I Learned 21,506 Words in 2 Years With My Secret Vocab Learning Hack!

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In this video, I discuss how I learned vocabulary in foreign languages of about 21,506 words in 2 years' time. Using visual mnemonics, stories and other elements to enhance the memorization of words leads to an easier time remembering the items.
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[@C.V.123]

I've been learning English for 15 months just by listening/watching KZbin videos (the way children actually learn). I already understand you almost 100%. I am 52 years old 😊

[@SergeyLyshchev]

How many hours a day?

[@luismamamiya4108]

Where are you from and how many languages could you speak before learning English?

[@C.V.123]

@@SergeyLyshchev Sometimes up to three hours a day. But I try to do at least 30 minutes a day. I look for interesting stories. This is how I stay motivated...

[@C.V.123]

@@luismamamiya4108 I am Croatian. I was already fluent in German and French. This helps me learn English

[@Ray-h1v]

That's really inspired me, thank you so much, I will definitely do your method ❤

[@Hellinophilos]

Inventing 30 000 little stories to remember as many words is quite a challenge. This is the method advocated by Heisig for Japanese ideograms. I use it occasionally, but not constantly, only for words that for some reason, resist memorizing.

[@JoseHasBeenChosen]

Idk I can remover one thousand words in a day and I can recall one thousand words in the same day pretty much whenever I pick a word or meaning I want to convey my memory palace always has my back

[@JoseHasBeenChosen]

I’m not boasting but I memorized an entire genki book in three days around 16 hours every day your brain just keeps making space but I’m also going to the military soon and I want to be in Japan so that’s why I worked so hard to do it idk if it’s gonna help me when I get there but I can start studying a language for a couple of days and begin to understand tv shows really fast but I think vocab can take you a really long way

[@ladonnatutt7851]

I truly adore your commentary. I dare not tell anyone that I’m learning 5 languages at one time. I just want to see their faces when I speak other languages.😂

[@johnnyguitarwatson6919]

I did the same thing over many years. I've learned a lot while feeling sad and frustrated all the time. Now I learn less but the joy is back.

[@shibshankarroy5572]

I agree with you completely

[@IH-py1pq]

21,000 words in 2 years is like 30 words per day with no days off! that's a hardcore commitment I can't expect from an average language learner. Don't you agree?

[@obornyi2407]

why hold the standart low if humans are capable of great things. If all people work 12 hours a day I can of course work 4 and say that is plenty, but still others do 12h every single day

[@Poweroftouch]

Don't be fooled ,no matter how hard u try the average brain can only take in so many words, no matter wat method or how long u learn per day.

[@IH-py1pq]

@@obornyi2407 The keyword is average learner, not outliers.

[@johnnyplunkett8532]

​@Poweroftouch it's a matter of different brains work in their own way

[@StillAliveAndKicking_]

I find it hard to believe that someone learnt so many words in two years, unless the definition of word is lenient. Thus hope, hopeful, hopefully, hopefullness are all distinct words, as are distinct, indistinct, distinctly, indistinctly, distinctive, indistinctive, distinctiveness, indistinctiveness, distinctively, indistinctively, distinction, indistinction and so on. Even then, it’s a lot of words. And then that’s only part of the problem. Knowing a verb is fine, but what about the associated preposition(s) if any? And the context? Two verbs can basically mean the same thing, but only one is used in certain contexts. Then again, maybe this person is incredibly gifted. Incidentally, according to LingQ, I have learnt 40,000 words in two years. Yeah, sure. I don’t for one minute believe that. I might arguably recognise that many, but I can’t actively use anywhere near that number.

[@Marionan]

Learning a language is not just about learning vocabulary. You need to practise, because the words should come to your mind automatically, so in a thousand words, people will use only a few if they are not practising them.

[@magnusbrzenk447]

Also: you’d be surprised how much more words stick if you look up their etymology; the general tip is to make associations with existing and/or simpler concepts in your mind

[@Alec72HD]

After switching to MONOLINGUAL dictionaries it seems I never forget a word I look up. When a word appears in a content I LIKE, I look up it's definition and usually never forget it. My memory was terrible when I was using translation.

[@BarryFence]

@@Alec72HD Do you mean that, if you are learning Spanish, you look up the word in the dictionary and the explanation of the word is in Spanish, as well?

