Ways to Remember 10 Times More Vocabulary - English Topics

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Alisha: Hi, everybody and welcome back to English Topics.

My name is Alisha and I'm joined again by…

Davey: Hi, I'm Davey.

Alisha: Welcome back.

And, today, we're going to be talking about Ways to Remember Ten Times More Vocabulary.

So, these are going to be some methods that we think are helpful in remembering vocabulary

and studying vocabulary and applying your new vocabulary.

So, let's get started.

Start as off!

Davey: Alright, my first method here is to “keep a diary and use the new words that

you are studying.”

So, this tip, and actually my other tips as well, all have a similar kind of strategy

which is you have to build new vocabulary into your existing framework of vocabulary.

So, learning a language is difficult and you need a certain amount of words to be able

to start using the language.

But, once you start to build a really solid foundation, it's easier to build more words

on top of it.

And so, doing something like keeping a diary will help you build those new words into the

structure, the existing vocabulary set of words that you already have.

Alisha: Mm-hmm.

Davey: So, you have to use it and you have to use it with words that you know.

And, keeping a diary and using those new words is a good way because it keeps you in a habit

and it's meaningful for you.

You know, you write about your day, write about your life, so, that way, those words

have meaning for you.

Alisha: Mm-hmm.

I totally agree.

I had the same the same tip, essentially, which was to “use the words you're studying

to create.”

And, I had a speech or text, either one.

Create something with the words that you're learning.

So, a diary is a great example of how to do that.

Make sure you're not just studying the words but you're actually creating something new

using those words that you've put in your head.

If it's only input and never output, there's going to be a block there.

I've experienced that where it's only input for words that I'm trying to learn or expressions

I'm trying to learn and until I learn to create with those new words, with those new expressions,

it doesn't stick.

I can't actually use it until I'm comfortable using it.

It takes it takes a long time in my case.

Davey: Yes, yes.

Alisha: So, absolutely.

So, creating, making a diary, whatever it is for you, a blog could be another thing,

like a second language blog.

A Twitter feed, maybe an Instagram account, social media is a great way to do that these

days, yeah.

Davey: That’s true.

Alisha: Lots of people do that.

Lots of people actually follow or lots of people who follow this channel also have Twitter

feeds or Instagram feeds that have devoted to their English Studies, I've noticed that.

So, people will follow me and I'll see, “Oh, they're studying English,” and they specifically

only tweet in English which is really cool.”

So, they just, as you're saying, they use that as a way to keep like an easy diary of

their day in their language.

Davey: You can tweet at people or tweet using those new words.

You can also search, you could do a Twitter search for words that you're using and see

how other people use them and that will help you learn the context of those words as well.

Alisha: Yeah, so, there's a lot that you can do.

Especially, yeah, with these new tools as well, social media is a great tool.

Nice.

Alright, yeah, we have the same one for one-ish.

Davey: Alright.

Alisha: Okay.

My next tip is to “devote 30 minutes a day to vocabulary.”

So, again, this is just a rough number but I've noticed that when I'm studying vocabulary,

if I just devote, in my case, I would devote 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in

the evening just to studying vocabulary.

And, my vocabulary would improve steadily, slowly, but steadily.

And then, when I don't do this, in times when I get busy or I stopped studying in the morning

and in the evening, I noticed I just plateau, I flatten out.

So, if you take 30 minutes a day, morning and evening, I find this best, in my case,

this is best for me, to study vocabulary, review the vocabulary that you had studied

the previous day, for example, that can be extremely helpful.

One, to remember the words that you studied in the week prior or whatever.

And, two, just to make sure that you continue to pick up new words.

So, even if you're not doing anything work-related that allows you to use English or to use your

target language, you're still able to, through your studies, pick up new vocabulary words

that you might encounter in the future.

So, this is something that I have found and I'm guilty of not always following this rule

but this is something I have found that really does work well.

And, there are a lot of tools to do this too.

Like flash cards and like vocabulary word banks, whatever is useful for you.

Davey: Right.

Alisha: Yep, yeah.

Do you study vocabulary?

Davey: I do.

I study a lot of vocabulary and I completely agree with you.

It's something you have to have built into your routine.

As you said, you do this in the morning or in the evening, it's good to know that about

yourself what time of the day is good for you to study that kind of things that you'll

help retain it.

For me, it's morning as well and afternoons actually.

Alisha: Mm-hmm.

Davey: In the evenings, I'm a little fuzzy maybe but yes, I try and study a lot of vocabulary.

Alisha: Mm-hmm.

Davey: But, it doesn't always stick.

I don't always use it, I have to use it for it to stick.

Alisha: Yep, I agree.

Okay, nice.

What's your next tip?

Davey: My next one, again, is similar to the tip that I said before.

All my tips have to do with kind of building that that net or that scaffolding, and, it's

to “use a thesaurus.”

So, this would be if you're doing something like writing a diary or using Twitter or just

what you want to study the meanings of words and get a sense for the nuance or the different

shades of meaning between words that have a very similar meaning, use something like

a thesaurus because if you learn--if you can learn five or ten different words that mean

sad or happy, those words will start to stick together in your mind, you'll associate those

words with each other.

That makes them easier to recall because, again, you're building a framework, you're

building a net of different word meanings in your mind, the more vocabulary that you

have built.

So, I think, using a thesaurus when you're writing can be really helpful for understanding,

not only the differences in meaning but helping those related words to stick.

