Want to expand your English-language vocabulary? In this case you need to use one or another method. We recommend the use of a paper card system. Ideally it allows you to have 100 English words in your head every day!
The basics of the paper card method
Theoretically, you could start learning English words by opening a dictionary. But that will only lead to a mishmash of words you will forget very quickly and you will also get confused with one another. That’s why we recommend to try the method of paper cards. It consists in the right choice of words and evocation of various associations. Despite the name, the system involves using an app, not real cards made of cardboard. Although previously used really them.
The essence of this method is simple. The student is given a deck of cards. Each one has a foreign word on it. You have to turn the card over to see the translation. The student has to flip through the deck, memorizing the translation of each word. If you haven’t memorized the word yet, it goes to the bottom of the deck. As a result, you will soon come back to it. If you have no problem memorizing a word, the corresponding card is discarded. And so on until the deck in your hands runs out. All these words should be recalled after a certain period of time, a week or even a month.
This system works because at first the learned word goes into short-term memory. And in the future you go back to the cards you have passed, so that the word is moved to your long-term memory. From there, it’s noticeably harder to weed it out.
Using the Uchisto app
Mobile program “Uchisto” uses precisely the principle of paper cards. On one side of each card here is a Russian-speaking word. On the reverse is its translation into English, as well as a transcription so that you can read it correctly. There’s also a button for voice playback of the word. Well, at the bottom of this side of the card is a button that tells the app that you’ve learned the word. If you think you haven’t memorized the translation of a word in English, flip a card with a swipe – it will drop it to the bottom of the deck.
The program allows you to learn Russian. To do this, the English-speaking user has to move the appropriate switch in the settings, thus changing the translation direction.
And when you’re done with a deck, the app automatically sets a timer for 30 days. After this period you will be prompted to repeat what you have learned. But this does not mean that you have to rest! We recommend that you open a new deck every few days. Each of them, as it is easy to guess, consists of a hundred words. So every week you can learn a couple or three hundred English words!
Each card allows you to add a note. It is most often used to write about what the word is associated with. Users of the application say that this feature greatly accelerates the transfer of the word into long-term memory.
What is the method of application?
The developers of “Uchisto” on their page on Google Play are reminding of the main difficulty in memorizing English words. Most of the time we try to do this on the fly, without associating the words with any images. As a result, the brain does not build neural connections, the words are not associated with anything, which makes them quickly forgotten. That’s why each card recommends linking each word to familiar concepts and objects.
Let’s take the word “challenge” as an example. Its translation is “problem.”. Immediately recall the most serious problem that has arisen in your life. Press the pencil button, and then describe the problem in one sentence. Better yet, remember the famous shuttle Challenger. At one time, it took the lives of the entire crew, which was a serious problem for the United States. So that is a perfect association. Taking into account that you have just read all this, it is almost impossible to forget the translation of this word.
But by no means hurry to press the “Learned” button! After making a vivid association, repeat the word aloud at least five or six times. At this point, be sure to imagine the picture you’ve come up with. There is also some advice about the associations themselves. Try to think of something funny as it is much better remembered.
If we wrap up the conversation about the methodology used by Uchisto, it ends up as follows:
You read an unfamiliar English word.
Then you check your pronunciation.
You turn the card over to familiarize yourself with the translation of the word.
Now you need to associate the word or its translation with real events or objects.
Then you repeat the word out loud at least five times, while simultaneously running through your head the association you thought of earlier.
Press the “Learned” button.
Try to consolidate the result by translating the word into English. At the same time you will recheck your pronunciation.
Then you only have to remind yourself to repeat the words from the deck in exactly one month.
And after 30 days, you will try to remember how all the words are translated. If any of them does not come to mind, you will have to repeat the above procedure.
Note that some words can have different meanings depending on the context. This is probably the only serious problem with the app. This means that “Learned” is only really helpful if you’re taking an English course at the same time. Otherwise you are unlikely to be able to translate sentences properly, let alone paragraphs or whole articles.
Learn only the words you want
Any linguist will tell you that English contains at least a million words. But the good thing about dubbing is that you only use a few thousand or so of these words in your everyday life. If you know these exact words, you will even be able to communicate with a foreigner more or less comfortably and you will be able to translate at least partly English-language Internet publications. And if you learn not only the words but other aspects of the English language too, you can watch American movies and TV shows without dubbing!
As you have already guessed, the app “Uchisto” offers you only those words that are most often used in writing and in everyday life.
As for the decks used here, they consist of exactly one hundred cards. Experts have found that this is the ideal number. This is not a small word count, but you can do it in an hour or faster, especially if you recognize some of the words you are familiar with. What’s more, you can learn one deck every few days.
Tracking Progress
Of course, such a program couldn’t do without the statistics section. Here you can track your progress by day. It’s nice when you see that every week your progress is tangibly increasing. However, it must be admitted that you will not find very diverse charts here. This is due to the fact that the application offers only one opportunity – to learn words. No additional functions here.
To steadily increase your vocabulary, you should always remember to have a smartphone with “Uchisto” in your pocket. Stuck in traffic? Open at least a couple of cards. I had some free time at work? Again, open up the deck you’re studying. You can also try to learn words before going to bed. If you see in the statistics that your progress has begun to decrease, be sure to raise the bar!
Well, how many words can be learned through this program? It all depends on how much free time you have. And from your desire, of course. Theoretically, you can memorize about 3,000 words in a couple of months. And that’s good enough for understanding English-language articles.
Conditional free
Download “Uchisto” from Google Play is completely free. However, this does not mean that the application and in fact is. If you don’t want to pay money, you’ll be limited to just one vocabulary. So you will learn a total of 100 words, which you can literally do in a day. Each additional deck of cards costs 30 rubles. But we recommend taking all 45 dictionaries at once. Their purchase is only 279 rubles. Isn’t that a big price to pay for an abundance of new knowledge in your head?
Payment in “Uchisto” is done in the traditional way – you can do it through Google Play, if you have already linked your bank card to this service. Or you can use a different map by clicking on the button.
Conclusion
Now you know about the easiest way to learn English words. If you use the method we describe, then after a month you will know more than a thousand new words for yourself! It remains only to learn the whole of the English language in order to put them competently into sentences.
