It must be recognized that for self-development and career development in modern world without knowledge of a foreign language is indispensable. Of course, to master it, you need to memorize a lot of unfamiliar words, be it English, French, German, Chinese, Hindi, Swahili, Hausa or Quechua. Let's try to figure out how to work on vocabulary correctly and productively. What the virtual space guru advisesGoogle? Tatyana Nikolaevna Mazina will help us figure this out.
Relations with foreign languages, of course, have developed differently for everyone. There are bilinguals whose brains are wired in such a magical way that remembering words doesn't work for them. great work. There are those who from childhood had the opportunity to communicate in language environment. Some of us had a chance to learn from talented teachers.
Someone was very unlucky from school, when there was no motivation, the lessons seemed boring and sometimes turned into torture, and the ball thrown to you, the flight of which was accompanied by a surprise question, even more developed a strong sense of hostility to all foreign languages without exception. Each of us has our own story of joy and disappointment, victories and defeats in learning English, German, French. Leaving in the distance the pain and bitterness of the previous negative experience, as people who, at a conscious age, decided to take up mastering the language thoroughly, let's dwell on some useful tricks.
Cards
Enough standard way learning any foreign words is also relevant for hieroglyphics. On the front side, you need to write the word itself, and on the reverse side, transcription and translation. Work with cards should be done regularly, otherwise positive results will have to wait a very long time. Important! Cards must be made by yourself. Perhaps if you buy them in a store, they will be more beautiful and with funny pictures. However, the process of memorization is beneficially affected by one's own hard work on their creation.
Stickers
Attach tags or stickers to objects around you. Although this approach will involve only visual memory and the range of subjects is limited, assimilate the right words this way will allow.
Pictures
It is known that pictures with signed words help to learn new vocabulary. When words are related to specific subject, we do not have to resort to translation into our native language. So we have a certain image. Moreover, there are no problems with necessary materials. Today we have many picture dictionaries at our disposal. various subjects.
Writing
We must not forget that when mastering a language, learning to write is just as important as speaking, reading and listening. What to do in this case? If you want to write correctly - write, prescribe and rewrite. The best alternative to lines of words has not yet been invented.
To somewhat simplify memorization helps to build synonymous rows or learning antonyms. A good help can be an exercise in word formation, when we add all kinds of prefixes and postfixes to a word.
mnemonics
Pretty simple and effective method for memorization. A word is attached to a visual image . They say that the more non-standard your association is, the better the new lexical unit will be remembered. Without such a method, it is very difficult to cope with hieroglyphics. For those who study Japanese, the "Way of the tailless bird" helps with this. And be sure to repeat! Otherwise, the association will not be fixed in memory.
Context and only context!
There is another approach. Do not memorize words on your own, but learn them in context. It is important to work with the memorized word by making several sentences with it. It is necessary to pronounce the constructed phrases aloud several times. This will help not only to better remember the meaning of the word, but also to feel language situation where it would be most appropriate to use it. In addition, such a simple technique helps to improve conversational skills and grammar.
Proverbs, tongue twisters, poems and songs
Don't forget about these useful things, how Tongue Twisters and proverbs. This is a very good way to learn new words.
Try saying it fluently a few times: "You cuss, I cuss, we all cuss, for asparagus!" or "Seven slick slimey snakes slowly sliding southward". As long as you hone the pronunciation of tongue twisters, while conscientiously working on speed, the words will be remembered by themselves. Just don't forget to translate them.
For the same purpose, you can use poems. Let's remember a wonderful poem in English « The house that Jack built". With so many repetitions, willy-nilly, new words will be remembered.
This can also be attributed songs. Especially the easy ones. At the preschool and primary education this way of remembering is used quite often. Why not use it now? Then learning the language will be much less of a burden. And you will be able to understand that the learning process can also be fun.
Games
You can not write off the benefits of games. It helps an adult no less than a child. word game, "broken phone", "gallows"(Hangman), crossword puzzles are pretty good ways. Active play works best when you are in a group.
We do not ignore technological progress!
To memorize new words, there are a great many applications! In a free moment or while traveling in transport, you can quickly repeat the words on the cards and take a short test to understand which of the new words you have already mastered and which ones you still need to work on. Such applications include Anki. It will always remind you that it's time to work on the words a little. There are versions for both Android and iOS. And, importantly, the cards in Anki you can create yourself, so it can be used to study different languages, as well as add pictures for clarity.
The application is also based on spaced repetitions Memrise. The words in it are still voiced. Some of them even have videos. They exist for Android and iOS.
