Which we are studying, we have known for a long time, but expanding our vocabulary and memorizing a large number of foreign words is problematic for us. Because of this, the speech, although correct, is meager. What to do?
In this article we will tell you how to quickly and easily memorize foreign words to expand your vocabulary and make it richer.
Foreign words
Set goals
The first step to learning a new language is setting goals. Many people treat this point superficially, but it is the main one in this matter. By working on it, you can ultimately determine whether you have truly achieved everything you wanted. When you are faced with the desire or need to learn a new language, many questions, problems and small details come to mind: too many words, they are difficult to learn, the learning methods are different.
When you set a goal for yourself, work out what you want to achieve in the end, you focus on narrower areas. Research shows that people who work to set goals are more likely to succeed than those who simply start teaching without knowing what they want to achieve. Use the following tips to successfully set a goal and achieve it:
Focus on a specific outcome. Work out the details and determine what exactly you want to learn, not how much time you want to spend on it. For example, tell yourself: “This week I want to learn 30 English words related to shopping.”
Set short-term goals. Of course, having a serious goal is good, but if it is too broad and requires a huge investment of time, it will not be enough to motivate you to work every day. Break your big goal into smaller ones, and successfully complete small weekly or monthly tasks.
Challenge yourself. Goals are always achieved much faster if they force you to make an effort. The main thing is that you do not feel burdened or pressured. This method can work if you set yourself one goal, but with different possible outcomes. For example, say: “I will learn 30-50 English words this week.” The smallest number allows you to start working with the knowledge that the goal is not that difficult to achieve. The highest number will force you to put in effort to show the best result.
Write down your goals. This obvious method really works because keeping your paper organized allows you to focus on what you're writing fully. In fact, you can use some other means for this: notes on your phone, notes on the refrigerator, a marker on the wall, or your finger on the mirror.
Read also: 5 most unusual languages people speak
The most common foreign words
Make a schedule
Have you ever wondered how musicians memorize so many songs and remember them for a long time? It's all about daily practice, because for this they rehearse over and over again. This process takes time, but is rewarded later.
When learning new words, you may think that it takes too much time and that what you already know is enough for you. However, you will be able to speak beautifully, correctly and interestingly only when you enrich your vocabulary. In fact, it doesn't take much time. Just make a schedule and you will see it.
If you are a person who prefers to get up early, study words for half an hour - in the morning. Teach them while you choose clothes, wash and dress, while you make tea. In addition, you can treat yourself to small prizes for a job well done - allow yourself a new thing or a trip to a restaurant, for example, after a week of working with new words. Remember that this will only work if you actually learn the words every day.
Group words by topic
Many people, when expanding their vocabulary, make one common mistake - they start learning all the words in a row. To make it easier to remember foreign words, you should not study everything by simply remembering and translating them. Create a list of words grouped by topic or category. For example, write down all the words for colors, food, animals, verbs of motion, and others.
This method allows you to divide the entire huge vocabulary into small parts that are much easier to learn. In addition, associations with a topic will help you remember both the words themselves and the area in which they are used. Small lists of words will motivate you to study them, because you will not feel overwhelmed or pressured, but the result will not be long in coming.
Look for opportunities
“Learn a word” and “memorize” are completely different concepts. A person who truly learns new words always knows how and in what situation they need to be applied, otherwise all efforts become meaningless. Otherwise, they are simply erased from memory, and you have to start over.
In order for the learned word to firmly settle in your memory, use it as often as possible. If the word is rare or unusual, find out when it is appropriate to use it. If the word is completely ordinary and the situation allows it, start a topic that would require the use of learned words. For example, if you are currently studying a list of animals that live in the forest, interest your interlocutor and tell him some surprising facts about wildlife.
How to memorize foreign words
Video and audio
If you really want to enrich your vocabulary, but notice that you have poor visual memory, and you are tired of constantly repeating words out loud, use various educational videos and audio recordings with the pronunciation of words. This will help you relax, go about your business, while listening to someone repeat words that are new to you.
You can turn them on as background to your daily activities and listen while getting ready for work or taking a bath. This way, you will not only remember words, but also know how to pronounce them correctly - this is a very important point in expanding your vocabulary and when communicating with native speakers.
Own words
In order to understand which words are most often used in everyday life, and which ones are practically not used anymore, highlight the most popular ones in your speech and the speech of your loved ones. If you notice that you often use a certain word, or it often appears in the speech of your friends, write it down.
Over time, you will collect a list of words that you can translate and learn, because the words that you are given to study in old books and textbooks are not always used in everyday life. They are important for overall development, but you should first find out how often and in what situations native speakers use them - otherwise you may end up in an awkward position or simply not being understood.
Synonyms and antonyms
As in the Russian language, many foreign words have synonyms and antonyms. This point will help you enrich your vocabulary and make your speech richer and more beautiful, because using the same word in a sentence several times in a row will not add beauty to it.
If you find a word that you use often, try to find a replacement for it. Learn a few synonyms - you will know what it means, and the associations will do their job. You won't have to spend a long time searching and remembering the area in which this word is used, because synonyms have the same meaning.
It would seem a simple math problem from the fourth grade: if you learn 30-35 English words a day every day, How many words of English can you learn in a month and a year?
Of course, you can easily calculate: you can learn about a thousand English words in a month and, accordingly, 12,000 words in a year. I wonder what experience and practice say?
As vocabulary is reduced, so are the number of feelings you can express, the number of events you can describe, the number of the things you can identify! Not only understanding is limited, but also experience. Man grows by language. Whenever he limits language he retrogresses!
