» Learn English words to memorize. Games will help you remember English words. Spaced repetition method

Learn English words to memorize. Games will help you remember English words. Spaced repetition method

You need to quickly memorize a large number of English words. And as you have been told or you yourself have read online, it is very easy to learn them. But how did you not try to quickly memorize at least the necessary minimum, did you succeed? Perhaps you chose the wrong memorization methods or techniques? We will deal with this today.

To begin with, let's try to figure out why memorizing English words is so difficult? The fact is that a new concept is accurate information, the translation and pronunciation of which you need to know 100%. Try to pronounce a foreign word. Native speakers will not understand you, so it is important to memorize the word as accurately as possible.

Any new information is not remembered well. As a rule, even with exhausting “cramming”, only 20% is absorbed. But if you choose the right technique that will allow you to quickly learn words, then this figure will increase significantly. Start learning basic English words right now!

Let's get familiar with best practices memorization of new English words:

Memoirs

Memorizing English words is a convenient and interesting style of presentation educational material in short rhymes or songs. Memorizing words will be effective if they themselves rhyme or are included in rhyming structures. This technique also contains elements of artistic association:

  • A plum here and a plum there
    Plum in English plam
  • I prefer watermelon to plums
    Watermelon - otherwise watermelon
  • The price of melons is written with chalk
    Melon in English melon
  • A fairy said to me in a dream:
    Pear in English pear

These are such meaningless, but very effective lines.

mnemonics

The very method of artistic association that allows you to memorize concepts through the creation of vivid images in your head. Moreover, the more ridiculous the image is created, the better the word or phrase will be remembered.

Let's try?!

  • "Spoon" (spoon), imagine funny little gnome Spoon sleeping sweetly in a spoon
  • "chess" (chess) - chess pieces come to life on a chessboard, run up to each other and begin to scratch each other's backs
  • "turnip" (turnip) - grabbing the horizontal bar with its leaves, the turnip spins on it like a gymnast
  • "ship" (ship), imagine a ship with huge protruding spikes

Thanks to this technique, words are remembered very easily.

Cards

A popular simple technique for memorizing new vocabulary. Cut thin cardboard into small rectangles. Take a stack of these cards and write a word or phrase in English on one side and its translation on the other. Always carry these cheat sheets with you and repeat them at any opportunity.

Cards can be divided according to the subject of phrases or according to the phonetic sound of words. After examining one pack, you can proceed to the next pile. After a while, return to the material covered and repeat it. You will be able to transfer your passive vocabulary to active, that is, remember and freely use speech constructions.

Marking

The technique involves the following: a pack of sticky stickers is taken, words from your home or work environment or everyday life are written on them. Then you stick these tags to the corresponding items, thus marking a huge number of things. For example, tag "Salt" on a salt shaker, "Dining table" on a dining table, "Journal table" on a coffee table, "Door in a bathroom" on a bathroom door, etc.

The disadvantage of this technique is that you can only label specific concepts, but sticking a sticker on such abstract concepts as love (Love), joy (Pleasure), happiness (Happiness) will not work. Therefore, this lexical composition is better to remember in other known ways.

Polyglot

This technique will allow you to easily and quickly memorize 100-150 new words every day. The method is a sequential mental operations and actions that form memorization skills.

Memorization scheme according to the "Polyglot" system:

  • A translation of a word
  • Pick up consonant Russian word to pronunciation
  • Combine the image of the translation with the image of the consonant word
  • "Take a picture" is a foreign word
  • Write a word
  • Check memory quality
  • Write to card
  • look - look
  • “I can’t watch when they cut onions”
  • On all sides, highlight the word with yellow cards, so that only “look” is in the center. Try to mentally photograph the word and memorize the graphic image, read aloud several times
  • write a word
  • Checking the quality of memorization means writing a word from right to left ... k .ok .ook look
  • Write the word on a flashcard for repetition.

Synonymic series

This technique allows you to quickly memorize words, thanks to the expansion of the synonymic series. It is better to keep a special notebook in which, as you learn the language, you need to enter new words. As often as possible, pick up new synonyms and repeat the ones you have already learned.

