100 Superwords: Boost your comprehension

What is the best way to start learning a new language? There are several opinions.

Some say the most important factor is first learning the vocabulary - they say grammar is second. But well, if the grammar is very different to your own it is going to make it very difficult for you to understand anything at first.

Others say you must learn the grammar first so that you have a base or structure to build upon. But then, with a limited knowledge of vocabulary, understanding any examples so that you get what you are being told is going to be very difficult.

And there is this famous - and expensive - method that emphasizes learning simple sentences first, but not reading then, rather listening to them. The author says this copies how people in some areas in Africa learn languages, and that is where people speak more languages in average.

Probably the best and most balanced approach is learning a little bit of vocabulary and a little bit of grammar progressively, in order to boost understanding and motivation - which actually is very important for language learning. That is actually what I'll be teaching in this website... but we will leave that for another time ;-)

But then, wait, what if we could learn some words that we are going to use a lot in the new language and learn them real fast? That would give us a huge starting boost, and a really good base to be able to begin learning the grammar.

I would like to introduce you to the 100 superwords.

 ¿How do the 100 superwords work then?

It is said that in most languages there are 100 words that make up 50% of the words we use in regular conversation. Putting it in another way, when someone speaks, of all the words they use, half of them belong to that group, the 100 superwords. I have seen several experts I trust explain this effect. First time I did was from Tony Buzan in his book "Use your memory", 1986:

Learning languages, both our own and those of other people, need not be the frustrating and depressing experience it so often is. It is simply a matter of organising the information you want to learn in such a way as to enable your memory to 'hook on' to every available scrap of information. One way to get a head start in learning a language is to realise that in most languages, 50 per cent of all conversation is made up of only 100 words.

Think about this for a second: If that was true and you put the effort to memorize 10 of those superwords every day, in just 10 days you could understand half of what you hear or read. Just imagine what a leap forward that would mean in your language learning! 

Even though as you already know I'm not a Ngäbere language teacher but rather a student, I must confess I have been working for years on a list of what could be the 100 superwords of the Ngäbere language so that I could help others to learn the language faster. And finally I have decided there is no use to keep trying for the 100 perfect words, so I'm going to share the list I have as I have it. I hope these Ngäbere lessons help you in your learning.

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