Two days ago, I was talking to my roommates Léanne (from Switzerland) and Hermien (from Belgium). Léanne was explaining that she needed "a tool for her nails... something to...". I helped her: "A nail clipper, to clip your nails with.". She looked at me, increduously, and thought I had invented a word. But I insisted that the expression I used was a correct one. Then she asked me how I could possibly have picked up the word "nail clipper". And that's where I couldn't answer her anymore.
I started to think about how I learned that word. There's no question that I have ever learned it at school. In secondary school, we did not learn lists of vocabulary. We had to study words, extracted from articles in magazines. And I am fairly sure those texts never had anything to do with nail clippers. In university, I have learned lists of vocabulary. But these words covered areas such as the legal jargon. But is the legal vocabulary more important than the word "nail clipper"?
I concluded that I must have familiarized myself with this word while watching lighthearted series and films. Wouldn't it be better to introduce these materials in the educational system then?
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten