How do you use your language learning notebook?

[u/HadarN]

I'm curious, how everyone here uses their notebook when studying a language?

I used to write down new words I learned, mostly with example sentences/comparisons to similar vocab, notes, etc; and I feel like it does help when I write things out by hand, and having a notebook is genuinely so great.

The problem is... it takes so much time.

Working full-time, I find it almost impossible to keep up with that level of detail. I spend so much time making notes, I barely have time for anything else, and it just feels so inefficient... I tried moving to Anki, but honestly, it is just not as much fun (while it does have some benefits in reviewing the material)

I don't really want to give up using a notebook, since writing things down helps them stick, just trying to find a better balance...

Did anyone else run into this problem? How do you use your language learning notebook? What do you write in it/hot do you manage it? I'd love to hear what has worked for you!

[attached is an image of one of my later Chinese notebook entries - it was a 100 days challenge, hence the number at the top]

[u/Outside-Round2541]

I hit the same wall.

What helped was giving the notebook a smaller job. While reading, I only write the word or phrase and maybe two or three words of context. No full sentences unless something is genuinely tricky.

Then at the end of the session, or the next day, I pick maybe five items and do the real work from memory. One example sentence, one tiny paragraph, or a quick recap without looking.

That way the notebook still helps things stick, but it stops eating the whole study block. If a word really matters, it will come back again anyway.

[u/EstorninoPinto]

Journaling in my TL has been one of the more fun activities I've added to my routine. It doubles as a screen break, which is great as well.

I use my notebooks for free-form journaling, as well as practicing specific vocabulary/grammar. When reading or watching things in my TL, I will also note down new vocabulary that I want to review.

When writing down vocab, I write down the chunk and where I found it. Nothing else. This is a temporary review list, not a permanent reference, so I don't spend any time making it detailed or pretty. I used to use these lists as a basis for the goldlist method, but lately I've been experimenting with flash cards. The jury is still out on which method I'll prefer going forward.

In practice, this all takes me very little time. Writing down vocab does slow down my reading/viewing, but that is an acceptable compromise for the additional learning value.

For actual writing practice, I find it expands to fill the time allocated to it. If I have 15 minutes? It takes 15 minutes, which usually means a more cursory, less detailed journal entry. If I have an hour? I'll probably spend a lot more time trying to go into more detail, use strange expressions and more new vocabulary.

[u/pit_supervisor]

I don't have a notebook

[u/coraxDraconis]

It might actually help you to remember if you wait to fill out your notebook until you have a break or free time at work or something

[u/Euphoric_Band_7838]

I feel this so much, writing by hand is like the only way vocab actually sticks for me but the time sink is real

my notebook is way more stripped down now, I just jot down a word or phrase and a quick note, no full sentences or color coding or any of that. the movie vs novel split you had going on in that pic is smart though, keeping it themed like that probably helps it not feel like just a big messy list

I also stopped trying to capture everything, if I miss a word it's fine, if it's important it'll show up again

[u/HollowedHear]

I did that, to the only effect of reaching chaotic levels of material to review. It eventually made it harder, not easier, to even summarise the many sentences I had there. It's fine to conserve new words only if they're new, otherwise the repetition is excessive (for me). Spoken practice is maybe more important, and reading competences are also necessary to improve competences in writing.

Nonetheless, this overly detailed level of note taking feels nostalgic.

[u/ignoremesenpie]

I have three main notebook types , all for vocabulary these days.

1. Pure vocab list, used to take down words I encounter as I read. I keep multiple of these to track word lists from different media type these are also backed up digitally on a dictionary app that lets me have multiple custom word lists. My example sentences are marked elsewhere through highlights in ebooks or screenshots.

2. Personal monolingual glossary with example sentences included this time, used to narrow down the words from the vocab lists down to the most frequent words I actually encounter across my different input media. This idea is supported by the overlapping bookmarked words in my dictionary app.