As your vocabulary decreases, the number of feelings you can express, the number of events you can describe, the number of objects you can name, decreases. Not only is understanding limited, but also experience. Man grows through language. Whenever he restricts language, it declines.
~ Sheri S. Tepper
As practice shows, it is possible to learn something, but it will not be possible to keep it in active reserve and regularly use it in speech. Words without practice and associative connections are quickly forgotten, which is something the creators are silent about.
The truth is you always have a chance remember a large number of English words- it all depends on the characteristics of memory and techniques for memorizing English words, which we will talk about today.
How to learn a lot of English words quickly
Learning English words is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Signing the names of unfamiliar words is one of the effective methods for memorizing.
Want to learn a lot of English words in a short time? The German scientist Ebinhaus found that with mechanical memorization, that is, when a person does not understand the meaning of the material and does not use mnemonics, after an hour only 44% of the information remains in the memory, and after a week - less than 25%. Fortunately, with conscious memorization, information is forgotten much more slowly.
First of all, you need to determine how it is easier for you to assimilate new information: by hearing, seeing or writing it down?
This won’t take much time, but it will make it much easier to learn and select effective techniques for you in the future. One test that will help you determine how easier it is for you to remember new information is presented on this site. By answering 30 questions, you can know exactly what type you are.
Let us briefly recall that visual learners easily remember new words by seeing or reading, auditory learners by hearing, and kinesthetic learners need to be on the move, for example, writing down information on paper.
In the modern world, most people have a predominant visual type of perception of new information. Remember how long the annoying commercials seen on TV, or the posters and banners that litter the streets of the city are stored in our memory for a long time.
You also need to know that there is no such thing as 100% visual or auditory. But some channel is still dominant, and it is this one that should be used if your goal is learn a lot of English words quickly.
Visual method for memorizing English words
Characteristics and scheme of information perception by visual people.
If you read the novel “Martin Eden” by Jack London, then most likely you remember that the main character learned a huge number of academic words by posting leaflets with new words in his home.
Visual method to remember English words is to paste stickers with new words on all the objects that surround you. How does the visual method work? You constantly come across an abundance of English words, read, memorize and, of course, use English words.
Buy cards in the store or make them yourself with new words, translations, transcriptions, and even examples of use. These cards are convenient to take with you if you have a long commute to work or constantly get lost in queues. They can be classically made on paper or downloaded to your phone.
On a note:
On the Internet you can find download applications for mobile phones, which use a visual method to expand vocabulary. The most popular are Words, Easy Ten and Duolingo: Learn languages for free.
Bright pictures with captions, memorization simulators, screening tests that use these mobile applications will help you learn a lot of English words in a short time. And most importantly, they are always at hand!
If your level is not beginner (Pre-Intermediate and above), you can watch films, shows and videos with and without subtitles, writing down not only new words, but also useful colloquial phrases.
Educational audio materials in English and podcasts
Characteristics and scheme of information perception by auditory learners.
If you belong to the rare category of people (about 10%) who love and remember with their ears, then this is the method for you.
The main conditions for vocabulary expansion– constantly listen to English spoken, whether at home in the kitchen or in a car in a traffic jam. New words and expressions can be written down and repeated periodically.
With this method, you will not be afraid to perceive speech by ear, and your listening skills will improve.
TPR Method for Vocabulary Expansion
Characteristics and scheme of information perception by kinesthetics.
The third type of information perception, which includes kinesthetics, prefers movement to static learning. If you are a kinesthetic learner, don't forget to write down new words on paper. It is better if you have a diary dictionary that you can refer to from time to time.
Often used in teaching children TPR (Total Physical Response) method. But, believe me, if you are a kinesthetic learner, this method is also for you: with its help you can easily learn English words and phrases.
The essence of the method is to memorize new words, phrases and lexical structures using gestures, commands, pantomime and games. For example, for the word ball, you need to perform an action associated with this object, for example, playing with a ball.
Simple and effective ways to memorize English words
Mnemonics and memorization of English words
A clear example of how mnemonics works.
One of the most effective ways to memorize English, and foreign words in general, is mnemonics. The method of mnemonics (or mnemonics) is based on creating images in your mind. You take information that needs to be remembered and turn it into an image through association.
First you need to understand that the brain remembers not the images themselves that arise in the head, but connections between several images. This is very important to remember, because immediately during memorization you need to focus on this.
Mnemonics actively develops memory and thinking. The main task is to create images that are combined in the imagination in various ways. The images must be colored, large And detailed.
Learning English words using mnemonics is incredibly easy! We select the most consonant word (or several words) from the native language for a foreign word.
Let's look at how mnemonics work when memorizing English words with an example:
puddle ["pʌdl] puddle
Approximate pronunciation (phonetic association) - "badl"
Mnemonic model: “I kept falling and falling into a puddle” .
Examples of using mnemonics in teaching English:
If you are using mnemonics for expanding vocabulary, it is important to remember that you need not just to connect words with each other and express them in the form of a sentence, but also to imagine a specific situation in which this happens or is said.
For example, it’s not easy to say: “A nervous man is walking down a narrow alley,” but to imagine a nervous man, perhaps an acquaintance, who is walking, looking around and flinching at every sound, along a narrow dark alley. In this case, you will definitely not forget this foreign word.
