To know English in the 21st century is not just a way to broaden one’s horizons and once again prove one’s erudition, but also a real need. Without the ability to communicate and communicate freely, the doors to a world outside the post-Soviet space are virtually closed to you. And even more so, there can be no talk of any career advancement either. But if you can memorize the logical foundations (the rules for constructing sentences, questions, punctuation) without any problems, the question of how to memorize English words remains one of the most difficult for most people.
Say NO to the cramming!
The root of the problem lies in the education system itself - at school and university we are forced to memorize new expressions. He retold the text, translated the passage, roughly speaking, “shot” - and you can safely forget. But to expand your vocabulary does not work. Therefore, it is worth listening to the opinion of experienced teachers and psychologists and learning how to learn English words correctly.
Do you know why it’s hard for you?
In fact, when we learn English words (or try to do it), we often just don’t realize why we need all the information we receive and what function it will perform for us in the future. In fact, it is enough to overcome this barrier - and the process of memorization will become absolutely natural and enjoyable.
To achieve a result and understand how easy it is to memorize English words, you just need to transfer new foreign expressions from the category of “aliens” to the category of “your own”. The process of filtering all information in a person is uncontrollable - the subconscious mind decides which part to skip, which part to delay, and which to skip in an altered, distorted form. And the first thing we have to do is to “crack” this filter.
How to do it?
To make this possible, you first of all need to minimize the stress component, which inevitably makes itself felt in the process of remembering new information.
You may not be aware of this or even feel it, but subconsciously fear that fear of vulnerability and insecurity - for fear of not giving up, forgetting, disgracing yourself, you yourself put yourself in the position of a victim, not a predator. Change your perception of the situation and go hunting! What for? Of course, for new knowledge and gorgeous vocabulary!
Ready to move on to practice? Then we present to your attention the most effective ways to memorize English words!
Method number 1. Classical
Perhaps, of all the methods, this is the easiest, although inferior to others in terms of efficiency. You will need a special notebook to write new words. Write down about twenty words and other units of speech in a column so that the foreign expressions themselves are on the left and their translation on the right. Immediately tune yourself to the fact that you need to learn all these words, and not for a couple of days, but for the rest of your life.
How to quickly learn English words in this way? How easy it will be for you to learn new knowledge is largely up to you. The main secret to success is to 100% concentrate on learning. Although at first it will be very difficult, but this is really worth striving for.
- Read all written English words.
- Read the translation.
- Repeat the above steps again.
- Take a break for 8-10 minutes - at this time you can do what you want.
- Close the column where the translation is written, and try to remember the meaning of each word yourself. Do not suffer from excessive perfectionism - it is impossible to learn everything at once. If the translation of a word stubbornly does not want to emerge from the dark depths of your memory, just go on to the next.
- Take another break of 3-5 minutes, relax.
- Read again the list of all words and their translation, paying particular attention to those expressions with which you have difficulties.
- Take a break for 8-10 minutes again.
- Repeat the exercise, alternating between English and Russian words.
As you can see, there is nothing complicated in how to memorize English words in this way. And one more little piece of advice: after working through one batch of material, you don’t need to go straight to the next one — you will forget what you learned before. It is better to take a break and give the brain time for an unconscious repetition.
Another common mistake for beginners is to constantly repeat the words you have just learned. This is not worth doing, as you will not contribute to a better fixation of the material in your memory and do not speed it up, but rather interfere with the natural process of memorization. It is worth repeating the learned expressions after 7-10 hours, and then every 24 hours. It is generally accepted that after memorizing words, they need to be repeated 4-5 times.
Method number 2. Subconscious
As in the previous case, first you need to make a list of 20 words that you plan to learn. We learn English words by this method, we only before bedtime. Your task is to focus all your attention on the process of memorization and abstract yourself from the rest of the world.
Try to exert all your will. After that, choose some new word and try to imagine it mentally as vividly and brighter as possible. When this happens, repeat it in a whisper, and then to yourself, without opening your eyes. Then you should relax and work through all the remaining words on the list in the same way.
All information received is deposited in the subconscious. When falling asleep, it is important not to think about what you want to remember new expressions, distract from such thoughts and sleep peacefully. In the morning you will need to repeat everything you taught in the evening again. Those words that you learned will remain in your memory for a long time.
Method number 3. Background
Another interesting method for those who want to know how to remember English words well. By itself, it will not be very effective, but in combination with other methods can bring a fantastic effect.
Record about 40 new words and phrases or simple text onto a tape recorder. Adjust the volume to an average level and just listen to the recording many times in a row. In this case, you do not need to constantly sit next to and listen to the pronunciation of each word and translation. Do what you want - after listening to it repeatedly, you will unknowingly remember the new information.