There is special applications for memorization phrasal verbs , and there are always plenty of difficulties with them. For example, for Android it is English Idioms and Phrases , and for iOS it is English Idioms Illustrated .
Do not forget about the emotional mood. 
If you fill the word alive emotion, by the way, it does not have to be positive, the memorization process will be more efficient. The lexical item will quickly pass into your active dictionary from passive. The main condition is that the feeling you experience should be vivid.
These simple tricks will help streamline the work and memorize new vocabulary with the least time loss. So says the all-knowing Google. And this could be the end of our story. But no. That's not all. Since we adhere to a scientific approach to any issue and are not ready to take everything on faith, we will ask about the methods of remembering our expert, trainer-methodologist for the development of figurative memory of the training campaign LOV Tatyana Nikolaevna Mazina.
Expert opinion
Memorizing new words is enough global problem. We learn the language for 8 years, and in the end we speak and read with a dictionary. You can do several at once. criticisms regarding the advice provided. Of course, it is impossible to learn words outside the text. Knowledge of a foreign language is not only knowledge of words, but the ability to explain one's thoughts with the help of well-built speech forms. So teach foreign words only needed in context. The word must be "alive". Highly useful way – use pictures. With their help, we immediately form an image. Although, of course, not all words can be matched with these pictures. Visual images are also good for remembering spelling, but without pronunciation it will be ineffective. The words must be heard.
Need to remember clear rule: when learning a foreign language, it is necessary to read texts only aloud, pronouncing words and sentences.
As for associations in our textbooks, this technique is suggested frequently, but usually incorrectly. Associations must be unusual. It's right. However, there are certain laws that will allow you to assign an association to a word. It must be related to the meaning of the word.
Tongue twisters, songs, poems are always good, as are the games. Helps memorize words and solve crossword puzzles. There is nothing wrong with that. Any work above the norm will be useful. But the inscriptions on objects from this list can be safely excluded. It doesn't make much sense. AT best case words are remembered only visually. Also, they are usually never spoken.
We will focus on three key important points which you should pay attention to when mastering the language.
1) A foreign language in your home should be heard as often as possible. You need to regularly read, listen to music, watch movies with subtitles. Use as little as possible native speech.
2) It is important to read at least 1 page of text a day aloud. You can do without translation, but there should be no more than 1/3 of unfamiliar words in it. On the initial stage do not take too complex texts. If you take language learning seriously, the page should be read twice. When a person comes across unfamiliar words during the first reading, he will be able to turn to the dictionary and read the transcription. Often there are situations when we visually memorize a word, but we cannot pronounce it correctly. The second time the process will go more smoothly, without errors.
3) And most important note. You should never memorize a foreign word, and then its Russian translation. You need to do just the opposite. Read first Russian word. Then present its clear image, its specific meaning. Only after that you can read a foreign word and apply some special methods by his memorization.
And be sure repetition. Exist rational systems repetition and storage of information into long-term memory. It is important to know what is big fall information occurs in the first 12 and 24 hours. Therefore, you need to repeat the words in the following mode. Learned - immediately repeated. Fixed all bugs. Then repeated after 20 minutes, 8 hours and after 24 hours. So new vocabulary will remain in long-term memory.
It is important to learn words only from texts. The word must be active. Why does everything always have to be said out loud? Our susceptibility is immediately enhanced. Memory begins to work immediately through 3 channels: I see, I hear, I speak. So we learn to perceive the language by ear and speak at the same time. Cooking speech apparatus so that it can be used with ease. Gradually, we begin to better understand the psychology, rules and logic of constructing phrases, get used to how words are arranged in the form of a sentence, in what order.
Well, most of Google-tips proved helpful. But note that it is still additional ways memorization, which should fall on a fairly clear methodology. Having taken up the development of a foreign language, you need to competently implement systematic work. Our expert told us how to build correct base. Everything else is additional funds. When we study foreign language, memorization of new words occurs constantly: while reading, listening, when writing letters and essays.
Learn new words with fun! Be sure to try different memorization techniques, find your own and combine them. Then progress will not be long in coming. And remember the main recommendation of our expert: “Speech in the target language should be heard daily!”
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The human brain is designed in such a way that it is much easier for him to remember something familiar or associated with something already familiar. Otherwise, any foreign word will be perceived as a kind of "abracadabra", which, of course, can be remembered, but this is much more difficult to do. To facilitate the process of memorizing foreign words, we use some tricks to make the words of a foreign language more familiar and "make friends" with them.
