跟读练习: Should you learn low-frequency words? My approach as a polyglot - 通过视频学习英语口语

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How hard should we try to learn low frequency vocabulary?

I think many of us are familiar with the idea that maybe 500, a thousand words will account for,

you know, 50 % or 70 % of any given context.

So very often the advice given is just learn those high frequency words and you'll be able to do very well.

That has not been my strategy and I'm going to explain to you why, but let me first of all say

that the most important thing is what do you want to

do what are your goals what gives you a sense of satisfaction

when you are engaged in learning the language do you feel

this is what I want to be doing I want to

be learning the language I want to be focusing in on high frequency words

or I want to be pushing myself to learn more low frequency words ultimately it's up to you the learner

because if you enjoy what you're doing you'll continue doing it and the whole thing is in language learning, it takes a long time.

You have to be in some kind of a learning process that's likely to continue.

But if I look at my statistics that link with Arabic, which is my most recent language, along with Persian, but a language that I have found,

you know, a lot of work.

If you look at my statistics, you'll see that I have read over a million words and I have saved, I'm going from memory here, but over 90 ,000 links.

That means I have looked up 90 ,000 words.

and got some kind of a meaning uh of those the system tells me

that i know 36 000 of these words

simply because i don't look them up

when i see them i've converted them to known do i

really know these words i don't know i'm certainly not able to use them

and so when we contemplate you know to what extent do we pursue low frequency words part of

that uh you know discussion is do I want to focus in on words

that I can use

and there is a table from the common European framework of reference for languages which shows

that beginners people who have a small vocabulary who are early

on in the language actually are able to retrieve use a

higher percentage of their passive vocabulary than is the case later on

and it's not surprising but as we acquire more

and more words more and more passive words uh

which in my case in arabic is 35 000 words

which i don't believe i think i've forgotten most of those

but as we have more and more passive vocabulary apparently there's a certain plateau effect

which kicks in where the brain is is reluctant to try to retrieve these words uh new words

or to activate more of the new words that the brain has learned

because it's more comfortable to just use the words that it has already used before.

So that the percentage of words that we can activate from our passive vocabulary becomes less and less.

So then the question is, why do I pursue low frequency vocabulary?

First of all, I've mentioned this before, but frequency declines very, very quickly.

So once we've learned 500 ,000 most frequent words in a language, we are chasing words that generally don't show up that often.

And so at that point,

we have to adopt strategies that would create a greater likelihood that these low frequency words will show up.

So in my case, I do a lot of listening to politics and history and things of that nature so that, you know, economics and politics and,

you know, political parties and those kinds of terms, which are in fact low frequency, will show up more often.

And there's even some theory of the island effect where, you know, if we can create sort of an island of familiar content,

then obviously we're going to do better at learning those words.

So those are things that we can do.

To what extent it helps, I don't know.

But the question then becomes, so why do I chase this high word count?

Why do I want to have a high number of known words, even if the value of that statistic is questionable?

Well, first of all, pursuing the high word count drives me to engage with more demanding content.

It's part of what I find satisfying, even though it's difficult.

It seems that there is an unending quantity of words that I have to learn, particularly in Arabic but it drives me into the things

that I've been listening to from MTV Lebanon and things of that nature.

And I find that when I speak with my tutor, even though I have trouble talking about daily things,

I always surprise my tutor in terms of what I can use vocabulary and the extent to which we can talk, albeit with difficulty and albeit with mistakes,

we can talk about difficult subjects and i find that more interesting

so it gets back to my first point you have to do things

that you find genuinely satisfying because you know if you do things

that are satisfying you will continue doing it and the difficulty with pursuing

a limited range of vocabulary you will only cover a limited range of subject matter

you will limit yourself in what you're learning

and since whatever we learn in the language the chances are

we're going to forget it anyway we have to keep on seeing these words in different contexts

and again research shows

that the greater the variety of content where we encounter these

words the more likely we are going to remember them so

if you are pursuing a limited range of vocabulary you are limiting yourself whereas

when i pursue these content items

which have you know lower frequency vocabulary in them i'm also

coming across some high frequency vocabulary in a great variety of different contexts all of

that is helping me connect to the language

because we don't learn the words as i've mentioned before and put them way in a filing cabinet, we learn words, we encounter words,

we engage with them that activates things in our brain, a web of connectivity, which is related to that language.

So the key thing is to keep doing it and ultimately,

and having as wide a variety of engagement with the language as possible in order that you can learn the language.

So the high word count in my case, for example, for Arabic, and I'm going to be, by the way, doing an interview with my Arabic tutor Hassan on Thursday.

And you'll see that I struggle.

I struggle.

However, I feel the word count, which necessarily means, you know, low frequency words, is an indication of my potential in the language.

So if I were put in a situation where I had to speak a lot, I would very quickly improve.

If I only have a limited range of vocabulary, that's kind of my limit.

That's as much as I'm going to achieve.

So the word count is an indication of the potential in the language.

Now I need lots of opportunity to use the language to start to activate.

