How I learn and REMEMBER vocabulary in 5+ languages 🐰

You learn words, but forget them after a week. How do we fix that? It's simpler than you think.

00:00 - 00:39 let's talk vocabulary
00:40 - 1:46 study in context, always
1:47 - 2:28 see it & hear it
2:29 - 3:26 LingoPie!
3:27 - 4:59 study *IN* your target language
5:00 - 6:25 output, ASAP
6:26 - 7:38 switch to ACTIVE recall
7:39 - 8:16 look at my new cat Garbanzo.

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💌 about me: my name is Elysse, I'm 22 years old from the southern U.S. I've been learning languages for about 8 years, and I speak English (native), Spanish (C2), German (B2/C1), Portuguese (B2), French (B1/B2), American Sign Language (advanced), and Turkish (A1). I'm interested in learning Hebrew, Chinese, Georgian, and maybe Náhuatl as well :)

a portion of this video is sponsored by LingoPie. thanks, LingoPie!

#languagelearning #polyglot #learngerman

[aafrophonee]

I agree with you so much with the 'study *IN* your target language' section. One of the best pieces of advice from back in my IB Spanish days was to use a monolingual dictionary, even if you still have to use a translation dictionary occasionally. And I was so grateful that my Spanish teacher taught the class 100% in Spanish. (I had the same teacher 10th-12th grade.) I learned all of my advanced grammar points in Spanish, to the point where I didn't know the English names for some grammatical features. As I relied less and less on English, I felt my Spanish improve faster and faster.

[justincain]

I think an important tip is don't just burn through words as fast as possible, without thinking much. Pay attention to etymology and history, as well as related words. Words don't appear randomly, they have roots and origins. For example, I have never studied French, but I assumed Penser was to think because it looks like a verb in Spanish with the er ending, and I know the English word "pensive" which I assume shares the root with Penser. Another well known story is the Japanese word for buffet is バイキング (Viking), which seems really random until you learn that it refers to the Scandinavian smörgåsbord, as in a Viking style meal.

[Hotsk]

You're so correct about learning words in context! I took both French and Spanish in school in the USA where we had to memorize lists of new words every week. I didn't learn the language that way and in fact never wanted to go near a foreign language ever again. That is until I relocated to Europe. I began learning my first language in context and it went so quickly! I was amazed. I've since learned 4 additional languages, all in context.
So listen to this woman. She knows what she's talking about!

[Ashanti]

i can be so lazy when it comes to making flashcards because it's a lot easier and faster to put the english translation on the other side instead of using my target language for both sides. thanks for these tips!

[lilou]

I’m a native French and wow she prononce french so good it’s incredible ✨💗

[SherryOsborne]

I'm not quite ready for the "study your target language IN your target language" concept yet because I'm still pre-intermediate, but once I move up a level I'm planning to do that more!

[KristenLB]

I about DIED at the duolingo part, your editing is hilarious! Thanks for the extra tips, things I haven't thought of before :)

[learnpolishwithweronika]

I cannot agree more. This is exactly how I teach Polish 🇵🇱. You have to learn words in sentences!

[joewu]

As a Taiwanese who is picking up English, I feel like not doing translations into my native languages is kinda helpful for being able to truly understand the sentence that I’m learning cuz the word order of the language differ from country to country so I just tend to comprehend the meaning of the sentence instead of reordering the structure of it cuz it’s unnecessary to do a proper, perfect translation unless you’re a interpreter or what. On the other hand, since stop sticking to memorize the translation, it actually highly boosts my spoken English as I have a deeper and more thorough awareness of the vocab itself instead of just memorizing the words literally. Because I have started learning English by memorizing the chunks of the words and the definition as well, most importantly I get rid of learning vocab individually, I can feel I’m getting more familiar with English.