Find similarity
Every language has a number of words that resemble words mother tongue. The closer the languages are, the higher the percentage of such words will naturally be, which will facilitate the assimilation of foreign vocabulary. Similar words can be divided into several groups.
native language words. So, for languages that are based on the so-called Indo-European proto-language (and this is English, and German, and French, and other languages \u200b\u200bof Eastern and Western Europe) it is quite easy to find words that are similar in sound and have a common or very close value. As a rule, this is the name of family members (cf. Russian “brother” and English “brother” are words identical in meaning; Russian “uncle” and English “daddy” (daddy) are words different in meaning, but denoting close male relatives) . Also, these words include natural phenomena(Russian "snow" - English "snow"), human actions (Russian "beat" - English "beat"), other words with ancient primordial roots.
Words borrowed from Russian. Of course, in German and French, such words are most common. But, remembering these words, you need to be careful, because. the meanings of a Russian and a foreign word can either partially coincide (English "character" is translated into Russian not only as "character", but also as "character"), or not coincide at all (English "original" - Russian "original"). Although in last case the logic of borrowing such words is clearly traced, it is easy to find associations that allow you to remember correct value foreign term.
Actually international words. As a rule, this scientific terms, as well as the designations of devices, professions, etc., which were borrowed from or Greek by both Russian and, for example, others European languages. The words "philosophy", "television" are understandable without translation.
come up with associations
If a foreign word does not resemble Russian in any way, memory can be "deceived" in order to learn it faster and better. To do this, you need to find your own, bright and witty associations that will be inextricably linked for you with this word and help you quickly restore it to memory if necessary.
This method, for example, is actively used by A. Dragunkin, known for his technique fast learning foreign language. So, to memorize the English "he" (he) and "she" (she), Dragunkin uses such a cheerful association: "He is Frail, and she is chic."
Just memorize
And, finally, there is no getting away from simple mechanical learning of foreign words. To speed up this process, words should be repeated as often as possible during their primary assimilation.
The following technique helps many: there are several words with transcription on the card. A person carries a card with him throughout the day, periodically looking into it and pronouncing new words for himself. As a rule, after 20-30 repetitions, the words are firmly entered into the passive vocabulary. But in order to introduce new lexical units, you need to use them as often as possible in speech.
You learn, you learn these words, but there is no sense! After a couple of days everything is forgotten.
Use a scientific approach to memorization! We present you three scientifically based methods that will allow you to quickly and permanently memorize foreign words.
HOW MANY WORDS SHOULD YOU KNOW?
First, let's figure out how many words you need to learn in order to begin to understand most foreign speech and express your own thoughts. A five year old living in English speaking country uses 4,000 - 5,000 words, and a university graduate uses about 20,000 words. However, a person who learns English as a foreign language has a vocabulary of only 5,000 words, despite several years of study.
But there is also good news : a vocabulary of 2,000 words is enough to understand 80% of foreign speech. The researchers came to this conclusion based on the analysis of the Brown Corpus. A linguistic corpus is a collection of texts on various topics.
Interestingly, after you have learned 2,000 words, vocabulary replenishment for each subsequent 1,000 words allows you to increase the amount of text you understand by only 3-4%.
HOW TO REMEMBER A WORD QUICKLY?
The first question that interests everyone is how to quickly memorize foreign words?
Scientists have come to the conclusion that information is remembered faster, which It has emotional coloring . Accordingly, it is a good idea to learn words through games, riddles, movies. I liked the song - do not be lazy to look at the translation incomprehensible words. These words will forever be associated with the song you like, which means they will leave an emotional trace in your memory.
Excellent reception - mnemonics. Create colorful associations - this will allow you to remember even hard-to-pronounce words. Usage example: the word weather is similar to the Russian word wind, we build a wind-weather pair in our head, remember forever that weather translates to weather. There are special reference books where you can find various mnemonic techniques for memorizing English words. However, it is better to come up with such associations on your own, since our associations and emotions are strictly individual.
HOW CAN YOU NOT FORGET A WORD AS QUICKLY?
So, you learned a couple of hundred words, but after a week, about ten of them remained in your memory. What is the problem? This is due to the existence of short-term and long-term memory. The mechanisms of short-term memory allow you to store information for 15-30 minutes, then, noticing that this information finds no use, the brain gets rid of it as something unnecessary. How can we make it clear to the brain that we really need these words? The answer is repetition. It's like with Pavlov's dog: the light bulb lights up - saliva is released. However, it is released only after 5-10 repetitions of the food + light chain. If food is not served when the light is turned on, the association of the light bulb with food in the dog's brain will be destroyed, and saliva will stop secreting.
So how many times does a word need to be repeated in order for it to stably move from short-term to long-term memory?
