The bad news
It takes us around 17 times of looking at a word to notice it.
By notice I mean recognising it, when you suddenly start seeing it everywhere.
Like when you see a backpack, or car model and everybody seems to have it once you want it.
So that a-ha moment probably won’t come until you’ve seen that particular word many times.
Input is king
By input I mean, exposure, that is to say, the times we listen and read in our second language. Here’s why some apps such as Quizlet, or Memrise are such useful tools to learn new vocabulary, they encourage us to see the word many times, write it, hear it and repeat it. But that is not enough.
So far, we’ve just described how you start noticing a word. Now, it takes about 17th other meaningful encounters for a word to become established in our memory.
Do you really mean it?
Meaning is essential for us to connect the dots. When we understand the meaning of a word, we can make connections to other existing information in our minds. We make these relations and we are able to put them in a specific place in the mind map of all of the words we know.
Say the word
Let’s give this idea a try. Let’s say you would like to learn the word pivotal.
Ok, so, how can we connect it to something we already know to remember it more easily?
I thought of a not so academic example. Have you watched the Friends episode in which Ross, Rachel and Chandler want to get a couch up the stairs?
What’s the instruction Ross thinks would do the job? Pivot.
It’s not much, but it’s honest work
This connection worked for me. It may or may not be useful to you, but it’s the process that counts. Some words may be a lot easier to remember (usually because it’s related to something we like or really need), while others may take some more of a conscious effort to be given place in our memory.
What words have you had trouble remembering?
Drop me a line, I would love to help find the way that works for you.
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