Alisha: Right.

I think that that's a tip that if you can apply that effectively and learn, like in

your example, of many different words that have similar meanings like words, “sad”

or like words that mean happy, for example, if you can do that, it's going to make your

writing and your speaking much deeper in meaning.

You're going to sound much more fluent if you can use deeper vocabulary words.

If you always rely on the same vocabulary words, it's going to limit a lot in your reading

and in your speaking.

Davey: Yes.

Alisha: So, if you can use it thesaurus effectively to understand the series of words that have

similar or associated meanings, it's going to open up a lot of opportunities for you.

Totally.

Great one.

Okay.

Davey: Thank you.

Alisha: Nice ones.

Davey: What do you have next?

Alisha: My next tip is--this is something that I use actually.

It is “reading things in your target language related to your work and your hobbies.”

So, one of the things that I struggled with when I was studying, when I do study, one

of the things that's difficult for me is that I have trouble identifying or maybe understanding

how I'm going to use the things in the textbook in my life.

Like, how often do I need to call my pen pal or my exchange partner or whatever?

I know I need to maybe study English, for this job, sure, but if I read about my hobbies

in my target language, if I'm studying English and I want to read about my hobbies in English,

I'm much more interested in that topic and I'm going to learn the vocabulary words a

lot more quickly.

So, for example, in my case, what I found really useful, going back to the other example,

is I was interested in music or I am interested in music and so I would pay attention to my

favorite musicians.

What are the kinds of words that they're writing?

What are the sort of phrases that they use?

How do I use those same words and phrases to talk about the things that they're talking

about?

So, because I was using people that I was interested in as my base for my understanding,

I was able to pick up those words, the specific words that I needed for my hobbies in my life

much more quickly.

It would have been difficult for me to go to my teacher and say, “Hey, how does a

musician explain this feeling?” or, “What’s the best word I could use to describe this

or that aspect of performance?”

It was something very specific to my interests, and so, by going directly to the people who

were using those words and expressions, I could find them immediately, over time, it

took a little bit of time to get used to the way they spoke or the way that they wrote

on the internet.

But, I could pick up things that I wanted to know and words that the people around them

were also using.

So, this was something that I found very, very useful and I continued to find useful.

So, things that are specific to you, specific to your life and the things that you need

to do and that you want to accomplish in terms of your language goals.

Davey: Right.

And, at least, with regard to hobbies, maybe not work as much, but could be, but especially

with hobbies, you'll be more motivated to read about that in English or in your target

language because that's something that you'd read in your first language anyway.

And so, to be motivated to read that will help you.

Because, if you're interested in it, you're motivated to do it, you'll read more, you'll

get more language.

And then, you'll get language that you'll use in that situation.

For example, if you're a skier, if you love to go skiing and you read skiing magazines

in English, and then when you go skiing, you're in a situation where you can use those words.

So, I think that's a really good tip basing your vocabulary around your hobby or your

work.

Alisha: Alright.

Nice.

Okay.

What's your next one?

Davey: My next one is similar to the last one but maybe a little bit different take

on it.

And, it's “word association.”

And, of course, using something like a thesaurus helps you make word associations but what

I meant with this tip is to do exercises to help you with word associations.

So, drawing like bubble maps, idea maps, linking up vocabulary words with similar words.

Playing a word association game with a study partner.

Just, if I say a word and then your partner gives a word back to you, that makes them

think of another word and that's a nice way just to drill vocabulary, but also as I was

saying before, to build association between words which helps those words stick in your

mind.

So, different word association games, I should say.

Alisha: I see, okay.

So, maybe we can try one.

So, you said you would say a word and then the partner playing the game would just respond

with a word that they associate with the first word.

Davey: Sure.

You could set rules on it.

You could say similar meaning, opposite meanings, you could do antonyms or synonyms.

Alisha: Right.

Oh, there's another game that I remember I used to play when I was a kid which was going

through the alphabet.

My family and I used to play this on road trips.

We had to think of words that began with each letter of the alphabet.

So, for example, it would be like an animal.

So, we had to think of an animal that started with an “A,” like, “anteater.”

And then, you'd go to “B.” But, you had to say “A” first before you can move to

“B.” So, “anteater, buffalo.”

And then, “anteater, buffalo, cat” and go through each letter of the alphabet with

that category.

Of course, “Q” and “X” always got a little bit difficult.

Davey: That's a nice idea too because that's a memory game and remembering vocabulary requires

a strong memory.

So, that's a nice way to kind of build those skills together.

Alisha: So, there are a lot of things I think you can do to improve your word association,

for sure.

But, of course, these aren't the only ways to remember vocabulary but perhaps some things--at

least that has helped us and that are maybe easy for people to do.

Anybody can do these.

Everybody I think watching this video will have access to the tools they need to do these

sorts of things.

So, please feel free to give them a try if you have not already.

So, thanks very much for watching this episode of English Topics.

If you liked the video, please make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel

if you haven't already.

Also, check us out at EnglishClass101.com.

You can find some tools that are similar to some of the tools we talked about in this

episode.

So, please take a look at those.

You can sign up in just a few minutes.

Thanks very much for watching this episode of English Topics and we will see you again

soon. Bye-bye.

Davey: Yah!

Alisha: Sit back down. I have to do the subscribe message one. Thank you.

I'm very sorry.

Davey: That’s cool.

Alisha: I’m very sorry for shouting at you.