[@Alec72HD]

@@BarryFence Yes. Monolingual dictionaries for learners also exist, but not in every language. Not every language community even wants foreigners to learn their language, so learning resources could be limited.

[@alok.ff5191]

Galaba (غَلَبَ) actually means defeated or beat and the first letter is pronounced like the french R 😊

[@memomemz2081]

What he said is true tho 🙄🤦🏻

[@rashidah9307]

To defeat, to beat, to overcome - these all pretty much have the same meaning. We use this language to talk about winning a fight against an enemy, a disease or other hard circumstances in life. Right?

[@erin.loves.u]

This is super helpful! I’ve been learning German in school for a while and I’ve decided to self study now 😊

[@RobbieKunz]

Thanks, Erin! Self study can be even more rewarding as you get to choose what you study. I was reading "die unendliche Geschichte" in German but have paused to spend more time on practicing speaking German by conversing with the AI at yourteacher.ai.

[@tschewm1353]

Kato Lomb (she was never fond of associations) said about an interesting case. Someone associated the Japanise expression "Domo arigato" (Thank you very much) with "alligator" And later expressed his gratitude with the words "Church crocodile!"

[@RobbieKunz]

Kato Lomb is one of the greats! Yes, it reminds me of people who confuse similar sounding languages. It takes practice to keep everything separated.

[@BarryFence]

Before I went to Japan, a colleague of mine taught me a few mnemonics to remember words in Japanese. "Douitashimashite", which means "You're welcome", had the mnemonic "Don't touch my moustache". I remember it to this day and he told me this almost 20 years ago!

[@rominafantauzzi8766]

Excellent video! I will definitely apply some of these techniques with my students (and for myself too when learning new languages!). Thank you for posting this!

[@RobbieKunz]

You're welcome. I hope it helps you and your students out!

[@FrancescoCarpi]

That Arabic word made me immediately think of the Russian word for head голова (gah-lah-VAH), which made me think of the mnemonic "I overcame a (Russian) headache" haha Not perfect, but I guess that word will stick with me for a while, even though I don't study Arabic (yet)

[@RobbieKunz]

I like that! Just learned a bonus Russian word, too :) I find the more languages/words I know, the easier it becomes to find words that fit for the mnemonics.

[@lilyrose4191]

That's exactly what I thought of during the video and then I scrolled down and saw your comment!

[@abeer9504]

As an Arabic person who is learning English I like this method so much!!

[@RobbieKunz]

شكرا! حظاً موفقاً في دراسة اللغة الإنجليزية

[@alshammari3990]

@@RobbieKunz (الله يعينك) means may god help you اللغة العربية صعبة جدًا وانا كشخص عربي أرى صعوبة في التعامل معها في كتابة المقالات الأكاديمية وهناك الكثير من اللهجات التي لا تتشابه في استخدام معظم الكلمات ومع ذلك نفهم بعضنا البعض😂

[@mohammedbarakat7142]

Arab

[@SandraWantsCoke]

I will remember this video by imagining myself being a weak lover, galloping on a horse and having a shining soul.

[@daviddaygame]

6:30 be very careful to NOT make too intense mnemonics, because you might end up carrying them with you for too long. I learned to keep them JUST strong enough to remember, but not TOO crazy, so they don't bother me when remembering

[@RobbieKunz]

Interesting... I've never personally had this problem as my mind simply forgets the image as I grasp the word. I don't think it's a problem to remember a mnemonic image for a long time, either. However, if it bothers you then that is a problem that should be addressed.

[@daviddaygame]

@@RobbieKunz I still "carry" with me the mnemonic for elbow in portuguese "cotovelo" - (russian mnemonic coto - similar to "кот" = cat in russian, velo - вело = bycicle) - where I have cats riding on bycicles on my elbow lol.. Same for portuguese "pescoço" = neck → russian mnemonic "sand" (песок = sand in russian) etc. What I've learned is not putting any mnemonics on my body or me at all - and ideally avoid tactical mnemonics

[@ОлегЗубов-ц4е]

@@daviddaygame , looks like OCD🤔

[@RobbieKunz]

I appreciate you telling me about those. Now I have learned some Russian words, as well!

