If you find memorizing new words in English hard or if you beat yourself up for forgetting words that you know you’d learned before, but you can’t recall them to save your life, you are not alone. This used to happen to me a lot and I used to get really upset, but since then I’ve learned a few tricks to remember new vocabulary.
When I got my first job in the US as a front desk agent in a Marriott hotel, I was very happy. But my enthusiasm quickly turned into anxiety when I realized that there were still so many words I needed to know in order to do my job well. Back then I was just freshly out of an ESL school and my English was quite rusty. I remember people calling me on the phone to ask me if we had foam or feather pillows and I didn’t know the difference. Or guests asking me if they can have a cot in their room. I thought, “What the heck is a cot?” I had to constantly ask my coworkers for help, and I felt so embarrassed. I was even on the verge of quitting my job a few times.
Now I hear many of my students share the same experience. They constantly have to look up new words and they feel that the vocabulary just doesn’t stick. And if they hear a word that sounds familiar because they’d looked it up before, but don’t remember it, they get very upset.
How to memorize English words
So, here’s what helped me to remember new words and to eventually move them from my short-term memory to my long-term memory.
1. Synonyms
The first thing to do when you learn a new word is to look up its synonyms. When you look up a word online, Google also shows you the synonyms of that word. Look at where it says “similar” and find a synonym that you already know. Then “mentally” put the new word in the same “box” with the other word. Now use the new word in a sentence while swapping it with the word you already know.
For example, let’s say that you want to remember the word “hasty.” You Google it and you see below the word in the “similar” section that the first synonym is “quick.” Then you use it in the sentence:
It was a hasty decision you may live to regret.
Then swap “hasty” for “quick”:
It was a quick decision you may live to regret.
Try to come up with a few different sentences and go back and forth between the new word and its synonym that you already know. After a few iterations you will remember the new word.
But be aware that not all synonyms match all situations. For example, if you Google the word “urgent”, in the section of similar words you will see that one of the synonyms is the word “desperate”. However, there are situations when you can’t swap these words. For example, let’s say that you want to send an email to your coworkers and communicate that the matter needs their attention right away. In this case, you can say that the matter is urgent, but it would be incorrect to say: “the matter is desperate”. So, with synonyms, always try to find a few examples of the words in sentences in order to make sure that you are using them correctly.
2. Mnemonic devices
The next technique to help you memorize new vocabulary is using mnemonic devices. No, this is not another device that you need to buy 😉. A mnemonic device is a memory technique that can help increase your ability to recall and retain information. For example, a picture, another word that rhymes with the one you want to memorize, or even something that sounds similar in your own language even if it has a different meaning. Anything that will help you recall the word when you need it.
For example, let’s take the word “spellbinding.” It means fascinating or holding one’s attention completely as though by magic. The way I remember this word is by splitting it into two parts – spell and binding. I first imagine the song “She put a spell on me.” I’m sure you’ve heard it before. I know that to put a spell on someone means to have a strong emotional effect on someone. Then I add “bind,” which i know means to fasten, tie up, or something that holds. Now I imagine a strong emotion tied to me or some strong feeling that I’m holding. That’s how I recall that spellbinding means fascinating or captivating.
This is what I imagine, but you can come up with something else that will make it easy for you to remember. The point is to have an idea in mind that will help you to connect it to the word and make it stick. Mnemonics include acronyms, songs, rhymes, and anything that brings an association.
3. Space Repetition System
Another super important step is to brush up on the new word or phrase after a short period of time. Using the Spaced Repetition System is a very helpful method for remembering words. It is based on reviewing the material at intervals of time. In the beginning, you repeat the new word once an hour, for example. Then you go back to it once every four hours. Then once a day, once every three days and so on until you realize that you are not forgetting it anymore.
The problem many people have is that they memorize a new word, but don’t repeat it or use it in context. Then when they need to use it in a real situation, they realize that they can’t recall it.
4. Generation effect
Ok, so I first heard of this next method from the linguist and polyglot Steve Kaufmann. It’s called the Generation Effect. I came across one of Steve’s videos where he was talking about how the words you forget are still in your memory.
The Generation Effect is a memory phenomenon, according to which, people remember information more if they create it in their own mind, rather than passively reading it. In one study, participants were given a pair of words, where one of the words was fully shown and the other, its synonym, was shown as a fragment. They had to come up with the missing letters on their own. For example, if they saw the word GARBAGE accompanied by the letters W, S, and T with the according space in between – W␣ST␣ – they were supposed to fill out the second word – WASTE. This study found that generating words as opposed to just reading them, notably improved later memory performance. This is because during the process of encoding, certain areas of the brain work together to fill out the missing parts.
In other words, when you see vocabulary that you’ve learned before but can’t recall right off the bat, don’t just look it up in the dictionary again. Try to recall the meaning from context and think of a few synonyms that you already know and use. The point of this exercise is to make you actively recall what you already know, but maybe don’t use.
Remember that you will always find more words in your reserve (or your passive memory) than you use. This is normal and it’s nothing to beat yourself up over. Forgetting is helping you to build up your reserve, which is an essential part of learning.
Practice
Ok, now let’s practice. I will give you a pair of words where the first word is fully spelled out and the second one is a synonym to that first word and has some missing parts. Your job is to fill out the missing letters and to actively recall the synonym.
SOMETIMES – O␣␣ASI␣N␣L␣Y
SEARCH – S␣␣K
IMPORTANT – S␣L␣␣NT
INTIMIDATING – D␣U␣␣ING
SURPRISED – AS␣␣N␣␣␣ED
You can find the answers in the video above.
Were you able to come up with the second word in these pairs on your own? If yes, that’s awesome. But if you found it hard, don’t give up. You just need a bit more practice. Doing this exercise will definitely help you to move more words from your passive memory to your active memory. Then you will have richer vocabulary when you need to express yourself.
Now make your own list of words that you want to remember and practice them. You can combine this Generation Effect method with the Space Repetition System. Let me know in the comments if you find this effective.
★
Remember that everyone is different. Just because someone else is able to remember 50 new words at the same time, doesn’t mean that you have to aim for the same number as well. Follow your own pace and be patient. If you are consistent, the results will follow, I promise.
What methods do you use when you are memorizing new words? Let me know in the comments.
I wrote this article based on two of my earlier posts. You can find them here:
I hope you found information in this post helpful. Consider sharing it on social media. You can find the sharing buttons below the text.
If you haven’t done this already, click here and sign up for our free Speaking Club. You will meet incredible people from all over the world who come to practice their speaking skills.
Share this page:
