In the previous post, we discussed how you can use a mindmap to create a good overview of your foreign words.
Today, I want to take this one step further. Understand this second part discusses something I am experimenting with right now. So things may seem strange or perhaps even incorrect. I am no language expert. I only know mind mapping 
.
Using a mindmap is great when studying. Before I used the mindmap in my own studies, I always wondered about one thing:
How can this overview of words in a mindmap assist me in studying?
After all, I still have to remember the words. All the nice pictures in a mindmap won’t help me that much in this… I thought. That is… until I did something different to the words in my map.
What I like about the visual map approach is the following: I can re-arrange the information to make the overview even more powerful. When you do this using your own computer tool (or with your flash cards), you will get a better grip on the different words.
Use your mindmap to create different sentences. You can for instance outline your mindmap as shown below.
When you want to use the visual map even better, you may want to use the images you created for the translation of the foreign words. I removed these right now for clarity purposes. It is just the concept I want to show you.
The nice thing about using a visual map (or mindmap) is that you can move the subjects, verbs and objects in a different order. You could for instance create the sentence:
You – Love – Books
Or:
I – Eat – Fish
You create a visual overview of many small sentences. The visual map helps you in creating combinations and making a real image of them immediately.
I know you can do this in your head as well. The visual map in this case is, as always, a helpful tool.
You may even change the order of the three groups (Subject, Verb, Object), add question marks, etc. That is all up to you.
Note that you can use this little presentation technique not only on your computer, but also on paper.
Just use flashcards that you put in a certain order. You can give each word a certain color. For instance, you make all the verbs purple.
When I have more results on using a map in doing this, I will update you. For now, if you have thoughts or comments on this way to use a visual map, do let me know.
Arjen
P.S.: I read that if you learn about 500 to 1000 words, you can pretty much communicate in everyday life in that language. I will try to find a list of these words and post that to this message later. It could be a nice start for you to learn your next language.
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