Memorizing vocabulary, thus, allows the student to accurately and richly express his thoughts in English, increases the speed of speech.

  • energy-force-power
  • little-small-tiny
  • pretty-handsome-beautiful

Regardless of which method you choose, it is better to memorize words according to this scheme: Writing - pronunciation - translation". Memorization in this sequence is called "recognition".

And finally, classes should be regular. It is better to learn 10 words every day than 100 once a week.

Do you know other effective techniques? Unsubscribe in the comments.

Learn English words much easier than it looks. If you do not agree with this, then, apparently, because at school you were forced to cram columns of words that were difficult to remember, but were forgotten the next day. Fortunately, now with simple tricks, tutorials and easily accessible materials in English, learning words is a pleasure.

Learning English words and learning a language are not the same thing.

First of all, we note that learning a language is not limited to memorizing words. Yes, you cannot throw words out of the language, but their interaction in speech occurs according to the rules of grammar. In addition, grammar will not be “brought to life” without practice in reading, listening, speaking and writing. Some of the techniques listed below involve memorizing words precisely in the context of live speech.

Cards with words

Ordinary cardboard cards are a powerful tool for memorizing words. Cut out cards of a convenient size from thick cardboard, write English words or phrases on one side, Russian on the other and repeat.

For greater efficiency, take sets of 15-30 cards and learn words in two directions - English-Russian and Russian-English - in four stages:

  1. Introduction to words. Look through the cards, pronouncing the words aloud, trying to imagine the objects, actions and even abstractions they represent. Don't try to memorize the words thoroughly, just get to know them, pick them up on the memory hook. Some of the words will be remembered already at this stage, but not reliably.
  2. Repetition of English - Russian. Looking at the English side, remember the Russian translation. Go through the deck until you can guess all the words (usually 2-4 runs). Be sure to shuffle the cards! Memorizing words in a list is inefficient, largely due to the fact that words are remembered in a certain order. Cards do not have this disadvantage.
  3. Repetition of Russian - English. The same, but from Russian to English. This task is a bit more difficult, but 2-4 passes will suffice.
  4. Consolidation. At this stage, mark the time with a stopwatch. Drive the deck as quickly as possible, achieving instant recognition of the word without hesitation. Do 2-4 rounds, trying to get the stopwatch to show less time with each round. Don't forget to shuffle the cards. Words can be driven in both directions or in one direction (preferably in Russian-English, as it is more difficult). At this stage, you will achieve instant, without mental translation, recognition of the word.

It is not necessary to make cards out of cardboard, there are convenient programs for creating electronic cards, such as Quizlet. Using this service, you can make voiced cards, add pictures to them, teach in different modes, including games.

Spaced repetition method

The method consists in repeating words with the help of cards, but at some intervals. It is believed that by following a certain repetition algorithm, the student fixes information in long-term memory. If the information is not repeated, it will be forgotten as unnecessary.

The most popular program for memorizing words using the spaced repetition method is Anki. Create a deck of words, and the application itself will select partially forgotten material and offer to repeat it at a certain frequency.

The convenience is that you only need to load the words, and the program itself will tell you when and what to repeat. But sometimes there is simply no need for an interval method. If you are learning collections of common words such as days of the week and months, verbs of motion, vehicles, then there is no need to repeat them according to a special algorithm: they will already be encountered very often in the textbook, when reading, in speech.

Memorizing words while reading in English

It makes sense to learn words with the help of cards when the vocabulary is still insufficient even to understand the simplest texts. If you do not yet know such basic vocabulary as days of the week, colors, verbs of motion, politeness formulas, then it is convenient to lay the foundation of vocabulary by memorizing words from cards. According to linguists, the minimum vocabulary for understanding simple texts and speech is about 2-3 thousand words.

But, if you can already, try to write out words from the text while reading. It will not be just vocabulary taken from a dictionary, but living words, surrounded by context, associatively tied to the plot, the content of the text.

Do not write down all unfamiliar words in a row. Write down useful words and phrases, as well as words without understanding which it is impossible to understand even the main meaning. Write out only a few words per page to reduce distractions from reading. After reading an article or a chapter of a book, words can be quickly repeated.