[@raphaeloliveira4987]

I'm the opposite of you. I'm a brazillian learning Russian using mnemonics. But since I speak english well, I find myself quite often using English words instead of Portuguese, to remember a russian word. Sometimes I use a mix of both

[@amrokhalid8094]

Thanks for the video. Btw the arabic word you mentioned غلب is indeed corresponding to overcome in English ; i would say that it is closer to the word DEFEAT. and i would assign overcome to the word : تخطى

[@JacquesMare]

What also helps for an Indo-European language like Sanskrit or Afrikaans or whatever.... is to find the IE root across several modern IE languages and then apply its unique sound changes to memorise its form. I find that that helps to cement the word in my mind.

[@kevinfernandes7216]

How do you go about that?

[@JacquesMare]

@@kevinfernandes7216 Google the IE roots of the word you're looking for. You'll be surprised by how closely all these languages are related. For instance: The word "call" in English is "καλέσω" [kaleso] in Greek (note the root of the word "kal") and even in the old Biblical Hittite the word is "kalles". Now go check out the Norwegian and old Norse version of this word. Isn't just so cool?

[@RobbieKunz]

I agree studying etymology helps, too! Anything you can use to strengthen the links in your mind is good.

[@jenniferkychu6109]

It really works. Thank you so much

[@RobbieKunz]

You're welcome!

[@AndriiSenych]

I'm not sure whether a regular native knows and uses constantly as many as 30 000 words. I'd say 6 000 - 10 000 words can already make one fluent, close to a native. More words would be just a bonus, not a necessity to speak and understand most of the language.

[@janelle.loves.languages]

I used to believe in mnemonics but then I found comprehensible input. You see if you read at the right level you are already imagining that complex rich story scene in which all the words you are reading take place. So reading ... being able to imagine said scene because you truly understand what's going on in essence I find takes the place of mnemonics.

[@fisicogamer1902]

That does work, but only to concrete words. Say, for example, that someone is talking about grammar in your target language. Or math. I find incredibly hard to "imagine what's going on" in such abstract scenarios. Mnemonics help with that. Those scenarios happen more often than you think, since we live in a society that loves to abstract important stuff. Other thing is that you'll want to remember how to use a word, not how to read it in a sentence. Mnemonics help the word to be more free of context, instead of trapped in a sentence. More often than not, speakers won't understand what you mean. They may be uneducated, or you just used a weird sentence/accent. You must be able to explain what do you mean by that word/sentence. Mnemonics help with that rephrasing. Mnemonics aren't a silver bullet, but neither is comprehensible input. Both can and should be used together in language learning. Plus, mnemonics make it easier to find comprehensible input, especially at the beginning, where there is 0 vocab knowledge. It's really hard to find comprehensible input that teaches you from absolute zero vocab knowledge.

[@TheFiestyhick]

Sorry, but no way. It's definitely not the same as good Mnemonics. When you get really good at it, for many languages, you can memorize like 150 plus words a day...no way you can do that with CI, absolutely not. The problem with Mnemonics is that it doesn't work so well for all languages from English. For example Mandarin or Cantonese won't be so effective for these tonal languages, but with most languages the mnemonics is helpful to dramatically speed things up.

[@janelle.loves.languages]

We could argue whether or not mnemonics work better for grammar or not (I would say they don't) because grammar is the thing that's WAAAY easier to acquire than actual words (there's a lot less of it and it gets used more frequently so it's acquired sooner and faster. As evidence of this I've never had to look up any grammar, but I have had to look up other parts of speech like nouns or adjectives where the context was unclear to me. But the main argument of why I don't do it is... I find absolutely no benefit. I'm engrossed in a story I nearly 100% understand at all times (because I use highly comprehensible material). I find no reason to stop and do anything else (other than to look up a rare word).

[@TheFiestyhick]

@@janelle.loves.languages Mnemonics isn't good tool for grammer. It's for vocabulary accumulation. Main point is, being able to learn over 100 words a day (for some languages) majorly speeds up the process to fluency

[@janelle.loves.languages]

​@@TheFiestyhick Yeah I only mentioned grammar because the first guy that commented seemed like he said he used it for that and I disagree... I don't think it's good for grammar or other types of vocabulary... I think it's good for nothing haha. You can claim you can memorize up to 150 words in a day and maybe you can but acquisition of words is much deeper than memorization. Memorization is superficial... you can forget things you memorized. Real acquisition of words are words you never forget the meaning of.

