5WaystoLearnJargon,AndFast

　　Posted:09Jul200806:52PMCDT

　　Earlyoninmywritingcareer,Itookonacoupleofarticlescoveringprojectmanagement.Toputitmildly,Ididn鈥檛knowaGanttchartfromaPERTchart.Worse,Ididn鈥檛evenknowwheretostart.Ihadalreadylearned,though,thatvocabularyisthefastestwaytobecomeanexpertonanysubject鈥evenifyoudon鈥檛reallyknowthatmuchaboutatopic,atleastyoucantalkthetalk.Iknewthatinordertowritethesearticles,Ineededtolearnthejargonthateveryprojectmanageruseswithouteventhinking.

　　SoIfiredupmywebbrowser,andheadedtoWikipedia鈥?br/>1.Wikipedia

　　That鈥檚right.MyfirststopisWikipedia.I鈥檒lbethefirsttoadmitthatWikipediaisneverguaranteedtobethegospeltruth,butI鈥檝efoundthatforanylearningproject,whetherI鈥檓doingresearchforaschoolpaperortryingtofindtherightwordstotalkaboutaparticulartopic,Wikipediaisguaranteedtobeagoodstartingpoint.It鈥檚becausegoodWikipediaarticleslinktofairlyexpertsources,thekindthatarebothagoodsourceforanintroductory-levelencyclopediaarticleandforacrashcourseinthesubject.

　　So,I鈥檒lgotoWikipediaandskimthearticleonwhatevermysubjectis.I鈥檒lopenuplinksandtrytogetanideaofrelatedtermsandimportantnames.Thenamesofpeopleandcompaniescanbeasimportanttoaconversationonagiventopicastheactualvocabulary.It鈥檚doubtful,afterall,thatanyonewouldhaveaconversationonproductivityandentirelyignoreDavidAllenandGTD.

　　2.TakingNotes

　　WhileItakenotesprimarilyinconjunctionwithwhatIreadonline,youcantakenotesfromanysourceyoufinduseful.Theactualactoftranscribinginformation,preferablyinterpretingitintoyouronestyleofwritingisincrediblyhelpful.Whenpossible,Iliketoactuallywritethingsdownbyhand,butinthiscutandpasteworld,evenactuallytypingoutwordsanddefinitionscanhelp.Theactsofwritingandinterpretingmakeiteasiertorememberanduseawordlateronthatjustcopyingitintoyournoteswill.Ifyou鈥檝egotalittletime,actuallywritingoutafewparagraphsusingyournewwordscanreallycementtheirmeaningsinyourmind.

　　Ifyou鈥檙eworkingonawrittenproject,youmayevencomeoutaheadonyournotes.Youmaybeabletowritetheminsuchawaythatyoucanusetheminpartorinwholeforthatresearchprojectorarticleorspeechyou鈥檙epreparingfor.Ifthat鈥檚thecase,considertryingtotakeyournoteswiththatendinmind:structureyournotestomatchwhateverproductyou鈥檙eintheprocessofcreating.

　　3.Experts

　　OnceI鈥檝egotageneralideaofatopic,I鈥檒lgolookingforanexpertwhocanspendevenafewminutestalkingtome.Iprefersomeoneinpersonbuttheinternethasanexpertoneverything.Hearinghowyourexpertusesterminologyisagoodwaytolearn,butusingthatterminologyyourselfandaskingyourexperttocorrectyoucanbeevenbetter.

　　Attheveryleast,you鈥檙eguaranteedtolearnproperpronunciation.Iwasoneofthosekidswhoreadalotofbooksinhighschool,includingphysics.IknewanawfullotaboutRichardFeynman,butitwasn鈥檛untilIactuallyheadsomeonetalkingabouthimthatIrealized鈥渇en-i-man鈥isnotthecorrectpronunciationofhislastname.ThatcanbethebiggestproblemthatcomesfromdoingallyourlearningfrombooksorWikipedia:youmaynotknowjusthowtosayyournewly-learnedvocabulary.