German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus developed the Forgetting Curve, which characterizes the amount of information lost over time in the absence of repetition. During the first 20 minutes after learning the words, we will already remember 60%, and within 1 hour we will lose more than 50% of the information. Then over time everything will be erased more information, and by day 3, only 20% of the information will remain in memory. Thus, if you miss at least one day in repetition, you will not return the forgotten words.
The conclusion is obvious: without repetition, nowhere. Use words in speech, make up stories using new words, play flashcards on your smartphone for at least a couple of minutes a day - all this will help you save the learned words. Otherwise, the time spent on their initial study will simply be wasted.
We suggest using the following repetition schedule:
- 10-15 minutes after learning the words;
- After 50-60 minutes;
- The next day;
- After 1 day;
- After 2 days.
After that, most of the information will be fixed for life.
HOW TO EXPRESS THOUGHTS FASTER?
I really want foreign words to flow from my mouth without requiring excessive brain tension and several minutes to formulate a phrase. There is an opportunity to accelerate the formation of foreign speech - this is the development of muscle memory. By muscles here we mean the muscles of our articulation apparatus. These muscles, like the muscles of the legs when riding a bicycle or the muscles of the fingers of a pianist, have a memory that allows you to perform automated movements almost unconsciously.
In order for muscle memory to form, it is important when learning words to pronounce them out loud, making movements with the tongue and lips. It is also useful to simultaneously present an image of the subject being studied. Over time, you will no longer think about what word to say - the muscles will do it automatically.
Thus, the correct organization of the work of the brain in the formation of short-term, long-term and muscle memory will allow you to quickly and permanently replenish your vocabulary.
Good luck with your learning!
The human brain tends to save effort (some will call it laziness): if there is a chance to somehow simplify the process, it will definitely take advantage of this chance. Our cunning "processor" allows new foreign words into the chamber long-term memory not immediately; first they have to serve their time in a kind of waiting room - in short-term memory. If a new word is not used, not repeated, it will be forgotten rather quickly: the brain mercilessly gets rid of unnecessary information. If you repeat the memorized word - and you need to do this in a strict certain moments- you will remember it forever. What is the secret of correct memorization of new information?
How we remember information: types of memory and the Ebbinghaus curve
So, human memory is divided into two types:
- short term or operational
- long-term
The information that enters the brain is first stored in random access memory. Over time, depending on the frequency of use, this information becomes a long-term, long-term memory. Back at the end of the 19th century German psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus empirically proved the well-known postulate of a straight line kinship between learning and repetition. During the experiment, Ebbinghaus determined exactly when to repeat new words in order to remember them for a long time, if not forever.
The sad fact is that the most valuable discovery of Hermann Ebbinghaus is hardly used today. School analysts and developersSkyeng hope to change this situation: mobile app to learn new words using Ebbinghaus' discovery in this moment is under development. The release of the application is planned soon - follow the news of the company.
Many methods suggest learning 100 words in an hour or 1000 words in 3 days - and this is possible. But the problem is that, once in short term memory, new words do not pass into long-term memory: easy come - easy go (what comes easy, goes easy).
7 + 1 effective way to memorize foreign words
So, the very first, even zero advice: to remember a new word forever, stick to the following repetition schedule:
The traditional approach to learning new words, tested by generations of schoolchildren, is as follows: foreign words are given in lists by topic, for example, “Acquaintance”, “Letter to a friend”, “My day”. The set of topics is standard and universal, which is not always effective: if the topic does not arouse interest, it is much more difficult to learn new vocabulary. The experience of our school shows that if the choice of the studied words is approached in strict accordance with specific goals and the interests of each student, at the junction of useful and pleasant, the result is optimal!
For example, if you like the Game of Thrones series, it will be much more interesting for you to learn words, generate images and concepts that are related to the plot of the film, for example: queen - queen, northern - northern, wall - wall, castle - castle.
The law of comprehension: according to Ebbinghaus, meaningful material is remembered 9 times faster. It is not so much the words and sentences that make up the text that are imprinted in the memory, but the thoughts contained in them. They are the first to come to mind when you need to remember the content of the text.
However, learning how to properly organize information at the time of memorization is not an easy task. Can be used key words, diagrams, diagrams and tables. The forecasting technique is also effective: after starting to read a paragraph, try to draw a conclusion on your own after putting forward several arguments by the author, explain to yourself what you have read, even if it seems obvious to you. Having formulated the information in your own words, you will remember it for a long time.
To better remember a new word, connect 5 senses plus imagination: feel the situation, imagine a picture, try to smell and taste, say the word - or sing it.
