Learn The Idioms, Not Just The Word

In this article. I describe how to more naturally learn tough vocabulary. In a foreign language. By focusing on the idioms of the word, rather than the English translations of the word.

The example uses Japanese characters, so it won't look right if you don't have Japanese-capable fonts installed.

Studying foreign languages, you're bound to come across words which don't translate well into English. When the languages are distantly related, like English to Chinese, Japanese to German, and so on. You'll have words in the target language, which seem to have dozens of separate meanings in the source language. Here's an example from Japanese, the word 掛ける (kakeru), which very very loosely means "to hang":

掛ける(P); 懸ける 【かける】 (v1,vt) (1) (See 壁にかける) to hang (e.g. picture); to hoist (e.g. sail); to raise (e.g. flag); (2) (See 腰を掛ける) to sit; (aux-v,v1) (3) to be partway (verb); to begin (but not complete); (4) (See 時間を掛ける) to take (time, money); to expend (money, time, etc.); (5) (See 電話を掛ける) to make (a call); (6) to multiply; (7) (See 鍵を掛ける) to secure (e.g. lock); (8) (See 眼鏡を掛ける) to put on (glasses, etc.); (9) to cover; (10) (See 迷惑を掛ける) to burden someone; (11) (See 保険を掛ける) to apply (insurance); (12) to turn on (an engine, etc.); to set (a dial, an alarm clock, etc.); (13) to put an effect (spell, anaesthetic, etc.) on; (14) to hold an emotion for (pity, hope etc.); (15) (also 繋ける) to bind; (16) (See 塩をかける) to pour (or sprinkle, spray, etc.) onto; (17) (See 裁判に掛ける) to argue (in court); to deliberate (in a meeting); to present (e.g. idea to a conference, etc.); (18) to increase further; (19) to catch (in a trap, etc.); (20) to set atop; (21) to erect (a makeshift building); (22) to hold (a play, festival, etc.); (aux-v) (23) (See 話し掛ける) (after -masu stem of verb) indicates (verb) is being directed to (someone); (P)

(Courtesy Jim Breen's WWWJDIC)

You might think, "Those crazy Japanese! They have a word with 23 distinct senses! And I thought English 'bat' was crazy!" To make matters worse, many of those senses are shared by other, more precise, verbs. So even if you manage the Herculean task of memorizing all these English translations of 掛ける (kakeru), you'll still have no clue when to use the word.

The best thing to do is take the leading translation- in this case 掛ける = "to hang"- and treat the other senses as idioms.

That is. Any lesser sense of the word, make a creative "idiom" for, which uses the leading sense. Here are examples for 掛ける.

1. to hang.
   
2. to sit. Imagine a slang way of talking about sitting as hanging one's legs from the chair. "Yo man, hang your waist" = "Have a seat, sir".
3. to be partway (verb). This is easy, just think of leaving an action "hanging".
4. to take time (or money). Think of a computer program hanging in an a frozen state for a certain amount of time. "My antivirus program always hangs for a minute when I first load it." Now extend the idiom to events in general. "The class hung four hours." And to money.
5. to make (a call). "Hey babe let me hang my phone on you later tonight."
6. to multiply. In higher math when you want to express multiplying two things, you just write them next to eachother. You hang one on the other. "Hang five and six and you get thirty."

And so on. The idioms don't have to be actual English idioms. They just have to be good enough that conceivably, they could've been English idioms, had the language evolved differently.

Now instead of remembering 23 distinct senses for 掛 ける. Making the word pretty much useless to you as a learner. Instead you know just one sense. With a ton of idioms.

But wait. You shouldn't just make the idioms up on your own. That's where example sentences come from. Look for example sentences for the word you're targeting. And the actual idioms of the target language will become clear to you.

Be creative and have fun. That's the key to doing anything! And that's when your face will glow.

Glowing Face Man

Here are some other articles I've written. They're specially designed so that as you read them, you'll officially gain Enlightenment.
How to Learn a Language the Right Way
Four Thousand Japanese Flashcards (contains lots of example sentences)
The Sound of your Native Tongue
Voice: The Male Version of Titties