Asociacíon de palabras similares

Question

Hey guys I was wondering this before and I got some replies that I thought were nice and wanted to thank the community generally for with this question.

With that said, however, I wanted to re-open the conversation because this method seems to work best for me, but I never seem to be able to find a method that teaches using this manner.

So to be clear, I am looking for, a way to learn Spanish vocabulary by meaning association. As an example I would say después->entonces or ser->ester.

Just in case my Spanish in this topic is bad. Does anybody know of a book or even preferably language tapes that do this method?

Answer 1

todavía y aún = still

Also, use the dictionary here. Type in a word and you will get results from three dictionaries. Read the entries carefully looking for synonyms. For example the verb quedar can signify the following: haber aún, faltar, permanecer, mostrarse, llegar a ser, resultar, llegar, sentar, citarse, estar situado, comprar, elegir, retener, guardarse, preferir, morir.

And that is just the first definition. I don't know if this is helpful to you or not but I find it interesting to read all the alternative uses for words as a way to build vocabulary.

Good luck.

BTW: I know exactly what you mean by being stumped by a word or phrase in conversation. I had the same experience with ¿Cómo estás?. I expect to hear it and hardly ever do. There are so many alternatives in use that I was not prepared to hear and did not know how to respond to. Talking is the only way to encounter these variations and beat them.

Answer 2

Hey, Spindle, I can't remember if I've welcomed you to the forum yet..if not...Welcome!

So to be clear, I am looking for, a way to learn Spanish vocabulary by meaning association. As an example I would say después->entonces or ser->estar.

Sorry, amigo, but this isn't so clear to me what you´re looking for. Do you mean things such as "creer/pensar" (believe and think), "saber/conocer " (to know and to be familiar with), etc.?

Could you give a few more examples of what you are looking for?

Answer 3

ok I tried to be as clear as I could let me try again...

You are basically correct. The problem stems from actual everyday conversation. When I hear a paragraph in Espanol I am like "what?" (BTW I don't really know how to install a spanish keyboard on my laptop so I cannot tilde it). If you hear a word and it takes awhile to think about the translation I get behind then I get overwhelmed. If I can just associate a synonym instead of a translation it works better for me. The other method I really like is Spanish with pictures (not just a visual dictionary but, a whole book full of things and a blurb describing them in Espanol).

So in review, a way of memory that is like Madrigal's but, synonym memorization (really similar to learning Spanish with a thesaurus). Thank you soooo much for your welcome Mariana! Also, for your quick reply it was very nice of you.