How to Remember English Words for Life

Introduction:

It’s a common experience for everyone to forget what they ate for breakfast. Even if you constantly remind yourself throughout the day of a certain task you need to complete. You may forget that task within a couple of days or even hours. The brain is complex, with dozens of systems working together. Forgetting may seem like poison, and it hinders our ability to learn and expand upon our knowledge, but forgetting can actually improve neural networks and significantly boost our skills.

Why We Forget:

Our brains are not automated machines that can process everything that comes across. It’s difficult to remember information thrown at us, especially when we are not actively learning. The brain can be compared to a water filter, filtering out the unnecessary information and choosing key details and words that are often repeated. So as long as the brain sees a word for a set amount of times, it’ll recollect it and engrain it. Memory decay is a process where information is lost for a set amount of time. For example, learning vocabulary terms earlier in the day may already be forgotten within a couple of days without repetitive practice. It’s because the brain does not see the information as valuable, and other events obstruct the brain’s primary object of remembering those terms. 

How to Remember:

It takes practice to build memory. Not everyone can have photographic memory; some people are more efficient in memorizing information, whereas others may struggle with recollection. Either way, using proper techniques significantly improves your learning speed and saves several hours. 

The next time you read flashcards, try to take breaks and recall what you’ve learned. After a set of five or ten, try as hard as possible to remember the words. Write it down on a piece of paper or say it out loud. We are building our memory actively by forcing our brains to think hard about what we saw. Repetition is the most important part, so try to have sessions multiple times throughout the day. Instead of an hour-long session, split your session into smaller, 15-20 minute periods and have a review period at the end. It builds frequency and effective recall.

How to turn forgetting into a tool:

Forgetting can often be frustrating and irritating to deal with. It is widely seen as a negative and leads to negative results. However, there are ways to use forgetting things to build your brain’s memory as well as improve other cognitive functions. The next time you forget something, speak out loud. Understand why you missed certain words or phrases, and genuinely seem interested in the reasoning behind it. It can be as simple as

• “My memory isn’t good enough.h”

• “I wasn’t concentrating.”

Simple notions such as these help the brain to actively release its mistakes. The brain works like a muscle and needs training to improve its function over time. Learning from mistakes is what allows us to grow. 

Key Takeaways:

Build long-term habits: People experience sparks of motivation during set periods of time. It may result from a YouTube video that suddenly motivates you to learn something, but because of poor planning and a dopamine spike, you may not stick to it thoroughly. Constantly reminding yourself of the ultimate goal and envisioning that you'll reach it with enough practice will build a consistent routine.

Learn from your mistakes: It seems cliché, but improving from mistakes is the most optimal way to improve your skills, not only in English. Understand why you cannot remember certain words, log it on a piece of paper, and every week revisit it. It builds awareness, and the brain will find ways to recall information more efficiently over time.

Be patient: Patience and tolerance are also among the most important things to consider when fixing your routine. Results are not instantaneous; it takes time to build, and growth only happens after the brain has been challenged enough. Do not lose hope; English can be challenging at times. Whenever you hit a plateau, stop and think to yourself why you’ve reached a certain limit. You haven’t peaked, you’ve adjusted to your style of learning, and it is time to change that routine.

Conclusion:

English has many different internal aspects to it. Everyone has different ways to approach learning it. Some methods are more effective than others, and some people may grasp content more easily than others. But skills are not fixed; they can be grown upon through consistent effort and practice. Hope through English hopes to maximize your skills in learning English, and we will assist you along you’re English learning journey.