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

[Chris Capel <pdf23ds@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.
>
> 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?

Here's what I've done. I've included the place structure in all the
gismu I've been learning. All of it. I think that it's important to do
this, as the nature of the relationship can be determined quite a bit
by its places, and it's important to have a good clue what the entire
relationship is about. Of course, it's also very important to know the
places. :-) So when I forget one of the first to places, but not the
other, I've gotten a pretty basic aspect of the gismu wrong and I fail
the item. But when I forget one of the higher places, but get the rest
of it basically right, I create a new item that has only that one
place, and I make a note on that place in the other item so I remember
next time I review the gismu. This way the item ends up taking about
as many different items as it needs to be. An item isn't dragged down
by one particularly difficult-to-remember place. Also, I usually
ignore it when I get a place wrong that I think is unlikely to be used
much at all, usually the "by standard" place (though in a few words
the "by standard" place is pretty important).

I've found that this method is actually pretty effective. It's rare
that I remember most of the word but not all of it. Most of the time I
don't remember the place structure explicitly, but instead remember
the different places associated with the word and then figure out the
order. I only remember the order explicitly when it's
counterintuitive, or unpredictable. ("observer" and "in property"
places can be in either order. "observer" is usually second, but
"property" in slabu and cnino, and some others, is second for some
reason.)

I think that a vertical format for gismu places is much easier to
quickly scan to ensure that you've answered correctly, so I've been
reformatting all the gismu definitions to look like this:

zukte
-------
x1: a sentience
x2: a means, an action
x3: goal of action

Some gismu don't have an easy way to define them by giving each place
a noun, so sometimes I give the place an adjective or two:

milxe
-------
x1: is mild/non-extreme/gentle/middling/somewhat
in
x2: property (ka)

In many cases the meaning of the word is contained more in the
supposed relation between the places than in any particular thing
supposed about the places. So whenever necessary, I move the verbiage
to the line between the places:

manci
-------
x1
wonders/awes/marvels at
x2

Once I've finished doing all the gismu, I'll probably publish this
reformatted version of the wordlist.

As for the rafsi, I think a better way to learn rafsi is indirectly.
So I propose the best way is to start learning lots of lujvo, making
two items for each. One item has the full definition, and can be
formatted vertically as in the gismu. The other item has the lujvo as
the question, and the full gismu it's made up of as the answer.
Example:

falcru (rafsi)
--------
farlu curmi

This way you don't bother as much with the uncommon rafsi, and you
also have a handy mnemonic device to use. And it helps you with the
meaning of the lujvo as well.

Chris Capel
--
"What is it like to be a bat? What is it like to bat a bee? What is it
like to be a bee being batted? What is it like to be a batted bee?"
-- The Mind's I (Hofstadter, Dennet)