[@iamfinethankyouandryujin]

You're amazing, thanks a lot, I'll try this method I'll be back in a month to share my results :)

[@strikeback2069]

Oh really I would like to memorize all chinese I use anki about almost 2 years anki is very useful but sometimes I forgotten any words but is a good. I think the best way to memorize everything is memory of palace but it s very complicate to use this method. If you will slowly to learn step by step it would be OK. But please don't eat a cake directly. Try to eat a piece of cake not a big cake 😂. When you study about 5 minutes or 10 minutes your brain is more relax. I don't recommend to study about 1 hour like in academy school. People are lazy they don't want to work hard if you enjoy to learn you will be able to learn more. This is the key to learn everything you re a turtle not a rabbit this is a marathon take your times you ll improve everything.

[@RobbieKunz]

I agree with that. I study in 15 minute blocks. Sometimes I will do a 15 minute block after another but I will switch up the activity or language. It's better to break it down to small manageable chunks!

[@phen-themoogle7651]

Wait, you use mnemonics for 20,000+ words in the same language? Or to get started? I didn't use them for the majority of words but learned 20k-30k Japanese words over 10 years at a comfortable pace of just looking up words a lot as I played videogames/read books (but been several years since I needed to actively study), or also making tons of puns in Japanese helped me memorize other similar words too so I was making mnemonics in Japanese only if that makes sense (I also did intense immersion with Japanese all the time for a few years), I think I only used English mnemonics for a couple hundred words when I was starting out (because thinking in English slowed me down at a point). And occasionally a bilingual pun will pop in my mind. I agree with you on your view of needing 30k words in a language to comprehend like a native adult speaker (even if active vocab is down to 5k-10k, think passive needs to be much higher). I feel like I'm between middle-school and high-school level sometimes, even though I can survive and function as an adult in Japanese society/work at a Japanese company. But to really emphasis your point, Japanese Elementary Schools have dictionaries in furigana that have over 30,000 words in them and children know at least 70%+ of the words usually, even if they don't actively use them. Sometimes it makes me feel like we might need even more words in Japanese. Even though I was able to get by when I knew 5k or especially 10k words. At least for most conversations. And can understand the gist of novels with my vocab now, but languages are a life long journey and I could always improve these two. I'm just impressed that you are doing so many languages! For me English and especially Japanese has been extremely time consuming, even if I'm just playing in the language, I spent almost half my life around it. I recently started Chinese up again though, it's just hard staying persistent in languages I'm not used to. Rather than memorization, I respect people with the passion and consistency to continue multiple languages like you. I would get burned out or lose interest kinda lol >.

[@RobbieKunz]

I learned 20k+ words as I studied which included mostly reading books and making flashcards from that. The 20k words are across all 8 languages I study on a daily basis. Yeah, as I mention in the video, I feel like the number should actually be closer to 50,000 but 30,000 is a good number to aim for and probably suffices for most people's needs. Learning multiple languages is not that hard. What is hard is learning a really different language like Japanese first. You can probably learn other languages much quicker now and if you develop the skill of learning multiple languages, it's just a matter of time management at that point.

[@ArenaNerd]

This technique is good, I tried it 2 years ago. But there is a small problem: it takes a long time to learn many words. I was getting 10 to 20 words a day. Because I had to imagine the story And review yesterday's. Then I made more stories and revised more. My progress was very slow so I dropped the technique

[@philipreiber]

Thank you very much good sir! I'll try to implement this and give it a go.

[@sweet_yellowstrawberry_moo9126]

Just learned my first word ever in Sanskrit. Hopefully after learning other languages this will be one of my target ones!

[@doyourbestleavetherest]

Thank you for sharing🙏

[@enochang8463]

I can speak Teochew, since young. My Teochew, Mingnanhua are stronger than my Putonghua. Juoxia.

[@jokenglish-xu4ry]

There is many version of teochew,, which one are you? I know teochiew from borneo island 🇮🇩,,

[@RobbieKunz]

That's great you speak Teochew! I hope to continue to improve my Teochew. Meng keh ki!

[@enochang8463]

Robbie, if you like cultural stuff, trying watching some Teochew opera, both traditional and modern (mainly from PRC). You can learn classical Teochew and derive from it classical Mandarin, which was used in officialdom in China before the fall of the Manchu dynasty.

[@Virgin_Buoy_69]

10k words a year is insane . I started in may 2023 and by the end of this month I will reach the milestone of 2k words of Korean . I'm an Indian and my native Lang is Hindi . My goal is 3k words by the end of this year. 😅 PS The toughest part of learning a new Lang is revision of vocab !!

