Learn the vocabulary

You shouldn't get carried away with this method, but it helps a lot to learn tricky words that you can't remember otherwise.

Before looking up the translation of an English word in the dictionary, try to parse it by composition and determine the meaning yourself. For example, you came across the verb to mistreat . You don't know what it means, but you know the verb to treat - "treat, treat." It remains to find out the meaning of the prefix mis- . You may have encountered it in words such as to misbehave (behave badly) or to misunderstand (misunderstand). So the prefix mis- means something bad or wrong. Indeed, the verb to mistreat is translated from English into Russian as "to mistreat".

If you make a list of common prefixes ( un-, dis-, re-, de- etc. ) and suffixes ( -able, -ly, -ent, -tion, -ive etc. etc.) and remember what they mean, it will be easier for you to guess the meaning of new words for you in English.

It happens that some topic is very difficult to come by, because you personally are not interested in it. For example, you are studying the topic “Cars”, but you don’t drive a car yourself, and this area is completely alien to you. And it is not clear why to learn words that you are not going to use in life. To spark interest in a boring topic, connect it to something that is more interesting or useful to you personally.

For example, car images and metaphors are often found in the songs of foreign artists - you can easily find lyrics in English with the words steering wheel ("steering wheel"), highway (highway, highway) or lane (strip).

Or look for English idioms that use the words you want. Here are some automotive-themed ones:

• Stay in your lane. Mind your own business (literally: stay in your lane).
• Down the road. - In the future (literally: further down the road).
• U-Turn. - A sharp change of opinion (literally: a reversal).
• To put the brakes on. - Slow down (literally: slow down).

These idioms will come in handy in conversational speech, even if you never intend to drive. And now boring words will have more figurative associations that will help them learn.

Probably, this happened to you at school: you learned a dozen new English words, did your homework, wrote a dictation… And after a month everyone forgot. This happens because new vocabulary needs to be periodically repeated and refreshed in memory. There is even a recommended schedule for repeating English words, compiled on the basis of the works of the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus:

1. Use a new word as soon as you learn it;
2. Use the word again after 20-30 minutes;
3. Repeat word every other day;
4. Return to a new word after 2–3 weeks;
5. Repeat the word in 2–3 months;
6. Fix the word after 2–3 years.

It is on this method of memorization that the application for learning new English words Aword is based. In order not to think about how many weeks and months have passed since meeting a new word, install the application and it will monitor the repetition schedule for you. By the way, Aword also uses other techniques for memorizing words listed in this article: images with associations and mnemonic phrases.

Knowledge that we do not use is sooner or later forgotten, as happened with poems and theorems that we learned at school. Therefore, do not waste time memorizing rare, little-used words. This is especially important for those who are just starting to learn English. Before you draw flashcards and add a word to the spaced repetition list, make sure you need to know it at all.

There is a list of 3000 words, which is enough to understand most of the texts written in English. Of course, during your studies you will still learn much more, but at first you should check the list so that you don’t spend time memorizing rare English words and forget about the most important ones. For convenience, such words are marked with a special icon in the Aword application.

Read more about the golden list of English words and how to use it in your studies in our magazine.

We have analyzed 11 ways to effectively memorize new English words - it remains only to put them into practice and choose the ones that suit you.

1. Learn not individual words, but phrases and sentences with them.
2. Draw association pictures for new words.
3. Choose synonyms and antonyms for the word you want to remember.
4. Instead of one English word, learn several cognates at once.
5. Write short stories with new words.
6. Make associative cards with English vocabulary.
7. Use mnemonic technique: consonant Russian or English words.
8. Parse words by composition and memorize the meanings of popular English prefixes and suffixes.
9. Link new words to things that interest you personally, such as useful idioms or English song lyrics.
10. Periodically repeat the words you have already learned so as not to forget them.
11. Do not fill your head with rare words, especially if you are just starting to learn English.

Check if you know the words on the topic

Read on:

An effective technique for memorizing English words

10 tips on how to learn English better

6 useful tips on how to learn English grammar

Want to learn how to learn English words quickly and easily? We will tell you how many words you need to know, where to get them from, what tools to use and how to learn all this in general. Use at least a few tips and you can expand your vocabulary.

Content:

• 1. How many English words do you need to know
• 2. Where to get new English words
• 3. Tools for learning new words
• 4. Useful tips on how to learn English words effectively

All students are interested in the question: "How to learn English words?" The more vocabulary we know, the better we understand what the heroes of our favorite English films are talking about, what is written on the Tate Modern museum plaques, and how favorable the terms of the deal are offered by our partners from the USA. Today we will give some recommendations that will help you learn new vocabulary effectively.