Method number 4. Relaxation
How to remember a lot of English words? We offer you another interesting option, in which you can use the hidden potential of your memory. As in the previous case, new words need to be recorded on a tape recorder. However, the amount of information should be increased to approximately 80-100 expressions.
It is important that soft, calm, melodic music plays against the background of the recording. Sit down, try to relax and free your head from unnecessary thoughts, dream a little. Turning on the recording, you do not need to concentrate your attention on it and listen carefully - let it just sound. Repeat this little ritual before bedtime and in the morning, immediately after waking up.
The secret to success is simple: when a person is in a state between sleep and wakefulness, the barriers of internal resistance are almost completely weakened, as a result of which we learn English words much faster and more efficiently than usual. This exercise should take no more than 1/6 of the total time that you devote to mastering a foreign language.
Method number 5. Hypnotic
So, move on to the next method. How to quickly memorize English words without making any effort at the same time? Probably, this question was asked by every person who reads this article. This option is ideal just for those who can not in any way force themselves to study the language seriously - in a word, a real salvation for the lazy.
Again, you need a tape recorder. This time we record up to 35-40 words and phrases with translation. Before going to bed, re-read the material from the sheet twice, turn on the tape recorder and listen to the recording twice. It’s not worth focusing on it too much - just repeat the words behind the player. After that go to bed. Within 40 minutes, your assistant (yes, you can’t do it on your own) should scroll through the recording, gradually reducing the sound. Fortunately, in this age of high technology, a computer program can cope with this task.
In the morning, approximately 30-40 minutes before your awakening, the “assistant” should again turn on the recording. Now, on the contrary, you need to start with a minimum volume and gradually increase it. When you wake up, do not rush to get out of bed - wait until the recording ends. In just 20 sessions, you can replenish your stock of 100-120 words and expressions.
Method number 6. Musculoskeletal
Most likely, you have already heard about him. The bottom line is simple - every new English word is matched with some real subject and then learns. Naturally, you cannot use this method with all expressions, but you can still use many.
How to quickly learn English words this way? It's simple - combine them with objects from your environment, denoting a particular word. Let's say you need to remember the word “pen”. Take a pen in your hands, feel it, even write something while pronouncing a foreign term.
An important point: it is not enough just to imagine actions, they must be performed independently. In this case, the whole process of memorization is based on movements. In order to better consolidate the words, it is necessary to perform as many actions as possible. In this case, focus should not be on the term, but on the movement that you are making.
Method number 7. Figurative
Again, in order to learn the material, you do not need to make any efforts - all the information is remembered involuntarily. Just connect your imagination and draw interesting plot pictures in motion. How to learn a lot of English words in a figurative way? First, select a Russian sounding similar to the English word (for example, “snack” and “snow”). Now imagine how snow and snack are interconnected. Logic is not important - the main thing is that the picture is suitable.
You can memorize up to 25 words at a time. When you get a little used to creating pictures for individual expressions, you can complicate the task. For example, you can take any dynamic picture or photograph from a magazine, remember it and write down on the sheet the names of all the objects depicted in it, both in English and in Russian, and write a consonant Russian word nearby.
Method number 8. Center Combinative
Regardless of the number of syllables, any foreign word can be divided into three parts. For each of the parts it is necessary to select a Russian word similar in sound to the beginning. The meaning of what you get as a result of such linguistic manipulations, in fact, does not matter. Having done this with each syllable, we proceed to the next step. All Russian words should be combined into one meaningful phrase, at the end of which there should be a translation of the word that you want to remember. Consider this as an example of the word “sinister” (sinister): BLUE fog spread over a clearing.
Some useful tips
And a couple of valuable recommendations for those who want to know how best to memorize English words.
- It is very useful to combine 5-6 new words into one short text, and then learn it in its entirety.
- Try not to learn all the words in a row, but only those that you might really need.
- Memorize not only individual terms and definitions, but also the features of their use in various stable expressions.
- After your vocabulary has exceeded the mark of 1000 words, try to remember the special formative statements and plug-in constructions that will help you make the speech more smooth and natural (“sooner”, “probably”, “really”, “it should be said that. ." etc.).
- Use synonyms: even if you are unable to say exactly what you wanted, it is better than being silent for a long time.
How to remember the whole text?
Now that you already know how to memorize English words separately, you need to say a few words about the secrets of memorizing connected texts. First of all, read the entire article and understand it 100% - without this, nothing further will happen at all. Having finished reading, break the text into several parts and title each of them. It also needs to be taught in parts, restoring logical chains in memory. At first, you should not scoff at yourself, trying to “drive” articles longer than a page into your memory, you need to increase the volume gradually - only in this way the process of studying will be easy and enjoyable.