And even then, I'm sure that the amount of vocabulary

that I can activate out of my 35 ,000 theoretically known words is going to be, you know, 15, 20%, maybe.

The other thing about the word count, and in fact, with all of our statistics at LingQ, is that it is an indication of your level of activity.

And I've always felt that in language learning, it's kind of difficult to evaluate people based on how well they speak, how well they use grammar,

their pronunciation, all of these things sometimes improve, sometimes don't, sometimes they're better than at other times.

The key thing is maintaining a level of activity and the statistics that link, and in particular, the number of words that I know is an indication of how active I have been.

I have read that much.

I have listened that much.

I've listened so often

that at some point I came across one of these 35 ,000 words in a given text at link

and I moved it to known.

I figured I knew it well enough in that context

that I moved it to known or based on one of our algorithms it was moved to known.

100

So the known word total as is the case with the number of links I have created is an indication

101

that I have been very active and if you are active you will improve.

102

However as I've said before a specific skill like speaking you have to have a lot of opportunity to speak

103

but here again I believe

104

that a broader vocabulary including a lot of low frequency vocabulary

105

items gives you the potential to really progress in the language

106

when the opportunity arises

107

so my feeling is do what you want to do uh

108

you different people have different motives maybe you're going to Spain or Mexico for two weeks.

109

You have more limited objectives.

110

However, in my case, and I think for a lot of people who want to engage with the language in order to understand the history,

111

eventually to have more authentic conversations, to follow podcasts, which I'm able to do in Persian,

112

Arabic, and a lot of other languages, read up on history.

113

I think it's worthwhile putting that extra effort.

114

You can still work on your high frequency words at times if you're getting ready for a conversation.

115

However, I think it's worth it, despite the fact that it's a long road to keep on pushing that low -frequency vocabulary.

116

Thank you for listening.

117

Bye for now.

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FOR YOU

本课的词汇与口语要点

这段视频共有 117 个句子、1639 个单词可供跟读。讲话部分时长为 9:18。说话人语速自然，每分钟约 176 个词，接近日常对话。 84% 的单词属于英语最常用的 3,000 词，其余的词建议在练习前先学一下。

视频中的重点词汇

视频中 15 个值得学习的单词，附发音和释义：

单词	发音	释义
vocabulary 名词	/vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/	詞匯 /词汇, 語匯 /语汇
frequency 名词	/ˈfɹiːkwənsi/	頻率 /频率, 頻度 /频度
pursue 动词	/pɚˈsu/	追求
indication 名词	/ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/	指示
activate 动词	/ˈæktɪˌveɪt/	激活
passive 形容词	/ˈpæs.ɪv/	被動 /被动
extent 名词	/ɪkˈstɛnt/	範圍 /范围
satisfy 动词	/ˈsætɪsfaɪ/	滿足 /满足
tutor 名词	/ˈtjuːtəː/	私人教師 /私人教师, 家庭教師 /家庭教师
percentage 名词	/pə(ɹ)ˈsɛntɪd͡ʒ/	百分率, 百分比
chase 动词	/t͡ʃeɪs/	追逐, 追
difficulty 名词	/ˈdɪfɪkəlti/	困難 /困难
encounter 动词	/ɪnˈkaʊntɚ/	遇到, 遇見 /遇见
albeit	/ɔlˈbi.ɪt/	雖然 /虽然
retrieve 动词	/ɹɪˈtɹiːv/	重拾

视频中出现的短语动词

单词	发音	释义
show up 动词		露面
look up 动词	/ˌlʊk ˈʌp/	仰, 上看

视频中的语法

说话人最常用的结构，并附上视频中的原话：

结构	视频中的用法
条件句 if + 从句，will/would + 动词 — 条件及其结果	if you enjoy what you're doing you'll continue · If you look at my statistics, you'll see · if you are active you will improve
现在完成时 have/has + 过去分词 — 过去发生但与现在仍有关联的事	has not been · have found · have read
定语从句 who / which + 从句 — 补充说明人或事物	Arabic, which is · people who have · terms, which are
被动语态 be + 过去分词 — 强调发生了什么，而不是谁做的	were put · was moved

需要注意的发音

说话人用了 35 次缩略和弱读形式，例如 I'm, I've, don't。请按听到的简短形式来说。

“th” 音: authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, algorithm /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/, worthwhile /ˌwɜː(ɹ)θˈwaɪl/
“sh” 和 “zh” 音: indication /ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/, satisfaction /sætɪsˈfækʃən/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/
长单词——注意重音位置: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, indication /ɪndɪˈkeɪʃən/, difficulty /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, economics /ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪks/

如何用这段视频练习

先完整听一遍视频，不要开口，记下不认识的单词。
先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟读，熟练之后再回到正常速度。
录下自己的声音并与原声对比，特别注意 vocabulary, frequency, pursue 这类单词。

什么是跟读法？

跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟读法: 阅读完整分步指南 →

跟读练习: Should you learn low-frequency words? My approach as a polyglot - 通过视频学习英语口语

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