laurenth Posted June 13, 2012 at 01:17 PM Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 at 01:17 PM For what it's worth, here is a simple idea that has worked well for me in the past few months. Maybe it's old news for some, but it might give an inspiration to others who are interested in current events. I've been using SRS for years. The reasoning behind SRS is sound and using them is way better than pure cramming, but imho, studying vocab out of context can be boring and often feels mechanical and artificial. So here's what I've been doing with Google News as a more interesting complement to SRS. 1. Find a subject you're interested in and you can express in a few keywords. In my case, it's "欧元区" I know, I know… to each one his own : ) 2. Open Google news. Configure it to use the Chinese edition (the drop box, top left, should have: 中国版(China)). Add your keyword(s) in the box that says "添加任意新闻主题. 例如：天文学、新英格兰爱国者、故宫". Click on "+". Drag and drop your favourite subject to the top of the list and drag the cursor to the right to give it high priority. 3. Now, every day, you should have article(s) about that very subject. Each day, select one of them and read it, or part of it. On the first few days or weeks, you will learn a lot of new words. Cram them into short term memory if you so wish. After a few days, you will read the same words over and over again, in different sentences but in a similar contexts, which should help store them into your long term memory. Natural spaced repetition should start working its wonders. 4. After a while, you should be able to actually read news articles about that subject without resorting to a dictionary. 5. Start again with another subject. I'm not there yet… Hopefully that 欧元危机 will stop soon, if only to allow me to choose another subject. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted June 13, 2012 at 03:14 PM Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 at 03:14 PM As the saying goes, content is king. After a few days, you will read the same words over and over again, in different sentences but in a similar contexts, which should help store them into your long term memory. Natural spaced repetition should start working its wonders. Indeed, and not long after that you'll start to realise that as long as you are doing regular reading you can safely delete your SRS decks without much negative impact. After a while, you should be able to actually read news articles about that subject without resorting to a dictionary. Indeed again. Train the skill that you want to be able to do, and before long you'll be able to do it. Conversely, if you never train it, it will always seem difficult. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbradfor Posted June 13, 2012 at 03:56 PM Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 at 03:56 PM Interesting idea. I've been wanting to practice news reading, but each time I start it's really painful. I'll keep this in mind for when I get some more free time to start. Hopefully that 欧元危机 will stop soon, if only to allow me to choose another subject. Not likely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daofeishi Posted June 13, 2012 at 08:14 PM Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 at 08:14 PM What imron said. This is how I use Google reader as an "SRS" Following blogs and web pages I'm interested in gives a bit more variation than a fixed-keyword news grab would have, although not so much that I won't be able to anticipate what the texts are about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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