In this lesson, you can learn how to learn, remember and use new vocabulary in ENGLISH. You can see the common mistake which many English make when learning vocabulary and you'll see several simple, practical ideas that you can use to build your English, vocabulary and remember what you learn.

let's start with a general point that's very important. Here are some things we often hear from English learners:

"I couldn't read it."

There were too many words and I didn't have time to look them all up in the dictionary.

"I wrote down all of these new words and I tried to learn them, but I can't remember any of them now!"

Here's a fact about your brain: your brain is very good at throwing away things it doesn't need.

Vocabulary learning starts when you choose which words and phrases to learn or not learn. This is where many English learners go wrong, by mistake one of these mistake:

Trying to learn too many words. Trying to learn words you don't need. Trying to learn big lists of words. Trying to learn words you don't know how to use To avoid these mistakes, you need to choose the vocabulary you study carefully. Most importantly, if you want to remember new words and new English vocabulary, you need to learn things which are useful or meaningful to you. If you read a text, and you try to look up every word you don't know, of course you'll forget most of them. Most of the words you look up probably won't be useful to you, and so your brain won't hold onto them.

If you write down a list of 100 new words and try to learn them, the words won't mean much to you. They're just a list on a piece of paper totally abstract, and also boring! Our brains don't like boring. Boring gets forgotten, fast. So what's the solution?

Only learn a word or phrase if it's really useful or meaningful to you in some way. For example:

Your teacher keeps using a word that you don't know. You hear it several times, but you can't work out what it means. Then, you hear other people use the same word. You're curious: what is this word you keep hearing?

You're reading a really interesting articles. You don't know every word, but you can understand the general ideas. In one paragraph, there's a word which you don't know, and which makes it difficult for you understand the ideas of the paragraph. You thing the paragraph is important to the article, and you're interested to know what it means. you're on holiday in a country where English is widely spoken. There's one kind of food you really want to order, but you don't know the word in English. These are situation where a new word will have meaning to you. If you look up words in situation like these, you're more likely to remember them. Firstly, you'll remember them because these are words you to use. Secondly, you'll remember them because these are all situation which involve your feelings in some way. In the first example, you're curious about something. In the second, you're interested in the articles you're reading. In the third situation, you're (hopefully) having fun on holiday.

So, this is the first and most important point. Learn words and phrases which are useful and meaningful for you. This gives you the best chance to remember and use what you learn. Now, another important point: when you say, "I learned a new word" you could mean one of two things. You could mean that you learned to understand a new word or you could mean that you learned to use a new word. Those two things are different.

Let's talk about that!

You might have heard the terms 'passive vocabulary' and 'active vocabulary'. Your passive vocabulary means words you can understand, but you don't use. Your active vocabulary means words you can use in your speech or writing. It's normal that your passive vocabulary is larger than your active vocabulary in any language, including your native language.

Many English learners say, "I can understand words but I can't use them." To some extent, this is normal. However, what can you do if you want to develop your active vocabulary in English? There are two important point here. First, you need to use different techniques to build passive or active vocabulary. Many English learners have problems building their active vocabulary because the techniques they use to learn vocabulary only increase their passive vocabulary. Secondly, building vocabulary takes a lot more time and work. If you want to build your active vocabulary, you need to spend a lot more time studying and practicing each word or phrase you want to learn.

Let's look at the first point.
Here are some good techniques for building passive vocabulary:

Looking up a translation of a word i your language. Guessing the meaning of a word from the context. Looking up a definition of a word in a monolingual dictionary. Finding example sentences. Reading and listening. So, if your vocabulary learning consists of translating everything into your language, don't be surprise if you can't use what you learn. This is an okay technique for building your passive vocabulary, but it won't help you to use the word and phrases you study.

What about building active vocabulary?
Here are some good techniques for building active vocabulary:

Writing stories or other things that are personal to you. Using a new word several times in several different conversations. Making example sentences which are personal to you. You can see that these things are not necessarily complicated, but they do require more effort. It's much harder to write an example sentence which is personal to you than it is to read someone else's example sentence. It's much harder to write a story which means something to you than it is to read something which someone else wrote. But, if you want to build your active vocabulary, this is how!

Most English learners are more interested in developing their active vocabulary, so in the rest this lesson, we'll focus on specific technique you can use to build your active vocabulary in English. Let's start with a very important and powerful idea.

Learn Vocabulary in Meaningful Phrases and Sentence

Here's a question: what is vocabulary? Did you say 'words'? Many people think that 'vocabulary equals words'. Of course, words are part of vocabulary, but they're only a part. Vocabulary also includes collocation, phrases, and even full sentences. Even when you're learning words, you rarely need single words when you're speaking. You need to combine the words into phrases and sentences if you want to use them. So, it makes sense to learn vocabulary in the same way: learn phrases, combinations and sentences, because this is what you need when you're speaking and writing.

Let's do an example.

Imagine that you challenge and you want to know what it means. So, you look it up and find the meaning. Next, your goal is to write five sentences using the word challenge. Each sentence should be different and each sentence should mean something to you. Try ti write things which relate to your life, your feeling and your thoughts. You can also try to use different forms of the words, like the adjective challenging. You should also research other example before you write yours. Look for common collocations word combination with the word you want to learn. For example, what adjectives are commonly used with the word challenge?

Think about it.
What phrases or sentences could you write with this word?

we'll give you an example, but remember that you should make your own examples, because they should be personal to you. Here are five possible sentences: I'm bored work. I need a new challenge. Teaching teenagers is fun, but it can be very challenging. Running a full marathon was one of the biggest challenges I've ever faced. I set myself a challenge last year: to learn German to a native-equivalent level.

You'll learn several words and phrases together, in a natural way. Remember that this strategy is personal on both sides: you're starting with words that are meaningful to you personally and then you're learning those words by writing examples which are also meaningful to you personally. Yes, this needs work, and it is might be very different from what you do now. However, if you want an effective way to learn and remember vocabulary, this is it. If you do things this way, nothing is abstract and nothing is boring. Your brain will remember what you learn because it's relevant to you, your life and your feelings.

However, if you're trying to learn a lot of vocabulary, it's also important to review what you've learned regularly. Regular review helps to keep vocabulary fresh in your mind, which will you to remember the words and phrases you need when you're speaking or writhing in English. Let's look at the most effective ways to review your vocabulary.