They can greatly simplify and speed up the memorization of words. For example, when reading texts online, you can save words with a translation with one click and then repeat them using the Leo Translator browser extension.

Memorization of words from video and audio recordings

If during reading it is easy to underline or write out a word, then with a film or audio recording it is more difficult. But listening (listening) for learning vocabulary is no less interesting than books. In the live speech of native speakers, there are fewer bookish, little-used words and more popular colloquial phrases. In addition, listening develops not only vocabulary, but also the ability to understand speech by ear.

The easiest way to learn English from movies and audio recordings is to simply watch or listen without being distracted by writing out words. This is the easiest approach, but this way you are unlikely to learn something new, just reinforce already familiar words well (which is also important).

If you write out and then repeat new words, then you will not only enjoy the movie, but also replenish your vocabulary. Of course, while watching, it is very inconvenient to be distracted by pressing pause and writing out words, but you can take short notes, and then return to them and analyze the material in more detail. As with reading, you do not need to write down all the incomprehensible words in a row.

It is much easier to engage in audio and video with the help of special sites. The popular online services LinguaLeo and Puzzle English are most suitable for this, which use a special interface for easy video viewing with the ability to quickly (click on a word in subtitles) translate and save words.

Memorizing words while writing and speaking

Reading and listening are passive speech activities, speech perception. Written and spoken language is the active use of language. When you write or speak, vocabulary develops differently: you have to practice using the words you already know, moving them from a passive vocabulary (at the level of understanding) to an active one.

When writing, whether it's an essay or informal chatting, you have to constantly choose words and try to express your thoughts more clearly, more accurately. Often there is a situation when you want to say something, but do not know the right word or expression. With the help of a dictionary, it is not difficult to find it, but do not let this valuable find be forgotten right there - write down such small discoveries and repeat in your free time. Practice in active speech activity helps to identify such gaps.

During an oral conversation, of course, you won’t be able to look into the dictionary, but conversational practice makes you practice already familiar words and constructions. You have to strain your memory, remember everything that is stored even in its most distant corners in order to express a thought. Speaking practice for learning a language is like training for the body: you strengthen, develop your “language form” by translating words from a passive stock into an active one.

Conclusion

The first two methods - cards and spaced repetitions - are suitable for memorizing collections of words, for example, "In the city", "Clothes" and so on. Methods from the third to the fifth are designed for memorizing words during speech practice.

If you want words not only to be remembered but also not forgotten, practice reading and listening regularly. Having met a familiar word several times in a living context, you will remember it forever. If you want to not only have a passive vocabulary, but also express your thoughts freely -. So you will turn dry knowledge into confident skills. After all, we do not learn languages ​​in order to know them, but in order to use them.

Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5

If you want to learn a language in a short time, but do not know how, this article is for you. Here we will pay attention to an unusual way of memorizing the first phrases, which are attractive in that when they are memorized, 2-3 words are immediately stored in memory instead of one. This is very convenient, and English, with this approach, begins to seem like an interesting and quite logical language.

How to quickly learn a lot of English words with minimal effort

Let's move on to a list of words that will show you how can quickly learn a lot of English words within a fairly short period of time. I draw your attention to the fact that this is not the whole list of such words. There are more than a hundred of them in in social networks our online school, but I will give the most interesting and easy-to-remember instances.

1) cup(cup) + cake(cake) = cup cake(cake)

2) master(master) + piece(piece) = masterpiece(masterpiece)

3) tea(tea) + spoon(spoon) = teaspoon(tea spoon)

4)lip(lip) + stick(stick) = lipstick(lipstick)

5) sun(sun) + glasses(points) = sunglasses(sunglasses)

6) traffic(movement) + jam(jam) = traffic jam(traffic jam)

7) fire(fire) + place(place) = fireplace(fireplace)

8) honey(honey) + moon(moon) = honeymoon(Honeymoon)

9) book(book) + case(suitcase) = book case(bookshelf)

10) super(super) + market(market) = supermarket(supermarket)

11) pan(pan) + cake(cake) = pan cake(pancake)

12) key(key) + board(board) = keyboard(keyboard)

13) cottage(country house) + cheese(cheese) = cottage cheese(cottage cheese)