[@RobbieKunz]

I agree 10k words/year is a lot and it definitely needs to be worked up to the same way you might start with a 5k race before running a marathon. Korean is a great language and if you can learn 3k words, that is a great start. It becomes easier and easier the more you work at it. Revision is very important, too. I leave that to Anki to sort and order everything for me. Good luck with your studies!

[@Virgin_Buoy_69]

@@RobbieKunz Thanks brother 🙏

[@suunnnyy.suu7]

​@@Virgin_Buoy_69hindi sahi se nehi ata tujhe upar se korean 😂😂😂

[@Virgin_Buoy_69]

@@suunnnyy.suu7 English b nahi aati ... Mujhe 😅😅

[@suunnnyy.suu7]

@@Virgin_Buoy_69 🤣🤣🤣 me vi german sikh raha hu but vocab bohot jadha problem hai

[@lostlost8821]

btw جلب galba means brought غلب means overcame or defeated conquered etc the letter غ could pronounce as French r

[@RobbieKunz]

!شكراً In that case, we could imagine "bringing" a glove and visualize a French knight to remember the one with the غ is for "overcame" with the French r sound.

[@Flortaffa]

I speak spanish and italian ,i have been studyng english since 7 months (b1) i really wanna reach c1 level in 1 year so i need to learn more words more quickly bc i don’t remember Im 17

[@TheFiestyhick]

Nice I have mixed feelings with mnemonics for Chinese or tonal languages because you can get into the habit of memorizing stuff so wrong that you'll make bad habits. When working with Tonal languages, things are a little different because you really want to drill the correct tones for the words. Maybe I'm wrong and it can be done to a small degree with Chinese, but I couldn't make it work. (Never tried it with Chat GP btw)

[@RobbieKunz]

You might want to look into Heisig's "Remembering Simplified Hanzi" series. I haven't used it myself for Chinese and the book is for remembering the characters but he uses a concept where in the mnemonic there is an image for each tone like a dragon flying for a high tone or a dwarf for a low tone - I don't know exactly what they were but the point is you can use images like that to help you remember the tone, too!

[@worldwidezoey]

I usually write the character and the tone . No meaning , no pronunciation . Example: 好3 . Because Chinese characters mean so many things, narrowing down to an English translation at first will work but then it will keep you back. It’s better to understand the concept (no definition) and to memorize the sound + tone from the start. Drill the tones from the start, or else you’ll be carrying a big burden that you’ll have to fix later on

[@Yosaco]

Thanks brother ❤

[@RobbieKunz]

You're welcome!

[@jouchirenko]

I use this technique but not for every word, just the ones I struggle to recall. Like 下水 (gesui) which means "drainage" or "sewerage" and made the mnemonic "gassy" for obvious reasons and it stuck.

[@Applecitylightkiwi]

Congrats man, i only do 5 words a day it is enough for me really i have many other things going on

[@MarchiWozniak]

it really works. Thanks for the tip 👍

[@TradeThisChart-td5ne]

Thank you so much for sharing Robbie! Can you tell us how you spend your time on a daily basis for doing this exercise? And how many words on average do you do this for in a day?

[@RobbieKunz]

I'm unsure about the time. Some days I learn 0 words and other times I might be on an airplane for a few hours and learn 300+ cards. Learning it for the first time is just the beginning. You need to review and do upkeep to ensure it goes into long term memory.

[@TradeThisChart-td5ne]

@@RobbieKunz I find it hard to balance between learning words, practicing reading and writing, and talk with native speakers with just 1 language. Do you have any suggestions for some structure or process with how you spend your time? I can imagine you need some system to follow if you're learning multiple languages at once like yourself.

[@jean-louistaffarelli1582]

Thanks. But how do you instruct chatGPT to make these sentences for you ?

[@ej3833]

Wouldn't you think one would be pretty advanced having 6000-8000 words if you’re not counting individual verb conjugations?

[@RobbieKunz]

Depends on what you define as "advanced"! When my Spanish vocabulary was around 10,000(?) words, I could go to Mexico, talk to everybody, make friends, go to bars, even conduct business in Spanish. But in the last two years, I added another 10,000 words to my Spanish vocabulary and when I read Borges now, there are still plenty of words I don't know.

[@ej3833]

I think 8000 words where 1000 of them are verbs would get you to an upper B2 or lower C1, don't you think? 1000 verbs in for instance italian with all conjugations I think amounts to around 40000 which means you would know 47000 total words if counting conjugations as well.

