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.

LINKS TO DROOL FOR

Cool. Blog that goes through Latin-based English-Spanish cognate patterns.

ADDENDUM:

Script of Kubrick's never-saw-the-light-of-cannon Napoleon. May have to read that.

AHA

One thing: This American Life ran a story a week or so ago on the "Diana, hunter of bus-drivers" vigilante in Ciudad Juárez. Uncanny and therefore fitting postscript to the agujero negro that is Roberto Bolaño's 2666.

Theme song for this evening.

Trueno en la distancia. La gatita duerme. No he escrito nada en espanol, aunque he leido un monton. Tenqo que practicar: tal vez tendre una mamacita latina - nunca se sabe. El trabajo fue tan arduo hoy como ayer, pero manana es viernes y nada mas importa. Vi The World's End esta noche, y me gusta, salvo cuando la accion se siguiendo demasiado larga. Es "slick" como todos las peliculas de ellas, y Pegg es buenisimo como siempre. Voy a ver una adaptacion de Shakespeare, creo. Esta bastante bien. Necesito una libra por la grammatica, claramente. Leerlo cuando termino Rayuela y unos novelos de  Marquez. Tal vez memorizare unas poemas por Pablo Neruda. "Si tu me olvidas"? Recuerdo ese titulo, al menos. Still, I'm fighting the urge to just straight up memorize The Tempest. The night's still young-ish. Although debo que ducharme antes de dormir, y estoy taaan cansado. Enough of this, I'm off to read Johnne Donne. Then's it Petrarch. Or maybe The Tempest. Or maybe sleep. Sonare con algos? Supongo que voy a memorizar La Tempestad, aunque en realidad seria mejor que practicare las idiomas. Creo que la grammatica no es correcto en la frase ultima. The rest is silence.