Before that, we advise you to watch the webinar of our methodologist Yulia on the topic “How to learn English words”.

How many English words do you need to know? It will show your approximate vocabulary which you can compare with the average scores of native speakers and English learners.

However, we want to warn you: do not rely solely on the results of the test. It can only give a rough estimate of your vocabulary.

Our English Level Chart has a Vocabulary column that tells you how many words you need to know at each level.

And now let's find out what English words you need to learn:

• Basic vocabulary needed to understand foreign speech. There are eternal topics like "Greeting", "Family", "Food" - every person needs to know them.
• The words you need. If you need English for work, learn general business terminology or more specific industry terminology, such as for IT professionals. If you want to travel more, learn travel phrasebooks.
• Mastering all the lexical sets is impossible and pointless. Why do you need medical topics if you are not a practicing doctor? Except for watching "Doctor House" :-) Consult with an experienced English teacher, he will tell you exactly what to study.

Where to get new English words

1. Favorite movies, series, songs, podcasts, books

This method is good because words are remembered in a context that is not boring for you. If you already watch films in English, you should take vocabulary from there. We advise you to use the resource ororo.tv. It is paid, but worth the money: you can watch new movies and TV shows in good quality with Russian and English subtitles. As soon as you come across an unfamiliar word, click on it and it will automatically go into your personal dictionary of new words.

You can find the texts of most English-language songs on the Amalgam resource. Or use the search bar in the browser: enter the name of the song and add the word lyrics. We also recommend a selection of podcasts, audio series and radio shows, as well as resources for downloading books online.

2. Special textbooks

Vocabulary books will help you learn new words and set expressions in which they are used. The benefits of manuals are that they provide lists of words along with examples of their use, so words are learned in context. We have presented a detailed review of textbooks for learning English vocabulary, be guided by it to choose the best manual.

3. Lists or dictionaries of high-frequency words

How do you know if it's worth remembering the next new English word you come across? It may have fallen into disuse or is rarely used. You can refer to lists of words that are most commonly used by native speakers. We recommend you lists from the Oxford Dictionary - The Oxford 3000 British Dictionary and The Oxford 3000 American Dictionary. These are the 3,000 most important words any English learner should know. They have been carefully selected by linguists and experienced teachers. You can recognize these words in the Oxford dictionary itself by the key icon.

Tools for learning new words

1. Word cards

This technique may seem old-fashioned, but it is still effective. All students at least once in their lives started cards and tried to learn new vocabulary from them. It is convenient and affordable: no need to spend money, because you write them yourself, and you can take the cards with you anywhere.

Before making cards, you need to choose a good dictionary that will help:

• pick up translation;
• get acquainted with typical phrases in which the word is used;
• study examples.

Then you should decide whether you will make paper or electronic vocabulary cards.

Paper cards

We recommend using colored blocks (one color = one theme). Beginners can choose one of the following options:

• Write the word in English on one side of the paper, and in Russian on the other. We test our knowledge: we translate a word from Russian into English and vice versa.

• On the one hand, we write the word in English and paste the picture, on the other hand, the translation into Russian. This method is well suited for people with associative thinking. In your mind, you associate a new English concept with the subject it denotes.

• On the one hand, we write a word in English with a Russian context, on the other hand, a word in Russian without a context. When repeating vocabulary, try to translate the concept from Russian into English. And with the translation in the opposite direction, the second side of the card with the Russian context will help you.

• More experienced students are advised to use English-English dictionaries, such as the Macmillan Dictionary. On one side we write the word in English, on the other - its definition in English. You can also write synonyms and antonyms of the concept under study.

• And how to learn vocabulary? Remembering English words is best in context. Therefore, you can write on the card not just a word, but a sentence in which it is used. Examples of sentences can be found in electronic dictionaries, such as ABBYY Lingvo.

E-cards

If you find it difficult to get away from your computer, use your affection for good: create virtual stickers with words on your desktop and in a few days you will remember them well.

To create electronic vocabulary cards, we recommend Quizlet, which allows you to memorize words in different ways: choose the correct translation from four offered, fill in gaps in sentences and play games with words. Here you can also track your progress: which words are harder for you than others, how quickly you learn new vocabulary. There is an app for Android and iOS. An alternative resource is Memrise. Its free version has limited functionality, but it will be enough for compiling flashcards.