On a note:
The association or combination of words that has arisen is necessary only for 2-3 repetitions from memory in order to remember a foreign word and its translation. Then it disappears as unnecessary, so you don’t have to worry about all sorts of nonsense being stored in your memory.
There is no doubt that in order to memorize foreign words quickly and efficiently, you need to practice, find your own approach, learn to create your own associations, and quickly at that. At first, the process of creating associations will be slow, but be patient and continue training. As a rule, the speed and quality of creating associations improves after the first thousands of memorized words.
It remains to add that with the help of this technique it is possible memorize words of any foreign language .
Mind Palace for Expanding English Vocabulary
Many people use cards with text and pictures (flashcards) to remember new words, but these cards are not always at hand, especially at the right time.
There is a great way to remember new words and expressions - the power of your mind. It is called Method of location (geometric location method).
You may also come across names such as “mind palaces”, “memory palaces”, “method of loci”, “spatial mnemonics”, “Cicero’s method”.
When Sherlock Holmes, the world-famous detective, wanted to remember something important, he closed his eyes and plunged into the palace of his mind ( 'mind palace'). Just like Sherlock Holmes, you can also use this Method of loci to memorize new words and expressions. You can clearly see how this looks in the video.
Video “The Hound of the Baskervilles” - “Palaces of the Mind” of Sherlock Holmes.
How does the locus method work?
We are building an imaginary place ( imaginary place) in our mind and place objects and people there that will help us remember new words. You can store images both on shelves and chaotically. The main thing is that you yourself know where everything is and can quickly remember. The best activators are either completely ridiculous or very logical. And it’s even better to combine them correctly.
Remember simple rules that should never be violated in the process of creating a connection:
- Imagine images large(even if the objects you need to remember are of different sizes, make them one: be it a ship, a coconut or a bee. Small images should not be imagined. The connections between such images will be recorded very poorly.
- The images must be voluminous. For example, holographic images or images created using three-dimensional graphics programs. Such images can be rotated and viewed from different angles.
- Images must be presented colored. If these are tree leaves, then they must be green, the tree itself must be brown, etc.
- The images presented must be detailed. If you imagine the image of a “phone,” you need to mentally examine it and clearly see what parts the phone you are imagining consists of. If this is a cell phone, then you can identify the following images in it: antenna, display, buttons, cover, strap, leather case, battery.
Then we apply the main mental operation in mnemonics - this "connection of images". Let's look at how this is applied in practice in learning English words.
Let's say we need to remember the words associated with the word run, as well as its shape, so we will come up with the following story in our minds: the imaginary setting of the city is the imaginary place is a city .
This is just a small example of how to memorize english words, Related run, and its forms. Of course, I can add other phrases with this word, of which there are actually many, and as my imaginary city grows, I can use more and more words, and thereby expand my vocabulary.
More details about memorization technique “memory palace” you can learn more from the video:
The imaginary place can be anywhere, even a room in your house, but try to come up with a situation that will be close to you, and the words will be remembered much easier.
In this manner easy to learn words on different topics, for example “food”, “kitchen”, “clothing”, etc. Arrange the items as you like, and then it will be easier for you to remember the name of the item based on its location in your “memory” palace.
And of course, develop deduction, attention to detail and creativity. Develop associative thinking.
Another piece of advice applies to all “memory palaces,” regardless of the purpose of their “construction.” If you want to remember something for a long time (and not in the “pass and forget” mode), you will have to periodically “walk” around the “palace”.
Audiolingual method in English
Automation of skills occurs during training through repeated repetition of speech patterns.
Audiolingual method is one of the methods of language teaching in which it is necessary to repeatedly listen and pronounce words, phrases and sentences, which leads to their automation.
This method has its pros and cons, but is suitable mainly for auditory learners, since there is no visual support. The main focus here is on oral speech.
When using the audiolingual method, no explanations are given, since all the proposed material is simply practiced and memorized in the form of set expressions so that students can use them in the future without thinking.
In this case, training is based on practicing certain static models that students cannot change at all or almost at all. In this respect, this teaching method is the direct opposite of the communicative method.
let's consider positive and negative sides audiolingual method.
| Positive sides | Negative sides |
|---|---|
| When developing this method, attention was focused not only on the content of the material offered to the student, but also on the very process of the student memorizing this material. The very system of presenting new information and repeated repetitions lead to inevitable memorization of what has been learned. In the process of repetition, not only the material is memorized, but also pronunciation is practiced, as well as the language barrier is removed. Memorizing stable expressions leads to the fact that, if necessary, they come to mind automatically, as when communicating in your native language. |
The main disadvantage of the audiolingual method (not without reason) is that it does not pay due attention to independent study of grammar. Students, especially at the initial stage of learning, are deprived of the opportunity to understand why a phrase is constructed in one way and not another, or why a word is used in one form and not another. As they learn, students have to independently construct certain grammatical structures for themselves based on the material they have learned. This undoubtedly contributes to a more solid assimilation of such structures, but only if the student is able to construct them. And this is not always possible, since there are exceptions to the rules that can confuse a person who is not familiar with the basics of the grammar of the language being studied. |
Tips on how to improve your English vocabulary?
Knowing many words will allow you to express yourself in many different ways.
First of all, you need to replenish your vocabulary systematically and regularly, preferably every day. There are many ways and they all work.
Choose the one that suits you best and you can easily expand your English vocabulary. Let's look at each of them in more detail.
Expand your English vocabulary with lists
Words surround us. Simply looking up words in a dictionary may not be as interesting or exciting. Pay attention to English words around you - during TV series and programs in English, reading the news - everywhere, at any time.
