[lojban-beginners] Re: Continuing with beginner vocabulary tools ...

[Matt Arnold <matt.mattarn@gmail.com>]

On 9/22/05, Colin Wright <colin.wright@denbridgemarine.com> wrote:

Using a "flash card" type program, it's a start to connect a lojban gismu with
an english keyword, but there are also the places and the rafsi (if any) to
learn.  Consider the first gismu in Robin's SuperMemo list: cusku

    cusku cus sku      express
        x1 (agent) expresses/says x2 (sedu'u/text/lu'e concept)
        for audience x3
        via expressive medium x4
        cf. bacru, tavla, casnu, spuda, ...

Just what should we use as question/answer pairs for this?

Clear we want

    lojban: cusku,  english: ?
    english: express,  lojban: ?

But we also want

    rafsi: cus, english: ?
    rafsi: sku, english: ?
    rafsi: cus, lojban: ?
    rafsi: sku, lojban: ?

Do we also want

    lojban: cusku x4, english: ?

and other, similar delights?

Memory drill systems, including mine, generally require short answers but
allow long questions.  What should the questions be in this case to ensure
that the user/client/beginner/customer/learner remembers *all* of the
necessary information.  For example, just how vital is it that  they can
produce the rafsi given the english keyword?

Colin, I consider the place structures to be one level of necessity
behind the gloss word, and the rafsi to be a level behind that. 


So my plan has been, that when I finish committing all the gismu to
memory, I'll start creating new flashcards for each gismu with {se}
{te} {ve} and {xe} in front of them in order to memorize the place
structures. For instance, since {cange} is "farm" and x3 of {cange} is
"farmed by", {te cange} will be on the other side of a flashcard from
{farmer}. When I've gone through all 3,000 or so of those, I'll start
creating flashcards to memorize rafsi.


Considering that you want a reduced set of flashcards, you definitely don't want to demand that rafsi be memorized.

-epkat