BY THE NUMEROS: FREQUENCY DICTIONARIES

Since I've been on a history kick I haven't spent as much time on foreign language material. So, just to keep the neurons idling, I've started decking out my bathroom mirror with lists of Spanish words culled from A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish from Routledge. Once I memorize the couple hundred or so I couldn't recall, I know that I'll have the first (by Routledge's reckoning) five thousand down pat. That's a fun thought.

Anyway, I think this sort of rote memorization is a good supplement for direct reading immersion (which remains the best all-around way to absorb and retain foreign vocabulary), but it's only valuable in so far as a). it's used as a supplement and b). (I think) it's more useful to fill in vocabulary gaps once the learner's at a more advanced level.

But now for Routledge's dictionary in particular:

A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish brings together frequency, alphabetical and thematic lists, combines them with English definitions and Spanish phrases for each entry, and wraps the whole thing up with a pretty bow. It's quite well-done. Basically, it does its job, and it does it well. Which is more than you can say for the bulk of language reference material out there. I look forward to going through their German, French and Portuguese editions. Unfortunately they don't have an Italian edition as of yet, but they do have Russian and Arabic.