Techniques for memorizing new English words

Build a palace of memory for English words Key thoughts Useful information

“You are well equipped with an incredible capacity to absorb knowledge. Let your imagination, the key to learning and memory, unleash this brain power and propel you forward at an ever-increasing speed. ” - Dominic O'Brien

Imagination is the fuel for learning. Your memory runs on images. It is easier for our brain to process figurative information. And if you can connect the sound of each new word in English with a vivid image, it will be easier for you to remember it. This is how, for the majority of us, our brain works.

To illustrate how visual our memory is, try now to remember your childhood home. Now open the door, enter your house and mentally trace the route to your bedroom. Just go inside. Pay attention to everything you see along the way. Are you surprised at how many details you can remember and all of them are preserved in memory due to the connection with the images?

Now for something more complicated. Try to completely remember the phone number from a random banner on the street from the first reading. Remember not for a minute, but be able to repeat at least half an hour later. Not so easy, is it?

Numbers and words don't really have much visual impact - they are not images, but a way of describing them. Therefore, our mind does not necessarily memorize and recall them as quickly as necessary for a conversation with an English-speaking interlocutor or for submitting written work on an hour block of IELTS writing. When we learn a new word in a new language like English, we can give our memory a little hook by creating an image. And as soon as it pops up in consciousness, the word pops out of the nooks and crannies of neural networks.

Therefore, later, when we think about the word, the image pops up in our minds, and this image reminds us of the sound of the word. Imagine that the English word is somewhere deep in your brain, and the new image is like a hook that is attached to the word deep in your mind. This way, the image helps you pull the hook and bring the word to your lips.

The easiest way to explain this is with an example. If you are Spanish and have learned a new word in English, such as "dinner," then you can quickly come up with a funny or powerful image that will remind you of the sound of the new word - dinner.

The English word for "dinner" sounds a bit like the Spanish word dinero, which means money. So, the image that you could create in your mind is you could imagine yourself or a man sitting at dinner in a restaurant and he is eating a HUGE pile of money. He just stuffs his face with banknotes and coins - worth millions and millions.

This is a rather funny and strange image. The funnier and weirder the image, the better - your brain remembers these images much more easily. Now, whenever you think about this word, the image of a person eating dinero arises in your mind, and you remember: "Ah, this is dinero = dinner."

Try imagining to help yourself memorize new words in a fun and easy way. It works flawlessly, is addictive, because it greatly speeds up the expansion of vocabulary, even without being in an English-speaking country.

Build a palace of memory for English words

You already know a little about how images for memorizing words work. Now let's look at an option that makes learning written English even more like a game. In addition, the owners of "palaces of memory" learn very effectively and memorize words more easily than those who like to memorize them in the old-fashioned way in thematic groups.

This "Memory Palace" is not necessary, but if you do it, you can very quickly learn an ocean of English words. This is the essence of the “Palace of Memory” memorization method: when you place a word associated with an image in a specific place, it is well remembered in your mind.

Memory Champions use Memory Palace and have a lot of stories about it, search YouTube. It may seem very strange at first, but those who dare to use their imagination will be surprised by the effectiveness of the approach for memorizing new words. So, you just need to choose a city or area of a city that you know well. You are going to highlight this area in your memory for your English vocabulary.

Now, as you learn new words, create a powerful, memorable image for each word that will help you remember it later. And place the image somewhere on the selected terrain map in your memory. Remember the money eater? We can put him in a summer cafe in the yard or put him next to grandmothers on a bench at the entrance.

For example, if you have a word related to sports, such as tennis, you mentally walk to a sports center. Ideally, a real tennis court. And you put that image right there. All of your sports-related words can be in or near this place. This way, you can visit it in your mind at any time convenient for you and be reminded of all these words. Food words can be found in your favorite restaurants. Art and creative activities can take place in and around your favorite art gallery. Etc.

This is a truly advanced memorization technique available to everyone. However, whether you choose to create the full memory palace effect or not, learn to create images in your mind. This is useful both in order to improve the memorization of individual words, and for the prevention of age-related brain diseases - it has been proven by scientists.

Key thoughts

Use imagery to build new vocabulary faster and more playfully.
Collect images in familiar places on your imaginary city map - build a "Palace of Memory", where you will collect the most amazing pictures-hooks for pulling the right words from memory.