14)head(head) + phone(phone) = headphones(headphones)

15) head(head) + master(master) = headmaster(head teacher)

16) ear(ear) + ring(ring) = ear ring(earring)

17) bell(bell) + tower(tower) = belltower(Bell tower)

18) water(water) + melon(melon) = watermelon(watermelon)

19) arm(hand) + chair(chair) = arm-chair(armchair)

20) pig(pig) + tails(tails) = pigtails(pigtails)

How can quickly learn a lot of English words using a similar list? Just try not to memorize the lexical unit, but pay attention to the composition of the word. Very soon, this practice will grow into a habit, and learning a foreign language will turn into a pleasant pastime, and not a boring process.

How to learn English words in 15 minutes?

If you want to know how to learn english words in 15 minutes, then you should remember about periodicity and repetition. You can really remember a lot in 15 minutes, but there is no point in trying if you do not plan to do it every day. Repetition plays a key role in remembering words and rules. Therefore, do not forget about it.

How to learn English words in 1 hour?

For those who are serious, I can give a few recommendations, how to learn english words in 1 hour.

1) Repeat a new word or list of words out loud several times

2) Check if it is a compound word that can be divided into 2 parts. If yes, then find out the translation of all components.

3) Make sure the word doesn't play multiple roles in the sentence. For example: paint can be translated and "dye", and "paint".

4) Try to come up with an association for a new word you want to remember. For example: "clever" very similar to the name of the tree - "clover", but actually translates "smart".

5) Make up your own sentences with new words that you want to remember. This will help at the right time to quickly reproduce the right phrase.

Need lessons to practice? Contact our skype fluentenglish24

We will not only tell you how to quickly learn a lot of English words, but also help you to speak foreign language!

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Why memorize English words?

Learning English has become a necessity for many people. For schoolchildren, it is dictated by the requirement to pass exams. For traveling people, this is an opportunity to communicate with representatives of other nations. Learning a language involves mastering several skills. The basis on which these skills are based is the study of words. Having studied several times and having practiced a couple of weeks in their use, you can already express yourself quite clearly. But then another difficulty arises, the study of words. If you approach this, at first glance, tedious process creatively, you can speed it up many times. You can even learn to enjoy it. Let's look at a few well-known ways to learn English words.

1. Write words in a notebook

This is the easiest way to accumulate new words. It is usually offered in schools. Maria Ivanovna gives the task to write out all the new words in a notebook and learn them by heart.Then she asks for their translation from Russian into English and from English into Russian. This method of memorizing words is not bad, but it has its drawbacks. The position of the words in the list is remembered. Difficulty concentrating on words that are hard to remember. In the future, words learned in this way are poorly recognized.

2. Write words on cards

This method is much more efficient than the previous one. You write words on cards on both sides. An English word and its transcription are written on one side. On the other side are written synonyms (if they are), example words in a sentence and translation into Russian. Such memorization of words allows you to divide words into " I know», « don't know"And then focus on words that are difficult to learn, that is -" don't know". Here is a more detailed description of the process of learning English words from flashcards. You can make the cards themselves from cardboard or thick paper, or you can purchase ready-made ones in the online store.

3. We select synonyms and antonyms

If possible, it is necessary to think and find synonyms and antonyms for the word being studied. In this form, words are remembered faster. For example, do you know the word fast - quick. Then you met the wordswift - fast, but you don’t know this word yet. You associate it with the word fast, swift = fast. So it will be remembered much faster. And if you still find the antonym slow for it - slow, then the connection will be stronger.

4. Surprised by the new

If possible, create some unrealistic association in your mind. For example, remembering the word fast – fast you along with fast food represent the title slow food . Such associations usually cause a smile. They are unusual - so they are remembered much faster. This ability to change, design and wonder is very important. You are not just assigning one value to another, but looking at it from different sides, from different angles. You wonder, admire and laugh at what you made up. Any information undergoing such processing will be kept in memory much longer.

