blog to start with. As a dyslexic student, it can be so difficult to learn new vocab, either because the spelling, the pronunciation or the learning of definitions (or all three) is made all the more difficult by our learning difficulty. I'm not going to tell you that it doesn't have to be diffiult, because that would suggest that we have an element of control over our difficulties. However, I am going to tell you how I move around certain difficulties and accentuate certain strengths in order to learn the vocab needed to do well in languages at any level. I will also introduce some techniques that some of my dyslexic friends use, but that don't work for me.

1 - Sound it Out

When we use language websties such as memrise and quizlet to learn vocab, it's easiest to click through the easier parts quickly in order to get to the more testing questions. Instead, make sure that you take as much time as you need to say the word out-loud and to repeat it a few times without looking at your screen. It may also be helpful for you to label different parts of the word. For example, noticing that the 'a' on the end of a Russian word makes it feminine, or that the 'gostin' sound at the beginning of the word for hotel is the same sound as at the beginning of the word for 'sitting room'. Creating associations like this will help you to remember the spelling in the future.

2 - More associations

When I come across a word that I really stuggle to remember, either due to its length or for no clear reason, I like to divide the word into syllables and create a mini phrase or story out of it. It may also help you to use the first letters of the syllables in longer words to create a mnemonic. This story might reflect how the word sounds or what you think of when you see the word written. However, it should somehow link the spelling of the word with its meaning. For example, 'usufruit' to me sounds a little like 'easy fruit', so I imagine someone enjoying an apple from someone else's apple tree. I don't know whether this progression makes sense to you, but your vocab stories don't have to make sense to anyone else. As long as they help you to learn the words, it doesn't matter how crazy they are!

3 - Write out Phrases

Although this doesn't work for me, many of my dyslexic (and non-dyslexic) friends swear by it to learn new vocab. If you struggle to learn vocabulary out of context, you can simply write out a phrase which includes one or more iof the words that you're learning, and learn the phrase with a translation. Another benefit of this is that it helps to prevent confusion with other words, for example between the English words 'here' and 'hear'.

4 - Hand-write

Handwriting often takes longer than typing, and it takes resources. Yet, many people find that handwriting facts and vocabulary that they want to learn means that it's easier to remember in the future. If you remember the 'look-write-cover-test' sequence that you probably used to learn spellings in primary school, the same method often helps me to learn difficult spellings in new languages!

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5 - Listen to podcasts.

As dyslexic learners, we can often pick out new words more easily from a recording than from a text. Although it is difficult to start with, listening to learner-podcasts or even full-speed native-level podcasts can expose you to a lot of new words which then become easier to memorise using flashcards, or which you can then remember with little effort. My favourite words in French are all fairly random words such as 'insolite' which I learnt through listening to standup comedy in French! SO why not find a podcast that you enjoy and schedule in some daily or weekly listening?

6 - Put subtitles on English programs

If you don't enjoy listening, try adding subtitles from your target language onto programs in your native language. Jot down any words that you don't know on a piece of scrap paper as well as what you think they mean, and you'll be surprised how quickly your vocab increases. Of course, this is harder at more beginner levels when more words are unfamiliar. But even at this stage you can choose new words that sound nice or which seem important, to learn them first. Using subtitles means that important words are likely to be repeated, and you get a spoken definition in your native language.

So that's 6 different methods I use to learn to vocab in French, German and Russian. Although all these techniques take extra effort, it is easier that having to spend longer repreating and repeating certain words which just don't seem to stick. So far, I've found these techniques to work with each of my languages which are at a change of levels, so I hope they work for you too! Dyslexia does make some aspects of life more difficult, but learning how to succeed despite it just makes the learning process all the more rewarding when we see our progress. Please comment your methods of learning vocab below, whether or not you have dyslexia!

Happy learning!