r/LearningLanguages • u/No-Action-875 • 1d ago
I remember new words until I actually need them
I can recognise new words when I am reading or listening, but my mind gets stuck when I try to use them in a conversation. A few minutes later, the same word comes back to me. What is a better way to improve vocabulary retention or does it just come with speaking more?
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u/banyanflashcardsapp 17h ago
The way I do this is by making sure that I also produce language whenever I’m learning vocab. I learn vocab using passive immersion notifications (which takes care of memorization by itself), and one of the response options on the notification if I’m confident of it is “I can use this word in a sentence” - I use the inbuilt keyboard mic to say a sentence in my target language (Hindi) and over time this has made me pretty confident at producing sentences on the spot. The app I use for this immersive notification practice method is called Banyan Flashcards. Eg I might be practicing the word gehra/गहरा (meaning “deep” as in sleep) and so I’ll produce the sentence vo gehri neend main hai/वह गहरी नींद में है (meaning "He/she is in a deep sleep").
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u/No-Action-875 1h ago
Using a new word in a sentence right away seems like a good way to make it stick
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u/hamsterjedi 20h ago
There are two ways to learn a language:
hearing/seeing a word in the language you learn and guessing what it is in your language.
=> the easiest way - with context and frequency of encounter, your brain is able to find that information as long as you get regularly exposed to it.hearing/seeing a word in your language and guessing what it is in the language you learn.
=> the hardest way - which is exactly what you need to train to get words in your long term memory and being able to talk or write.
To do that a good method is to use flashcards:
You write a word on one side of a paper, and its translation on the other side. And instead of looking at the word in the language you learn to guess what it means, look at the word in your language to guess what it is in the language you learn.
There are many apps that let you do this without an actual paper, type "flashcards" on the app store / play store - but do ensure you practice in the hardest direction way more than in the easiest if your goal is to speak and write. Such apps usually also offer a smart repetition system where they decide for you when to show you a word you already practiced in the past to ensure it sticks through time.
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u/yutanrw 16h ago
You should practice speaking more.
Just find some conversation partners.
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u/No-Action-875 1h ago
Having a regular conversation partner will make it easier for me to use the words I know while speaking.
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u/gottahaveajava 1h ago
It’s a phase. Can’t be prevented with more prep.
Speak more, and it will happen less.
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u/Ecstatic-Island-9778 1d ago
Reading and listening are different skills from speaking and writing.
We can see this when we consider that we can read books and understand speeches while not necessarily being able to reproduce them at will, right?
Seen that way, we notice that we have to practice speaking in the same way that we have to practice giving a good presentation or explaining an idea.