You need to constantly work with cards: review and repeat the learned vocabulary. Periodically change the cards to new ones, and after 1-2 weeks return the old ones again to repeat the words.

2. Vocabulary notebook

This method is good for those who constantly lose something: the cards are unlikely to last long :-)

You can structure the notebook in any way you like. We present our version. Each page must correspond to a specific day. At the top, write the dates of the repetition of the words. In order for the studied vocabulary to be well fixed in memory, do not forget to train it. To do this, use the techniques described by us in the article "How to repeat so as not to forget anything."

3.

You can easily learn English words of the same subject if you draw a mind map. Such a scheme clearly shows which topic the words belong to. In the meantime, you draw it, the vocabulary will be deposited in memory. A mind map might look like this:

We recommend using Coggle to create these mind maps. You can share the result with other people, as well as download mind maps in pdf or png.

4. Learning Websites and Apps

Study on learning resources, we recommend englishteststore.net, and 5 Websites to Learn English Words for more great learning resources.

On the way to work on the subway or in line at the clinic, use every spare moment to learn new words. Useful programs for your gadget can be found in the article "28 best apps for learning English on Android and iPhone".

It is enough to practice 10-20 minutes daily to feel progress.

Useful tips on how to learn English words effectively

1. Combine words by subject

How easy is it to remember English words? Groups of words related to the same topic are usually well remembered. Therefore, try to break the words into groups of 5-10 pieces and learn them.

There is the so-called Restorff effect, according to which the human brain best remembers the most prominent from a group of objects. Use this effect to your advantage: in a group of words of one subject “introduce a stranger” - enter a word from a completely different subject. For example, when studying words on the topic “Fruits”, add one word from the topic “Transport” to them, in this way your studies will become even more effective.

2. Use associations and personalization

Many students like this method: to learn a word, you need to come up with an association in Russian. For example, you need to remember the word obstinacy (stubbornness). Break it down into three syllables: ob-stin-acy, you get "stubborn as a donkey against a wall." The word shoot (to shoot) can be remembered as "the jester shoots." You can make convenient associations yourself, the main thing is that they are clear to you and easy to remember. This will make it easier for you to increase your English vocabulary.

Learning will be effective if you not only make a word association, but also visualize it: while saying the word shoot, imagine this shooting jester, let the image turn out to be as funny and memorable as possible. Even better, a dynamic picture with your personal presence: you imagine how the jester next to you shoots someone (with a water pistol to make the spectacle comedic, not tragic). The more alive the picture, the easier it will be to remember the word.

3. Use learned vocabulary in speech

How to learn English words correctly and not forget them? Are you familiar with the use it or lose it principle? In order for knowledge to remain in memory, you need to actively “use” it. It is good practice to make short stories using new words. The best remembered vocabulary is set out in a short funny text, which is written about oneself, beloved or dear to the heart of things.

If you are taking an English course or working with an English teacher, try to insert new words into the conversation as often as possible: the more times you say a word, the better you will remember it. Do not forget about spelling: try to use new words in writing.

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

Tell me and I will forget. Teach me and I will remember. Make me do it and I'll learn.

Learn new words and apply them immediately with the Conversation Course.

4. Regularly test your knowledge

It is useful to take various tests to determine the level of vocabulary from time to time. For example, great picture quizzes (a joy for visuals and kids) are on the Vocabulary for learners of English page. After passing such a test, you will immediately see what is deposited in your memory, and which topics or words need to be repeated.

5. Follow your daily plan

We have already told you how many words to learn per day. Recall that for the average person, it is best to learn 5-10 words a day. Be sure to follow your plan for learning new vocabulary to see progress.

6. Use entertaining learning methods

At engvid. com, native speakers explain complex information in a light, entertaining way, thanks to which new material is well remembered. On newsinlevels.com, every piece of news is adapted for different levels of English proficiency, and explanations are given for all difficult words.

You can expand your English vocabulary through fun activities such as crossword puzzles, gallows games, etc. There is a lot of fun on the Have Fun Learning English and Vocabulary exercises pages.

7. Improve your memory

It is impossible to remember anything if you do not have a good memory. Learning a language in itself is a good exercise for our brain and improves memory. But to make it easier to remember, you can use the tips from our article “How to improve memory. Best Advice for English Learners.

8. Consider your type of perception of information

Not all methods are equally good for you. Don't try to apply everything at once. Try text, video, or audio formats and choose the ones that help you pick up new words faster.

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