Important!
Regardless of whether you do this or not, we recommend writing down what part of speech a particular word is (verb, noun, adjective), as well as derivatives of this word. For example, “fish” - fishing, fishy, fisherman, etc. It will also be helpful if you add sentences with examples of these words.
You can also use the notepad on your mobile phone. As soon as you hear an unfamiliar word, write it down. Make sure you have enough space around it to make notes accordingly.
When you have some free time, write down its meaning or translation and perhaps the context in which it can be used.
Learn English words in practice
As you make lists of words, it is very easy to forget the words that were there at the very beginning. All words are required use in your speech. The more we use them, the better we remember them.
Re-read your lists, for example, at the end of each week. How well do you remember old words?
If any words are hard to remember, but they are very common, then there is a high probability that you will encounter them in the future. So add them again to new lists and over time you will remember them.
Games will help you remember English words
Scrabble is an effective way to learn English words and have fun with family and friends.
Who said learning new words is not fun?! Games like Scrabble or Vocabador offer great ways to learn new words .
Games are a great way to learn, not only because they're fun, but also because they give you context for new words. Believe me, you will very quickly remember the word your friend laughed at.
We would also like to draw your attention to the free game Free Rice. This game gives you a word, and you need to find the right definition for it. If you answer incorrectly, the next word will become easier. If it's correct, it's more complicated.
By playing this game, you not only improve your vocabulary, but also help the world in the fight against hunger. How? Try playing it!
Increase your English vocabulary with context
As mentioned earlier, it's better (and easier) remember new words in context. One way is to write a sentence with this word. Not only will you remember this word, but you will also be able to easily use it in conversation.
Another way - remember words in groups. If you want to remember a word humongous (very large), it will be easier for you to remember it from a chain of words: getting bigger and bigger-large, huge, humongous. This also makes it possible to memorize more words at one time.
For example, large, humongous, gargantuan. What do you think the word means? gargantuan?
Dictionaries and social networks for memorizing words
Of course, you can look up an unfamiliar word in the dictionary! Moreover, modern online dictionaries offer many additional features.
Many online dictionaries have interesting articles, games, and a “word of the day” section.
And if you feel confident that you can read literature in the original language, read the article.
Websites for learning English words
Below you will find the best sites to increase and practice vocabulary, which can be most useful for you.
BusinessEnglishSite
BusinessEnglishSite - site for learning business vocabulary
This is one of the best and most popular sites to study. Here you can enrich your vocabulary with useful phrases, expressions and even business jargon.
All words are divided into topics, for example, "Accounting", "Project Management", "IT" etc.
For each topic there are consolidation exercises that train not only vocabulary, but also grammar.
Blair English
With Blair English you can learn English words from scratch
All exercises and lessons on this site have been specially designed to increase and enrich your English vocabulary .
Here you will find over 190 free interactive exercises on various topics such as IT technology, Business, Communication and many others.
The site also has a base of exercises to improve listening and pronunciation skills.
Lingualeo
Lingualeo - a resource for practicing words
A very famous interactive resource that is interesting not only for children. It helps make language learning fun and visual, and also contains unlimited words for different levels.
To feed the lion cub and get a new portion of words, you will need to register.
British Council
British Council - the most British way to learn words
The British Council website has not left us without practicing truly British phrases, idioms and expressions. You can also learn several new words a day there.
Words filtered by topic and level, which makes navigation extremely convenient, and the process of cramming English words an exciting experience.
For teachers, there are lesson plans for various levels with handouts.
Test Your Vocabulary
On this site you can, not with 100% probability, but at least approximately understand what vocabulary you have and what you need to improve.
The test interface in English is simple. The site is designed for users who are learning English or even native speakers.
By ticking the words whose translation you know and answering a few questions about yourself, you will very likely find out how many english words is in your active supply.
Instead of a conclusion
As you can see, there are plenty of methods and resources for enriching your vocabulary in various areas. The most important thing is to constantly work on it, and here everything depends on you. Your daily work will then pay off in full when you can communicate with English speakers without any problems.
In contact with
When learning a foreign language, almost every person has a question about how to memorize foreign words quickly. Currently, there are many methods and techniques that will help expand foreign vocabulary easily and quickly, without resorting to tedious cramming, which is often not useful.
Method of interaction of sensations
This method works most effectively when used in combination with other methods and techniques for memorizing words.
The method of interaction of sensations shows how to better remember foreign words through sensory perception. It is based not on simple mechanical memorization of a word or phrase, but on their presentation and comparison with any sensations. This approach helps you use the words you’ve learned more confidently in conversation and not spend extra time just remembering them. With just the mention of a person, object, action or phenomenon, previously used sensory associations will automatically remind the brain of the necessary word.
An example is the English word cup, translated into Russian as “cup”. When using the method of interaction of sensations, you should not just memorize the “word - translation” pair, but also imagine the cup itself, the manipulations that can be performed with it, as well as the sensations that can be associated with it.
The method of interaction of sensations can be combined with mnemonics, based on searching for consonances in the native language and incorporating sound associations and translation into a common, easily memorized phrase. The English word cup is very similar to the Russian "cap". Based on a consonant association and translation, it is easy to create a phrase like: “Water drips from the tap into the mug: drip-drip-drip.” This combination of techniques perfectly shows how to memorize foreign words quickly and effectively. Mnemonics helps to transfer a word into long-term memory, and the method of interaction of sensations helps to consolidate it in memory and remind the brain of it when necessary to use it.