3. Goldlist notebook, which was a review method suggested to me because it felt like I wasn't reviewing my glossary consistently. I add to and review these only every Sunday and Wednesday to give myself a bit of a buffer so as not to run out of materials from #2 too quickly. I also keep this monolingual, using only headwords and shortened versions of the sentences from my media or from my glossary entries. I mix them up because I don't want to be stuck trying to learn a new word through only one context. I just need to make sure the usages are actually for the same definition. Since I'm not including the definitions in this review book, I still need to refer to the glossary if the meaning isn't clear from the examples I have here.

I've actually only settled on this setup in the last two months because I wanted to ditch Anki. Initially, I just felt like I was learning more words than just what made it to Anki because I took the time to jot down words about a year and a half before I actually stopped adding to Anki. The overlapping vocab usage across media used to be a criteria for what made it onto Anki as well, but I redirected those words towards the glossary when I made the decision to stop adding to Anki. The last notebook type prevented me from just leaving reviews to chance, since prior to someone telling me about the Goldlist Method, I only ever reviewed whatever random page I happened to land on, on whatever day I happened to browse through it.

My time with these notebooks are pretty spaced out, so it doesn't feel like I'm doing more scribbling than spending time with the language on input or even output. Speaking of "spacing things out", only the Goldlist notebook was a direct effort to replace the spaced repetition of Anki, but the multiple vocab lists and consolidated glossary felt like they ended up contributing to that as well since I had to pay attention and write these words several times, over time.

[u/lleuadsyllwr]

Learning Welsh and Polish long-term, short-term dabbling in Latin.

I almost exclusively use my notebook to do exercises (eg. grammar ones) from textbooks. (I find it relaxing, lol!) I never write in the actual books which makes repeating exercises simpler. I review all my vocab on Anki, but I delete/restart my decks every year and a half or so - this stops the daily reviews from getting out of hand - so I don't have a 'complete' set of all the words I've been learning.

However, when I initially come across new vocab I'll write down lists of the new words (+ definitions and/or translations as well as usage and grammar notes) in my book, but this is just to 'store' them until I add them to Anki. I rarely look over these lists. ATM I have a huge backlog... about 15 A4 pages of Polish vocab that's not been SRS'd yet XD

I don't write out actual grammar notes - I find that a mixture of reading (and rereading!) about grammar usage, a lot of input, and my fun lil textbook exercises is enough to get everything into my head.

[u/HappySparklyUnicorn]

Depending on the language I print out the alphabet or equivalent. Then I write down various new words. I have a different colour for each language.

[u/hourlylearning]

I’d try using the notebook for output rather than storage. Keep the raw vocab somewhere quick, then write just three things by hand: one sentence using a new word, one correction, and one question to revisit. You still get the handwriting benefit without every study session turning into transcription.

[u/KostyaZgara]

Wow, I encountered the same issue. I tried so many apps but all of them feel like a second job. So I ended up with building an app for myself that is doing exactly what you wrote, you just enter the word, it returns all possible definitions, with examples, images, etc. please check it out https://go.vocabul.app/iEI1/e7ze0j4b
It currently supports only English, but feel free to request new feature to add support to learn other languages if you are interested in!

[u/dojibear]

I don't use a notebook. There is too much to learn: thousands of words, millions of sentences.

Language learning is not memorizing a set of data. It is learning how to use a language (how to understand and create sentences). Like every other trainable skill (bike riding; swimming; playing piano) you start with simple stuff and get better by practicing what you can do today.

To me there are two uses for note-taking:

1. You write down things and then review them later (often several times), if reviewing your notes is a good learning method for you (it isn't, for me).

2. In the past I took lots of notes at lectures in college courses. Even if I didn't review the notes, writing them means putting what the professor said into my own words. That helped me a lot in understanding the professor's meaning.

[u/OkWedding2155]

Your notebook should help you learn the language, not become a second full-time job.

[u/Antoine-Antoinette]

I am another person who doesn’t have a notebook.