[@kaerzokled]

​@@ej3833counting conjugations is stupid though. Comer, comí, comiste, comas, whatever, all means eat, only people who do that are obsessed with counting their merits instead of applying them

[@jean-louistaffarelli1582]

sorry. I should have said images, not sentences

[@originaldanman]

Well this can work in a lot of circumstances, but what do you do when a word translated into spanish has over 30 different meanings depending on how you use it, (context, other words used with it, etc..). I know many are synonyms, but not all. At 62 years old I'm still very bad at English grammar, was a C student at best, imagine how bad I am at Spanish that I've been trying to learn in the last 2 years.

This is interesting. Anyone have tried this with mandarin ? Is this method working with all the tone thing ?

[@jmbarbarossa7920]

What if you were reading a book where the word for overcoming comes up in context about a knight galloping toward a wall wearing gloves and he overcomes the wall by leaping over it. That means reading stories and reading in a foreign language works like one giant mnemonic device for remembering words because the stories it tells impart mental images and give importance and context to their use. I'm going to put the flash cards down now.

[@RobbieKunz]

I suppose if you found a story like that, it would work but usually we don't find the perfect mnemonic connection in the material itself. However, I do sometimes use the context that the word appears in to help with the mnemonic. You want to use every advantage you can get!

[@jmbarbarossa7920]

@RobbieKunz reading in a language is reading in context. Every time you read a word in context, you are learning multiple things. But you only get a piece of the word's meaning each time. I didn't have a mnemonic for the word dubious when I read the Wind in the a Willows in 4th grade, but I do remember the word and where I learned it. Same with tons of words from Lucasarts adventure games I played around the same age. Also, I do not deny the power of visualization and mnemonics for memorization. I want to highlight the importance of context for learning words in their complex connections. When you have to learn 10000 words it seems like a better long term bet that will also have added depth taken from the language as a whole. But you're right it's hard to find large amounts of skill appropriate things to read that are also highly interesting and compelling. But if you can find them, stories, fairy tales, myths, fiction, etc will give you vivid and compelling images that impress the vocabulary on your mind. And it's in the context of the language which acts as a force multiplier on your learning.

[@RobbieKunz]

Yes, I use both. I do not suggest learning words individually outside of real context.

[@satchycollins3985]

Thanks

[@sheilaforde836]

Thank you.

[@Rebecca-kg6vd]

Thanks for this helpful video! I’m curious how often you add new anki cards and if you count creating new cards as part of your study time?

[@RobbieKunz]

You're welcome :) Most cards I create are autogenerated from sites like migaku.io or vocabtracker.com. So it's just a matter of clicking a button as I am looking up the definition. It doesn't really take any extra time!

[@Rebecca-kg6vd]

@@RobbieKunz thanks! I’ve never heard of those - I make my anki cards the old fashioned way. :) i will have to check them out!

[@tombaryla]

Do you do anything special to remember if a given word is in German or another language?

[@frogskocinq]

Learn prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Der Die Das book has a lot of this that is helpful.

[@RobbieKunz]

Interesting question! I don't do so because each word has a "feeling" with it that lets me remember which language it is. German words sound very different from French words for me, for example, so it's easy for me to keep them apart. However, if you had trouble differentiating between languages, you could use something in your mnemonic like visualizing a beret or a baguette if it's a French word, for example.

[@Learning_English_Together.]

Hola Robbie, creo que puedes hablar en español con casi 10.000 palabras. Eres muy inteligente y dedicado, me encantó tu método. Me gustaría entrevistarte para mi canal de KZbin, te gustaría participar? Podemos hacer una pequeña entrevista para que expliques un poco más tu método en español. Espero conocernos pronto, un abrazo desde Chile!

[@RobbieKunz]

Gracias por invitarme a tu canal. No se si tengo tiempo ahora para conversar, pero en el futuro es posible que si! Enviame un correo electronico ([e-mail]).

[@tbountybay3080]

Russian Accelerator uses this great method to help students remember the new vocab words

[@RobbieKunz]

Never heard of them but if they do, that's great!

[@ArekxQQQ]

Very interesting! I find learning vocabulary tedious and default to comprehensible input and hoping that if I see or check a word enough times I will remember it. Unfortunately it’s not the best way to study for vocab tests if you take classes in a language school so I’m curious to try mnemonics! Just one question to that, when you create anki decks, do you leave a clue in the flash card related to the story you came up for the word to trigger your memory? Or simply word on one side and translation on the other?