[GurenSuzuki]

The 'study words in context' seems such a logic thing but I understood it like six whole years into my japanese learning journey, i don't know why. great video btw, i'm going to incorporate a couple of things i'm not doing right now, thank you

[kenasssss]

I vouch for this! This is what I'm doing for Mandarin! And will do for Russian & Korean. hehe ^^

Some personal notes/tips/reminders for the future:

00:00 - 00:39 let's talk vocabulary
00:40 - 1:46 *study in context, always:* Instead of "memorizing" individual words, learn them integrated in small texts, dialogues.
1:47 - 2:28 *see it & hear it:* Subtitles & the way natives express that sentence (context learning) will help you remember the word. Repeating it aloud helps a lot! Put that acting into it. ^^
2:29 - 3:26 LingoPie! *Master interactive subtitles website*
3:27 - 4:59 *study IN your target language:* prioritize storing the TL text/word in your brain as it is, detach yourself from translating it into your NL.
5:00 - 6:25 *output, ASAP:* Repeat the words/sentence aloud; create simple kid-like sentences with those words.
6:26 - 7:38 *switch to ACTIVE recall:* Recall in TL, instead of NT. Use the voc/sentences you already have to create new ones. Simple daily stuff or make it up.
7:39 - 8:16 look at my new cat Garbanzo. *Meow!*

[jssmedialangs]

I am definitely a "see it and hear it" person. When coming across new words, especially in conversation, I always ask if they can write the word or phrase down and say it again. I just remember it better that way. I think it also helps me to hear how it's naturally said VS how it sounds on the computer VS how the teacher pronounces it.

[mizalcor]

Also, one of my favorite things personally. Once you get to a high enough level where you can read fairly well, like every word isn't new to you, or whenever you feel comfortable, really, start reading Wikipedia articles. I actually did it cold turkey with Polish once knowing barley any and it honestly went pretty well. More frustrating than having a solid foundation, but not bad.

From the beginning start writing down/making quizlets and learning the words that you don't know, go over them until you can read that part of the article and none of the words seem foreign. Pick them apart, look at the prefixes and suffixes and such in the context they're used in in the words. Maybe write a summary of that part without looking at the article using some of the words you just learned.

You'll start seeing less and less words you don't know as you go, and since they're on one topic, you'll see the same words used in different contexts and in different forms in a natural way. If you read an entire article, especially a long one, take your time, like literally maybe days focusing on learning the words in it, you will go back at the end and be able to reread it pretty fluently and go "Wow, I didn't know this word a week ago? I feel like I've seen it 100 times" and you're not likely to forget it.

Wikis will also use words that are not going to be in a normal conversation, but can still be useful to know. Especially if you're studying in another country/want to study in another country, reading things in a "academic" format will help you.

You can also go down a rabbithole with this, once you're done with one article, go to a similar one that will have some of the same words, learn the few words that are new, and keep moving through related articles like that, and its actually amazing when you get to a topic barley related to your original one and you can understand a lot of it. Now this isn't going to take like two days or something, that will never happen learning a language, but depending on your ability to learn languages and the difficulty of the language from your native language, you'll be amazed at how effective this can be.

[edgarsolano]

Studying words in context... I'm agree with you.
Before I didn't can learn words easily, but now when i ready a book, I can memorizing words in context.

[Blueskydalx]

You are a genius I really found studying in context and by using our senses so much beneficial than just memorizing single words with their translations. Also, writing the words in the native language and produce the word in the target language is really a clever way to practice the output 👏🏻 gonna try these with my korean study thank u so much

[DanteVelasquez]

Great advice! I make a list of all my passive vocabulary for each language and every now and then go down the list to see what I remember. When the words become active I move them to another list.

[esta]

These are really good tips Elysse. I especially love the last two. I will definitely implement using output immediately & active recall starting with your native language ❤❤

[JohnSmith-kxnt]

Always studying in context...Best piece of advice ever!!! 110% agree with you!!!

[johnbryson]

I always use Do and Say wherever possible. This the best kind of learning in context

[kioskmimik]

thank you so much for giving these tips! it's so hard when you've been learning a language at school, and now you don't have a teacher or a students' book, just your mind and the whole internet. it's so confusing - thinking where to start.