How to learn vocabulary the RIGHT way

Most English learners are wasting their time memorizing words they’ll never use. Here’s what to do instead.

If you’ve ever felt like your vocabulary just isn’t enough, like you have so much to say but can’t find the words…you’re not alone. 

It’s one of the most common frustrations I see among my students. 

But here’s the thing: the problem usually isn’t that you don’t know enough words. The problem is how you’re learning them.

So let’s talk about what’s really going on, and what you should be doing instead!

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The 4 Vocabulary Groups You Need to Know

Not all the words in your head are equal. There are actually four distinct groups your vocabulary falls into, and knowing the difference changes everything.

Group 1: Your Active Vocabulary

These are the words that come out automatically, without any effort or translation. Words like yes, no, dog, why, or whatever you use every day without thinking. You don’t search for them,  they just appear.

The bigger this group is, the more fluent you feel. This is the goal. Everything else we talk about is really about getting more words into THIS group!

Group 2: Your Passive Vocabulary

Passive vocabulary includes all the words you technically know, but can’t easily say when you’re speaking.

You know that feeling where you’re mid-sentence, the word is right there, and then it’s gone? And then twenty minutes later, in the shower, it finally comes to you? That’s a passive vocabulary word.

This is where the work happens! Taking these words from Group 2, and bringing them into Group 1. 

Group 3: Words You Need But Don’t Know Yet

These are words you use regularly in your first language, but simply haven’t learned in English yet. 

Group 4: Words You Don’t Know (and Don’t Need)

This is the group most vocabulary apps, textbooks, and courses spend way too much time on. These are words that are obscure in your first language and obscure in English. 

My honest advice: ignore this group entirely. Learning these words won’t make as significant of an impact as learning words in Group 2 and 3 and trying to bring them into Group 1. 

The Real Problem: Group 2

Most learners spend their time trying to learn new words (Groups 3 and 4), when the biggest opportunity is sitting right in Group 2.

The more you invest in activating your passive vocabulary, the faster you’ll feel fluent, without necessarily learning anything new.

How to learn the right way: 

Here’s what the learning process should look like for each new word or phrase you want to add to your active vocabulary:

• Hear it pronounced correctly. Look it up in a dictionary that has audio. Don’t just read the phonetic spelling, actually listen to it. 
• Say it out loud. Repeatedly. Not once. Not twice. Until it feels natural in your mouth. (I recommend 30 times, yes, really!) 
• See it in context. Read example sentences, and say them out loud. You need to see how the word behaves with other words around it.
• Create your own sentences. This is the step most people skip, and it’s the most important one!
• Use it deliberately when speaking freely. Find a moment in conversation, in your journaling, in your next work email — wherever — to intentionally use this word. This is where it finally makes the jump from passive to active.

Good luck, and you’ve got this!