Cards and stickers method
Based on repeating 10-20 words throughout the day. Small rectangles are cut from thick paper or cardboard. Words in a foreign language are written on one side, and Russian translation on the other. Words are looked up at any free moment: at breakfast, lunch or dinner, in transport, at work, etc. You can view both foreign words and their translation in Russian. The main thing is when viewing, try to remember the translation of the word or its original sound and spelling in a foreign language.
Lessons with cards can be made more effective if carried out in several stages:
- Familiarization with new words. Pronunciation, search for associations, initial memorization.
- Memorizing new foreign words. Restoring the translation into Russian in memory, constantly shuffling the cards until all the words are learned.
- A stage similar to the previous one, but in reverse order - working with words in Russian.
- Consolidation of learned words. Repeat words as quickly as possible using a stopwatch. The goal of this stage is to recognize words without translation.
An original version of the card method is the use of stickers. With their help, you can learn the names of surrounding objects and the actions that can be performed with them. For example, you can stick the English “door” on the door, and “push” on its handle on the side from which the door needs to be pushed, and “pull” on the side from which the door is pulled.
Another option for working with stickers is to stick them in those places where the student can most often see them. This could be a place near the computer (including the screen), a mirror in the bathroom, kitchen shelves, etc. Any foreign words can be written on stickers. The main condition is that the stickers should often catch your eye.
The use of stickers clearly shows how to memorize words of a foreign language using visual information.
Associations
This is a very interesting and simple way of learning that is suitable even for kids. Methods of lexical or phonetic associations talk about how to memorize foreign words using Russian words consonant with them. At the same time, the foreign word and the Russian word consonant with it must be connected in meaning. If such a semantic connection is not clearly visible, you should come up with it yourself.
For example, the English word palm translated into Russian means “palm” and is consonant with the Russian “palm”. To remember the meaning of the word palm by association, you should think of the leaves of a palm tree as looking like human palms with outstretched fingers.
Don't think that there are exceptions to association methods. For one foreign word it is quite easy to find similar-sounding words in Russian, while another is completely inconsonant with anything. However, for any foreign word you can choose either a consonant variant, or divide it into its component parts and look for a similar phrase in the Russian language.
Or divide one compound word into two simple ones already known to the language learner, and by combining their translations form a single association. For example, the English word butterfly (butterfly) is easily divided into butter (butter) and fly (fly, fly). Thus, butterfly is easily remembered through associations such as “fly on butter” or “butter flies.”
Association methods are described in many works of professional linguists and are widely used in the practice of language schools. Some of the most interesting works and effective methods were proposed by Igor Yuryevich Matyugin, the developer of a special technique that develops attention and memory. To make it easier to understand how to memorize foreign words, I.Yu. Matyugin presented to the world a book containing 2,500 English words with vivid and interesting associations.
Yartsev method
It is best suited for those who perceive information more easily visually. This method will not tell you how to memorize hundreds of foreign words a day, but it will definitely help to significantly expand your vocabulary, consolidating it in long-term memory.
The essence of Yartsev’s method lies in the specific writing of words. A regular notebook sheet is divided into 3 columns. In the first the word is written, in the second - its translation. The third column is for synonyms and antonyms, as well as examples of word combinations and phrases in which the word being studied will be present.
The nice thing about using this technique is that there is no cramming. The written words should be re-read from time to time, thus gradually consolidating them in memory. But reading alone will not be enough. Words, in addition to lists, should also appear in articles, films, etc. Thus, they need to be activated in memory.
Grouping Methods
This technique helps you figure out how to quickly memorize foreign words. Combining them into groups can occur:
- Within the meaning of.
- According to grammatical features.
In the case of grouping by meaning, words that are synonyms or antonyms are collected together. The purpose of this grouping is to maximize the enrichment of vocabulary. An example would be the following group of words translated into any foreign language:
good, wonderful, wonderful, great, bad, unimportant, etc.
There can be a lot of options for grouping words based on grammatical features. When composing groups, you can rely on words with the same root, nouns of the same gender, verbs with a certain ending, etc. This grouping helps not only to expand your vocabulary, but also to improve your understanding of the basics of language grammar.
Mnemonic associations
Mnemonics takes a creative approach to the question of how to remember foreign words and put them into long-term memory. According to this method, for each foreign word it is necessary to come up with a consonant Russian word that will be associated with the foreign original. Then the sound association and translation are combined into a phrase or story that needs to be remembered. The repetition algorithm looks like this:
- Foreign word.
- Consonant association in Russian.
- Phrase or story.
- Translation.
As part of the methodology, the algorithm for each word is spoken 4 times a day for two days. The result is the exclusion of the “association” and “story, phrase” stages from the algorithm and the movement of the “foreign word - translation” pair to the part of the brain responsible for long-term memory.
Initially, the story gets into it, but the translation lingers in quick memory for only 30 minutes. In the future, at one glance at a word, a sound association will pop up in memory, a phrase will be remembered with it, and then a translation will be extracted from the phrase. The algorithm will also work in the opposite direction: the translation helps the brain remember the phrase, and from it or the story a sound analogy is extracted that reminds of the original foreign word. Thus, the mnemonic association technique shows how to effectively memorize foreign words, leaving them in memory for a long time.
An example is the English word puddle, translated into Russian meaning “puddle”. The sound association for him would be the Russian “fell”, and a suitable phrase would be: “Nikita fell into a puddle many times.” The word repetition algorithm will look like this:
- Puddle (original foreign word).