5. Looking for associations

Sometimes it is difficult to remember a new English word. Well, it is not remembered and that's it! In this case, it is necessary to find associations to it. For example, the words are often confused blackberry - blackberry, bilberry - blueberries and strawberries - Strawberry. If we break them down into components, for example, black - the black, berry - berry. Bill similar to bill - account and straw - straw. It is quite easy to remember these words.blackberry remembered as "black berry". And if you also remember the once very popular phone, then remember the meaning of the word even better.

Blueberries are remembered as "the berry that lies on the bill."

Strawberries are remembered as "a straw that is stuck in strawberries."

For associations, it is better to use words that can be easily imagined, that can be seen, endowed with taste, color, touch, etc.

The more words you know, the easier it will be for you to find associations to new words. Therefore, many are surprised how 80-year-old professors sometimes remember words or other information better than teenagers. The secret lies in the right habit of remembering and a huge vocabulary.

6. Remember words in context

Unprepared students memorize words as "word" = "translation". In this form, they are remembered very poorly. Too loose connections. Our memory works with images, emotions, rhythms, and therefore information should be presented to it in this form. Don't forget to look at how a particular word is used. We have a tendency to use words that we use in Russian in English without specifying the context. For example, when we ask in a cafe “whether a chair is occupied or not”, in Russian, we use the word busy -busy . Unfortunately, we cannot say Is this chair busy ? Is this chair occupied? It would be correct to say " Is this chair occupied? Is this chair occupied? Word busy implies the absence of time, which cannot be applied to an inanimate object, in our case, a chair. Therefore, check the context of each word according to the examples given in dictionaries.

7. Learn to Express Emotions with Synonyms

We have already written that it is very desirable to find synonyms with antonyms for the words you want to remember. New words connect more easily with words you already know. Another aspect of such memorization is finding words to express certain emotions. We live in a world of emotions and logic. Depending on the temperament of a person, one or another component predominates in it. Therefore, it is good to have ready-made blanks in stock. For example, let's take joy. How can we admire this or that event? Let's find a few words that make it possible to do this.

It's cool!

It's wonderful!

It's beautiful!

It's amazing!

It's thrilling!

It's exiting!

It's breathtaking!

It's far out!

By forming words into groups according to their purpose, it will be easier for you to use them.

8. Ridiculous stories

We have already written that words similar to each other are remembered worse, so you should not learn words alphabetically. If the word is clothed in a story, or rather in an absurd story, the effect will be even stronger. For example, you need to remember the wordceiling - ceiling. You imagine that you have entered your room, and there the entire ceiling is made of silicone. It may be difficult for some to imagine silicone. Silicone is a material with elastic properties. The story is ridiculous, because ceilings are not made of silicone, so your memory will remember this image much better.

9. Chat with friends

In every difficult case, a person needs helpers. It is necessary to maintain your enthusiasm and one of the most effective methods is communication.Try to find friends with whom you will communicate on English language. Now there are many different applications that allow you to find friends of interest from English-speaking countries and discuss some interesting topics for you in the language of your interest. There are applications where you can exchange help with those who study your native language, in return, getting advice on the language you are interested in. In this case, the language ceases to be an end, but becomes a means. This is well described in the book Passed By.

10. Watching movies in English

Watching movies is one of the most powerful ways to learn languages. You immerse yourself in the situation and struggle to understand what is at stake. In this state of “special interest,” you remember words much better. We recommend that you do screenshots(screenshots) with the words you want to learn if you are a beginner and watch movies on your computer. After taking a screenshot and looking up the word in the dictionary, leave it without writing down the translation. This will force your memory to be active. If you are watching a movie in a company and it is inconvenient to constantly stop it, then you can read the script in advance and learn all the unfamiliar words. In this case, it will look much more productive.

11. Repetition is the mother of learning

In this old proverb lies the key to success in the study of any subject. Memory cuts off unnecessary information, and its necessity or uselessness is determined by the frequency of its occurrence in your memory, and the relationship to it. We must really remember it. Having hung all the rooms, the bathroom and the toilet with stickers with English words, we will not force our memory to remember them. She will find a way to let them pass.

It is necessary to develop the habit of repeating the material covered in each next lesson. Move on to the study of new material only with a good mastery of the old. Proverb " to bounce off teeth” will help to understand the meaning of what was said. Unfortunately, this principle is not taken into account in many training programs. Such large intervals are made between repetitions that when the time comes to the test on the material covered, the student looks at the material already studied once as if it were completely new. Therefore, do not forget to bring what you have learned to perfection.