[@RobbieKunz]

I use Migaku.io to autogenerate my flashcards to save time so there are no hints for the mnemonic although if you are creating your flashcards manually, you could do that, too.

[@KS-zb2yq]

Great Video👍👍 I would like to ask how do you track your words? How do know how many words you have learned? Just by using Anki flashcards? I mean while we are learning we usually read Books or articles..How can someone track the words? Thanks in advance for your help 😊🙏

[@RobbieKunz]

In this video, I used my Anki flashcard count to see how many words I had learned. However, the actual number of words I learned is probably much higher because I didn't include all the words I learned outside of that. The way you track the words is either through Anki or some other system like Lingq.

[@raphaeloliveira4987]

I like to use Whimsical, by making a mindmap of the words instead of using Anki

[@Mary-S11]

@@raphaeloliveira4987Hello, can you please tell me more about Whimsical ? I was going to install any similar app to memorize my vocabulary.

[@ChronicThings]

Thank you for the advice. I have been using Anki to learn Japanese vocabulary (about 10 words per day). With your simple method i think i can at increae this to at least 20 words per day. Could you create a video on how you creat Anki flashcards? I typically create two cards per word. Now that i can memorize more words, i think that creating the flash cards might be the bottleneck. In other words, i feel that creating flashcards takes a long time. For instance, i will usually get the audio .mp3 file from forvo and add a picture to the flash card. But im curious how you can make large numbers of flash cards without sinking a large amount of time into the creation process.

[@RobbieKunz]

I agree. I don't really like the manual work of creating flashcards so I rely on migaku.io to autogenerate the flashcards for Anki. I just click a button and it creates a flashcard with the sentence the word appears in, the definition, audio and a picture. I'd rather spend time on actually learning the foreign language than doing manual work of creating flashcards!

[@Pedro123094]

I guess it would be worth it just for very few specifc words. For me, it would be better spending this time listening to a poadcast or watch some content in english. Dont you know the words? No worries, just keep going. Eventually you won’t need to remember anything anymore.

[@RJ-ku2mh]

Hey, whats your best language and how long did it take you to get to a level that you were happy with?

[@ernestoberger7589]

People mistakenly say 3000,5000 words, but in fact are 3 to 5 thousand family of words. For instance, politics, political, politician, politico, politically,etc. doesn't count as several, but just one in that count.

[@KellenChase]

Umbrella fan nail snake bear hat I (eye) london (big Ben). I love visual mnemonics.

[@user-ke2mj4wy2f]

What prompt did you use in ChatGPT to generate the mnemonics?

[@RobbieKunz]

"Please create a visual mnemonic in text that connects the sounds of the foreign language word to its English meaning. Do this for "[foreign language word]" in [foreign language]." Works for ChatGPT 4o and 3.5. Sometimes it will give images that don't sound at all like the sounds of the word. In that case, I just write, "[visual image] doesn't sound like [foreign word syllable]" and it will rewrite it.

[@RobbieKunz]

I tried "juego" and it gave "Imagine you're playing a game (juego). You hold a "huge egg" (jue) in your hand, and as you start playing, you "go" (go) and roll it across the floor, symbolizing the start of the game." Not bad. If it gets too unwieldy, just start a new chat and do it from the beginning. You may have to do this a few times before it gets it right. Also, ChatGPT 4o is much better than 3.5 so if you want to use ChatGPT a lot for this, I highly recommend getting the better version.

[@twodyport8080]

@@user-ke2mj4wy2f It does not work for me either. All it does it create acronyms.

[@RobbieKunz]

For "desván", I got "Imagine climbing up to the attic (desván). You discover a desk (des) covered in dust and a van (ván) model sitting on it, representing the hidden treasures found in the attic." Please reread my messages and make sure you are using ChatGPT 4o.

[@user-ke2mj4wy2f]

When I try to make my own, they are personal to me but it is very difficult sometimes thinking of something so this potential of ChatGPT to do this would be super useful but says I’m getting out just not helping at all four or 4o

[@Teemo-jz2qd]

Hi, what is chat gpt prompt for mnemonic.

[@suunnnyy.suu7]

How many language do you know?

[@RobbieKunz]

Currently I study 8 languages every day.