- Fell (sound association).
- Nikita fell into a puddle many times (a phrase or story containing a consonant association and translation).
- Puddle (translation).
Using the method of mnemonic associations, in order to easily remember foreign words, it is not necessary to come up with consonances and examples of phrases yourself. Currently, there are a large number of information resources that offer ready-made algorithms for memorizing foreign words and phrases.
Spaced Repetition
The spaced repetition method also suggests learning foreign words using flashcards. Its main difference from the card method is that it suggests how to memorize foreign words. The spaced repetition method requires that the words on the cards be reviewed and spoken at specific intervals. Thanks to this repetition algorithm, the foreign words being studied will be consolidated in the long-term memory department of the brain. But without the absence of repetition, the brain will “remove” unnecessary (in its opinion) information.
The spaced repetition method is not always useful or appropriate. For example, when studying frequently used words (days of the week, frequent actions, etc.), which are constantly heard and regularly used in speech, repetition of words will become a natural process - they will often appear in conversations, when reading and watching videos.
Listening
This method will be an ideal option for those who like to listen to music or any information. It is based on listening to foreign words, which must be pronounced correctly, as well as repeating them. The materials can be either special educational audio recordings or a variety of videos with a detailed analysis of words, phrases and sentences.
Reading
When deciding how to memorize foreign words, books, articles, and other printed materials in the target language can be of great help. Learning words while reading texts in a foreign language is appropriate when a person learning a language already knows about 2-3 thousand words. It is with the presence of such a vocabulary that comes understanding of simple texts.
The best option for memorizing through reading would be to write down unknown words from texts. In this case, you do not need to write out all the incomprehensible phrases in a row. Attention should be paid only to those without which it is impossible to understand the general meaning of the sentences. Surely they will be useful in the future use of a foreign language. Such memorization will be much more effective, since new information is “extracted” from the context, forming more vivid and pronounced associations in memory.
The number of words written out should also be limited. To replenish your vocabulary without interrupting reading, it is enough to write out just a few of them from one read page.
If you wish, you can do without writing it out, since your vocabulary is replenished even in the process of continuous reading. But learning words and consolidating them in long-term memory in this case occurs much more slowly.
Watch video
Learning new words from videos also requires the learner to have certain knowledge of the language. Otherwise, it will be quite difficult to understand what foreign word, still unknown to the student, was uttered. Watching a video in a foreign language allows you to achieve two results at once: expand your vocabulary and improve your listening comprehension skills.
The simplest approach in this technique is to watch the video without being distracted by writing out unknown words. But the most positive result will be achieved only if you stop the film while watching, take notes and analyze words and phrases that are new to the language learner.
You teach and learn these words, but there’s no use! After a couple of days everything is forgotten.
Take a scientific approach to memorization! We present to you three scientifically based techniques that will allow you to quickly and permanently memorize foreign words.
HOW MANY WORDS DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?
First, let's figure out how many words you need to learn in order to begin to understand most foreign speech, and even express your thoughts yourself. A five-year-old child living in an English-speaking country uses 4,000 - 5,000 words, and a university graduate uses about 20,000 words. However, a person learning English as a foreign language has a vocabulary of only 5,000 words, despite several years of study.
But there is also good news: A vocabulary of 2,000 words is enough to understand 80% of foreign speech. The researchers came to this conclusion based on an analysis of the Brown Corpus. A linguistic corpus is a collection of texts on various topics.
Interestingly, after you have learned 2,000 words, increasing your vocabulary for each subsequent 1,000 words allows you to increase the amount of text you understand by only 3-4%.
HOW TO QUICKLY REMEMBER A WORD?
The first question that interests everyone is how to quickly memorize foreign words?
Scientists have concluded that information is remembered faster when has an emotional connotation. Accordingly, it is a good idea to study words through games, riddles, and films. If you liked the song, don’t be lazy to look at the translation of the unclear words. These words will forever be associated with the song you liked, which means they will leave an emotional mark in your memory.
A great technique is mnemonics. Create colorful associations - this will allow you to remember even hard-to-pronounce words. Example of use: the word weather is similar to the Russian word wind, we build a wind-weather pair in our heads, and forever remember that weather is translated weather. There are special reference books in which you can find various mnemonic techniques for memorizing English words. However, it is better to come up with such associations yourself, since our associations and emotions are strictly individual.
HOW TO NOT FORGET A WORD SO QUICKLY?
So, you have learned a couple hundred words, but after a week about ten of them remain in your memory. What is the problem? This is explained by the existence of short-term and long-term memory. Short-term memory mechanisms allow you to store information for 15-30 minutes, then, noticing that this information is not used, the brain gets rid of it as something unnecessary. How can we make it clear to the brain that we really need these words? The answer is repetition. It’s like with Pavlov’s dog: the light comes on and saliva comes out. However, it is released only after 5-10 repetitions of the food + light chain. If you stop feeding food when the light is turned on, the association of the light bulb with food will be destroyed in the dog’s brain, and saliva will stop secreting.
So how many times does a word need to be repeated for it to move consistently from short-term to long-term memory?
German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus developed the Forgetting Curve, which measures the amount of information lost over time in the absence of repetition. Within the first 20 minutes after learning the words, we will already remember 60%, and within 1 hour we will lose more than 50% of the information. Then, over time, more and more information will be erased, and by day 3, only 20% of the information will remain in memory. Thus, if you miss at least one day in repetition, you will not be able to return the forgotten words.