And how often do you need to repeat the learned words so as not to forget them?

There are many tips and tables showing memory cycles and effective repetition rates. It should be noted that they are designed for the average student or adult, while memorization performance in a very highly dependent on individual abilities, which, in turn, develop rapidly with regular training.

Start learning words proven 3 by 3 memorization technique with an interval between sets 2 hours and then see how it works for you. With a good result, you can increase the time interval between repetitions. If bad, it should be reduced.

12. We plan our training

Write down on a piece of paper the skills you are working on and the skills you want to develop in the future. Put them in a table, setting the tasks and the time allotted to them. Track your progress by working on these tasks every day. You don't have to be able to work on every skill every day. In our case over speaking, by reading, by letter and listening. Just systematically devote time to them, recording the results. If you don’t have the time or desire to practice a skill, then it doesn’t matter. Fixing your inability to do it now, sooner or later you will have a desire to do it. Well, you do not want to read something now. Okay, watch movies. Well, you do not want to write an essay today. Okay - chat with John about music.Use your mood for more effective learning. Learning should be fun, not torture. And most importantly, focus on your accomplishments, not on what you haven't done yet. You need to feel progress and planning with accountability will help you with this. You can register and study words on-line, then in your personal account you can see how many words you have already learned, and how much you have learned them in time.

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Learning a language is impossible without memorizing new words. But besides the banal and boring cramming, there are many simple, and most importantly, effective ways to learn unfamiliar words.

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 person, then the "read the notebook" method will work much worse for you than the "listen to the list of words to the text" method. And you can not even think about it and long and hard, to the bitter end and feeling your own worthlessness, look into this stupid notebook and not understand why nothing is remembered!

Traditional Methods

  1. Yartsev method (visuals)

We take a notebook. We write out the word - translation in 2-3 columns. We give a number of synonyms \ antonyms \ examples. From time to time we read lists, we just read, we don’t crammed anything.

I don’t know how it works, but, for example, I didn’t crammed German, but just read a notebook from time to time. The teacher did not arrange dictations, he never checked us against the lists. And I still, after many years, remember a bunch of words.

It turns out that you do not strain, do not try to pour 100 words into yourself in 30 minutes, just systematically, from time to time you refresh the material. But you should immediately warn that these words should be found in textbooks, articles, i.e. you must, in addition to reading the notebook, somehow activate them.

  1. Card method

The second popular way. We take and cut 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 indicate examples. We drive the cards in a circle, putting aside those that we know well. From time to time we repeat the past, in order to refresh. Of the minuses - if there are a lot of words and little time, you will spend a lot of time creating the cards themselves.

As an entertainment, you can arrange them in piles of 10 pieces in different places of the apartment, from time to time stumble upon them and repeat. Audials to this method must necessarily add speaking aloud. Cards are great for children, this can be turned into an interesting game.

  1. prescribing method

Classics of the genre. You take a word and write it many, many times. Works great for Chinese characters. Minus - melancholy green. But the method has been tested for centuries.

  1. Half page method

This is one of my favorite ways. You bend the sheet in half, write a word from one edge, with reverse side- translation. You can check yourself quickly. For me, as a visual, it works well, because. I easily remember in which part of the sheet a given word was written. Minus - you get used to a certain word order.

  1. Method "Interior Designer"

If you learn some specific vocabulary that surrounds you, you can make original “labels” everywhere - stick stickers with the names of objects. You can also stick on the monitor the most nasty words that do not want to be remembered. The advantage of this method is that it is fun. Minus - the brain can begin to ignore all these pieces of paper, and then they will hang somewhere for a long time.

Optimization methods

  1. Grammar grouping method

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 out verbs, and write them out not in a row, but group them according to the type of endings, or write out masculine nouns, then feminine and separately exceptions that do not fall into these lists.

Thus, since most of the words we do not apply to exceptions, you begin to see the logic of the language and memorize words in conjunction with their like.