Visualize, imagine: in a distant northern (northern) country, behind a high fortress wall (wall), a majestic castle (castle) rises, in which a powerful queen (queen) lives ... How high is the wall, how gloomy and impregnable is the castle, how beautiful is the ruler sitting on the throne ! Create a picture in your imagination, live the situation and the new vocabulary will be remembered easily and for a long time.
Law of Context: Information is easier to remember and reproduce when it is correlated with other simultaneous impressions. The context in which an event occurs is sometimes more important to remember than the event itself.
Our memory is associative. Therefore, try to change the place of preparation, for example different topics learn in different rooms (kitchen, bedroom), on the road (metro, car) and even at work (office, "negotiation"). Information is associated with the situation, the recollection of which will help to remember the content of the topic.
In learning - as in nutrition: it is better to absorb information in small parts, taking short breaks. It is better to learn a maximum of 10 objects (words or constituent parts rules) in one session. After that, you need to take a 15-minute break, otherwise the subsequent training will not be complete. Learn words in line, on the subway - impulse learning is much more effective than continuous learning.
The law of the region, known to us from the film "Seventeen Moments of Spring": the information presented at the beginning and at the end is best remembered. It is more effective to learn especially difficult and intractable words at the beginning and at the end of a ten-minute session - this way they are better deposited in memory.
When studying a word, it is useful to choose an associative anchor image, for example: clever (smart) - a smart cow eats clover. The image should be bright, understandable, perhaps absurd - unexpected associations fix the word well in memory.
There are many ready-made mnemonic dictionaries, for example, //www.englspace.com/mnemo/search.php . Effective and loved by many is the technique of memorizing words with the help of cards, when an English word is written on one side, and its translation on the other.
But whatever the method of memorization, alas, there is no methodology that allows you to learn a foreign language overnight. It's big and hard work, and it is important to choose the optimal approach in order to achieve more results with less effort. What we sincerely wish you!
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Luca Lampariello
Italian polyglot. Knows 11 languages, among them - German, Russian, Polish, Northern Chinese. Lampariello became famous person in the language learning community. Currently lives in Rome.
Association search is a process in which new information associated with existing knowledge.
One piece of information can have thousands of associations with memories, emotions, experiences and individual facts. This process occurs naturally in the brain, but we can take it under conscious control.
To do this, let's return to the above-mentioned words: "gene", "cell", "synapse", "skeleton" ... If we memorize them separately, we will soon forget everything. But if we learn these words in the context of a sentence, it will be much easier for us to put them together in our mind. Think about it for 10 seconds and try to connect these four words.
You might come up with something similar: “Genes influence the development of such different elements like the skeleton, the synapses of the brain, and even individual cells." All four words are now united by a common context - like pieces in a puzzle.
Approach these exercises progressively. First, try to combine groups of words that are united by a certain topic like physics or politics. Then try to build more complex associations between unrelated words. With practice, you will get better and better.
3. Repetition
More than a hundred years ago, the German physicist Ebbinghaus came to the conclusion that we forget information according to a certain pattern, which he called the "forgetting curve". We perfectly remember everything that we have recently learned. But this same information disappears from memory in a matter of days.
Ebbinghaus discovered a mechanism to combat this phenomenon.
If new information is repeated at precise intervals, it will become increasingly difficult to forget it. In a few spaced repetitions it will be fixed in long-term memory and, most likely, will remain in the head forever.
You need to regularly review old information while working with new information.
4. Recording
The ancient Romans said: "Words fly away, the written remains." That is, in order to remember information, you need to fix it in a permanent format. As you learn new words, write them down or type on the keyboard so you can save them and come back to them later.
Faced with new useful word or a phrase while talking, watching a movie or reading a book, enter them into your smartphone or laptop. Thus, you will be able to repeat recorded at any opportunity.
5. Application
Use what you learn in meaningful conversations. This is the essence of the last of the basic methods. effective learning words.
University of Montreal researchers Victor Boucher and Alexis Lafleur found Honor Whiteman. Repeating words aloud to another person increases memory recall. that using words in conversation is more effective in terms of memorization than saying them out loud to yourself.
In other words, the more you communicate with other people, the better your linguistic memory works and the faster the level of language proficiency grows. Therefore, always use the learned material in real conversations. This method will greatly improve your skills and give you experience in using new and long-learned words.
Suppose you have read an article on a topic that interests you. You can choose unfamiliar words from it and apply them later in a short conversation with a language partner. Can be noted and learned keywords, and then retell the content of the article with their help. See how well you learn the material after the conversation.