The conclusion is obvious: no repetition. Use words in speech, come up with stories using new words, play cards on your smartphone for at least a couple of minutes a day - all this will help you retain the words you have learned. Otherwise, the time spent on their initial study will simply be wasted.
We suggest using the following repetition schedule:
- 10-15 minutes after learning the words;
- After 50-60 minutes;
- The next day;
- After 1 day;
- In 2 days.
After this, most of the information will be fixed for life.
HOW TO EXPRESS THOUGHTS FASTER?
I really want foreign words to pour out of my mouth without requiring excessive brain strain and several minutes to formulate a phrase. There is an opportunity to speed up the formation of foreign speech - this is the development of muscle memory. By muscles here we mean the muscles of our articulatory apparatus. These muscles, like the muscles in the legs when riding a bicycle or the muscles in the fingers of a pianist, have a memory that allows them to perform automated movements almost unconsciously.
In order for muscle memory to form, it is important to pronounce them out loud when learning words, making movements with your tongue and lips. It is also useful to simultaneously imagine an image of the subject being studied. Over time, you will no longer think about what word to say - your muscles will do it automatically.
Thus, the correct organization of the brain’s work in the formation of short-term, long-term and muscle memory will allow you to quickly and permanently replenish your vocabulary.
Good luck with your studies!
We learn many, many words. Beginners work through Gunnemark's Minilex, intermediate students work through various lists of irregular verbs, special vocabulary, etc.
We are faced with the task of mastering a fairly large volume of words in 7 days, and an even more important task is to find the most effective way to memorize words for each of the participants.
Step 1.
First you need to figure out exactly how you best perceive information. There is a small but very important checklist for this. If you are an auditory learner, then the “read a notebook” method will work much worse for you than the “listen to a list of words for a text” method. And you may not even think about it and look at this stupid notebook for a long time and persistently, until the bitter end and the feeling of your own worthlessness, and not understand why nothing is remembered!
All you need to do is figure out what works for you personally. The checklist will come to your email if you send your email to the cat (see the cat on the side :))
Step 2. Ways to remember words
Traditional methods
1. Yartsev method (visuals)
In fact, of course, this method appeared long before Vitaly Viktorovich, but it was thanks to V.V. Yartsev that it appeared in my life, and this is a very cool method for lazy people like me (visual people), so in this article I begin that's why I call him that :)
Let's take a notebook. We write down the word - translation - in 2 (3) columns. We give synonyms\antonyms\examples next to each other.
We read lists from time to time, just read, don’t cram anything.
I don’t know how it works, but I didn’t cram German from this teacher, I just read the notebook from time to time. He did not give dictations and never checked us against lists. And I still, many years later, remember a bunch of words.
Those. It turns out that you don’t strain yourself, you don’t try to cram 100 words into yourself in 30 minutes, you just systematically refresh the material from time to time. But you should immediately warn that these words should appear in textbooks, articles, i.e. you must, in addition to reading the notebook, somehow activate them.
2. Card method
The second popular method. We take and cut up a bunch of cards or buy square blocks of note paper. On one side we write the word, on the other - the translation. For advanced users we provide examples. We pass the cards around, putting aside those that we know well. From time to time we repeat what we have covered in order to refresh ourselves.
The downside is that if there are a lot of words and little time, you will spend a lot of time creating the cards themselves.
For fun, you can put them in piles of 10 in different places in the apartment, stumble upon them from time to time and repeat.
Auditory learners should definitely add speaking out loud to this method.
Cards are great for children; this can be turned into an interesting game.
3. Prescription method
A classic of the genre:) You take a word and write it down many, many times. It works great for Chinese characters (I’ll tell you about how to learn characters more effectively below). Minus - green melancholy. But the method has been tested for centuries.
4. Half-page method
This is one of my favorite ways. You bend the sheet in half, write the word on one edge, and the translation on the other side. You can quickly check yourself. For me, as a visual learner, it works well, because... I easily remember in which part of the sheet a given word was written down.
The downside is that you get used to a certain word order. (but this is partly a plus :)
5. Method "Interior Designer"
If you are learning some specific vocabulary that surrounds you, you can make unique “labels” everywhere - stick stickers with the names of objects. Also, you can stick on the monitor the most disgusting words that do not want to be remembered. The advantage of this method is that it’s fun :) The disadvantage is that the brain may begin to ignore all these pieces of paper, and then they will hang somewhere for a long time.
Optimization methods
6. Method of grouping by grammatical features
If you have a large list of words, the worst thing you can do with it is to learn it haphazardly.
It can and should be processed and grouped.
For example, first you write down verbs, and you do not write them out in a row, but group them by type of ending, or you write down masculine nouns, then feminine.
Thus, because Most of our words are not exceptions (you group exceptions separately), you begin to see the logic of the language and remember words in conjunction with similar ones.
7. Method of grouping by meaning
You write down and remember the word and its synonym/antonym at once. This is true for both beginners and intermediates.
Now that you have learned the word “good”, find out right away what “bad” will be. And if you also remember “excellent, so-so, disgusting,” then you will greatly enrich your vocabulary.
8. Method of learning words with the same root (for fans)
We take words and group them around a root. Those. conditional “deed\do\done” and learn several parts of speech with the same root at once.
Be sure to watch Professor Argüelles’ lecture on the topic of word families, he tells you how much and what you need to know for complete happiness.