[@jasonswami9275]

Very good 👍 👍❤️

[@mustafaerdem1862]

Galibun galebe

[@RobbieKunz]

!نعم

[@duolingogrinder]

du er fantastisk!

[@RobbieKunz]

Tak!

[@BarryFence]

You used only 542 words in this video. Perhaps we can get away with only about 3000 words. :^)

[@HeyJD123]

Issue is the words he used aren't the most common words in the frequency list. He used words like "gallop", which would not be in the top 3000 words. You still need to know more than 3000 words to know "gallop" for example

[@obornyi2407]

@@HeyJD123 you are right but think about the fact that most words are known and the few words that are not know will be learned this way. Like in this case gallop. And next time you hear a story with the same words and a few new and then you will learn these new words

[@thefootballpunnedit]

Saying you wanna learn 30,000 words to understand is ridiculous… most native speakers dont have that many words in their mother tongue.

[@robertmajak]

This is complete nonsense. 30,000 words, are you out of your mind? It's simply not realistic. And when was the last time you used 30,000 words in your native language?

[@HeyJD123]

​@@robertmajak It's not about using 30,000 words but just knowing them. Like you never use "indubitably" but most people know it.

[@senasmith8523]

Knowing many words does not mean speaking English well. I learned 10000 words, but my speaking is very bad.

[@RobbieKunz]

Watch my other videos where I talk about learning the words as the first step. You still have to put in the time and effort to be able to use them. That may take a long time, perhaps the rest of your life.

[@alshammari3990]

You have to hear it from native speakers I don’t memorize a lot of words but I can understand and express my thoughts and ideas freely without any issues because I focused on listening

[@knw-seeker6836]

Would this also work for exams like in psychology in which one has to know a lot of detail?

[@RobbieKunz]

Yes, it would! Depending on the material you are trying to memorize, you would have to think of a mnemonic that worked.

[@worldwide8323]

I’m Arabic I will try to learn English for ielts

[@RobbieKunz]

بالتوفيق

[@worldwide8323]

@@RobbieKunz تعرف عربي؟

[@worldwide8323]

@@RobbieKunz I’m girl from Saudi Arabia if you interested in learning Arabic you can add me at any app you want I want someone English to interact with

[@RobbieKunz]

@worldwide8323 نعم، أعرف العربية قليلاً DM me on Instagram!

[@worldwide8323]

@@RobbieKunz I sent

[@mustafaerdem1862]

Hallini nehki fil arabiustadi

[@RobbieKunz]

بالتأكيد

[@krankfurt-e4g]

I learned 1100 German words in 2 months

[@Eoghan-hs2wz]

And how many of those 1,100 words can you remember the definition of? And more importantly, how many of those words are you able to use in active speech?

[@user-gv9ev1gn7g]

I am not. I have never been a witch!

[@CSistemas]

Interesting

[@rahimimansor5212]

I' m arabian person...but I didn't understand the word who mentioned in this vid *ralaba* in arabic ....

[@RobbieKunz]

As I mentioned, I didn't try to do the accent. It's غَلَبَ (ghalaba) as in: عَلَى تِلْكَ الجَزِيرَةِ فَاسْتَظَلَّ بِشَجَرَةٍ كَبِيرَةٍ وَغَلَبَ عَلَيْهِ النُّعَاسُ فَنَامَ فِي مَكَانِهِ

[@HakendaNatan]

good

[@TigerThomas-oy3cy]

28 words a day for 2 years 😅

[@duolingogrinder]

per language?

[@RobbieKunz]

On average, yes. Some days I learn 0 but on other days, I might be sitting on an airplane for a few hours and go through 300+ words/flashcards.

[@diogoabib]

My prompt for Anki Import: I will provide you with some words and you will have to generate a sentence that best conveys the meaning of each word, and then, the meaning for each word that is easy for an English student to understand and learn, and that complies with the best dictionaries of the English language. Give me three synonyms. Diversify verb tenses, use modal verbs and create questions in some sentences for broader learning. The output format must be this way for each given word: Last night he told me he loved me. : love /lʌv/ - to like another adult very much and be romantically and sexually attracted to them, or to have strong feelings of liking a friend or person in your family. Synonyms - affection /əˈfek.ʃən/, passion /ˈpæʃ.ən/, cherish /ˈtʃer.ɪʃ/.

[@RobbieKunz]

Great prompt. I like the synonyms idea!