  1. Meaningful grouping method

You write out and memorize the word and its synonym/antonym right away. This is true for both beginners and advanced. So you learned the word “good”, find out right away how it will be “bad”. And if you still remember “excellent, so-so, disgusting”, then you will greatly enrich your vocabulary.

  1. Method for studying single-root words

We take words, group them around the root, for example, “deed / do / done”, and learn several parts of speech with the same root at once.

  1. Etymological method

Works well for those who have learned multiple languages. When you study several languages ​​within the same language branch, you start to see similar roots. This actually comes with experience, and there is no need to learn a huge amount of words again. At some point, you just already know enough. And if I understand that this word does not categorically tell me anything, I climb into the etymological dictionary and get to the bottom of where it came from. While I do this, I remember it.

  1. chains of words

You take a list of words that you need to learn, and make up a story (even if it’s crazy) from them. So you will learn not 30 words, but 5 sentences of 6 words each. If you approach this matter creatively, you can have fun and usefully spend time.

Ways for those who do not like old-fashioned methods

  1. Spaced Repetition (spaced repetitions)

A technique of retention in memory, which consists in repeating the learned educational material at certain, constantly increasing intervals. In fact, you install an application on your phone, and the program will automatically show you the words in the specified order and with the desired frequency. You can use ready-made word lists or create your own.

Pros: capitally crashes into memory.

Cons: takes a lot of time. If you have already memorized the word, it will still pop up from time to time in some programs.

In Memrise, you can choose from ready-made lists of words or create your own. If the word is categorically not remembered, you can use special funny pictures that users create using mnemonics, or you can upload your own. Memrise also recently added a new option - you can not only hear the voice acting of a word, but watch a video of how people pronounce these words.

service to work on writing for those who have already mastered the basics of language practice. The user writes the text in the language being studied, after which the native speaker of the corresponding language takes to check the written text and makes his own corrections.

"Magic" Methods

Magic methods are very fond of luring various marketers and language gurus. Usually the essence of the methods lies in the "secret techniques of the special services", which, objectively speaking, are described in a pile of literature. And they ask for unhealthy sums of money.

  1. mnemonics

Mnemonics is one of the most popular methods, the essence of which is to come up with funny and absurd associations to a word that you can’t remember. You take the floor and come up with some kind of associative image, which should be very bright. But in this image there should be a “key” to the memorized word.

Example: "grief" ("woe") - woe to a wounded tiger, vultures are circling over him.

For auditory

Rule #1 for you: Always speak out loud what you are learning. If you use cards, speak up. 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 read and wrote silently.

  1. listening to words

You can put audio recordings of word lists and repeat after the announcer. Usually in good textbooks a well-read list of words is given for the lesson. You can also listen to high-quality podcasts in which there is a detailed analysis of the dialogues.

  1. Multiple repetition

A method similar to writing words in a row, rather tedious and boring, but effective - repeat out loud several times. There is an opinion that a word can be considered learned if you have used it 5 times in context. So try to give 5 different examples of the use of this word. Naturally, out loud. You can fix it by writing it down.

Methods for those who absolutely do not want to work with lists

  1. Reading (lots of reading)

If the level is high enough and there is no urgent need to expand the vocabulary, it is easiest to read a lot. You can mark new words and even write them out (this works best, but not everyone likes to do this). By reading, you learn to understand the meaning of the context, you are “saturated” with words, they themselves become your passive reserve. But reading usually does not help much to translate them into an asset, i.e., in order to progress in the language, you need to do something else besides reading.

  1. Learn what is really needed

In one of my textbooks, the word "hoe" appeared in the vocabulary before the words "short and long" appeared. Do not learn "hoes" and any unnecessary garbage until you learn really relevant and vital vocabulary.

How to determine relevance? There are many tutorials and lists from the 1000 Most Common Words series. First we learn frequency, then - "hoes", not earlier. 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 want to.

  1. Get creative with the process

If everything infuriates you, words do not fit into your head and you want to quickly close these lists, experiment. Drawings help someone, someone walks around the apartment and recites aloud, someone communicates with his cat. If you are interested in something, do not be lazy to climb into the dictionary. Study what is close to you. Don't dwell on methods that don't work.