9. Etymological method: my favorite (another lazy method)
Works for those who have learned several languages :)
When you study multiple languages within the same language branch, you begin to see similar roots. This actually comes with experience, and the need disappears. again learn a huge number of words. At a certain stage, you just already know enough :) And if I understand that this word doesn’t tell me anything categorically, I look into the etymological dictionary and find out where it came from. While I do this, I remember it. (Well, it is remembered simply from the fact that it was not recognized and attracted attention)
The bonus of learning different languages is that each subsequent language learns faster, unless, of course, you take something completely unfamiliar.
10. Chains of words
You take a list of words that you need to learn and make up a story (even a crazy one) from them.
That. you learn not 30 words, but 5 sentences of 6 words each. If you approach this matter creatively, you can have a useful and fun time :)
Methods for those who don’t like old-fashioned methods :)
11. Spaced Repetition (spaced repetitions): a technique of retention in memory, which consists in repeating memorized educational material at certain, constantly increasing intervals.
Those. in fact, you install an application on your phone, and there the program will automatically show you words in the given order and with the required frequency. You can use ready-made word lists or create your own.
Pros: thoroughly etched in memory
Cons: it takes a lot of time. If you've already memorized a word, it will still pop up from time to time in some programs.
My personal attitude: I played, but didn’t get into it. But it's a useful thing. I definitely recommend it to fans of playing games on their phones, so at least you will spend your time usefully :)
The most popular program for this method is Anki
I personally liked Memrise more than Anki, simply because it is more fun and has a super rating! You can also choose ready-made word lists or create your own. If a word is absolutely not memorized, you can use special funny pictures that users create using mnemonic techniques, or upload your own.
Be sure to try both programs, choose the one you like better, and try Spaced Repetition. In fact, it’s a good thing and helps a lot of people.
And here you can create your own lists and generate different ways to test words (tests, choose the correct option, spell it, etc., etc.) A good way to test yourself in a playful way for fans of various tests.
"Magic" methods
Various marketers and language gurus love to use magical methods to lure people. Usually the essence of the methods lies in “secret techniques of the special services,” which, well, objectively, are described in a lot of literature. And they ask for ludicrous amounts of money for this.
Mnemonics is one of the most popular methods.
14. Mnemonics
The essence of the method is to come up with funny and absurd associations for a word that you can’t remember.
You take a word and come up with some kind of associative image, which should be very vivid. But in this image there must be a “key” to the memorized word.
Example (stolen from the Internet :)) “grief”:
“woe to the wounded tiger, (vultures) are circling over him”
Subjective: you need to practice and get used to it before it starts to work out. But those who use it achieve great success. A good example is our 16-year-old Alenka, who next month is going to take HSK6 (the highest level of the Chinese language). She uses it. She talks about how she works on the language, and you can look into her notes)
Alena recommends reading the book “Einstein Walks on the Moon” by Joshua Foer.
The Memrise app allows you to create your own “Mems” and use the associations of others. I highly recommend this option for those who cannot remember difficult words :)
15 - “stressed syllable” tactic (you can read more about it (in English), the essence of the method is that you come up with an association specifically for the stressed syllable in a word)
For auditory learners
Rule #1 for you is to always say out loud what you are learning. If you use flashcards, recite them. If you are reading a list, read it out loud. Listen to the words, this is the fastest way for you to remember them! Naturally, you will have to write them down, but things will go faster than if you just read them and write them silently.
16. Listening to words
You can play audio recordings of word lists and repeat after the announcer. Usually, good textbooks provide a well-read list of words for the lesson. This is your #1 tool.
Also, you can listen to high-quality podcasts that provide detailed analysis of dialogues. You can find our recommendations for podcasts in different languages in the section
Important tricks (for everyone!)
19. Learn words in context
Don't just learn the list. There’s Minilex, and it starts with the word “without.” Right after “without” comes “safe,” and then “worry” and “ticket.” If you look at the list of the most frequent words in Chinese, the particle 的, which is a syntactic function word and has no meaning of its own, will be in first place!
Always learn words in context, choose examples and phrases. Work with a dictionary!
20. Memorize dialogues
Learning small dialogues and texts with useful vocabulary by heart is one of the surest ways that you will remember at the right time and correctly use the word in the context you need.
Yes, it will take more effort and time, but in the long run you will have a set of ready-made structures in your head that you will be happy to use.
21. Ask someone to check on you
Take your husband/mother/child/friend and ask them to run you through the list. Of course, you won't be graded, but an element of control and discipline will appear.
22. Learn what is really necessary.
In one of my textbooks, the word “hoe” appeared in the vocabulary before the words “short and long” appeared. Don't learn hoes and all that unnecessary crap until you've learned some really relevant and pressing vocabulary.
How to determine relevance? There are many manuals and lists from the “1000 most common words” series. First we learn frequency, then hoes, not before. If you have not yet learned to count and do not know pronouns, it is too early for you to learn colors, no matter how much you would like to. First it’s important, then it’s interesting, then it’s complicated and necessary for some reason.
(Future translators, this does not apply to you, you need everything. I somehow found knowledge of the term “desk drawer” in Chinese useful, although who would have thought:) If you are a translator, you should know a lot of different vocabulary.
23. Be creative!
If everything infuriates you, words don’t come into your head and you want to quickly close these lists, experiment. Some people get help from drawings, some people walk around the apartment and recite out loud, some people talk to their cat. If you see something that interests you, don’t be lazy to look into the dictionary. Be interested in what interests you. Don't get hung up on methods that don't work. In general, be as creative as possible!
And everything will definitely work out :)