Improving Your Memory In Language Learning: An Amazingly Simple & Effective Technique

Remembering information is of course one of the most crucial processes in learning a skill, especially language learning. Today I share with you an incredibly simple technique that I have used for many years and recently found some research to suggest it might be a lot more effective than I realized!
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[@grai]

it's always encouraging and motivating to remember that your brain is on your side! Sometimes it feels like the opposite : (

[@AnneysHome]

Qqqq

[@ycl520]

@grai I agree, and I really think the book the Power of Now really helped me a lot! There are a lot of easy and interesting techniques that help you train your brain and most importantly, make you feel more comfortable interacting with your brain x)

[@entelektuel.yolculuk]

ahhahahaha truest words

[@entelektuel.yolculuk]

@@ycl520 hmm do you have a pdf friend? Also, how do you learn a language just for reading purposes*

[@jonallen7619]

na the brain is not on ur side

[@MrsBridgette2012]

What’s amazing is meeting people that can remember my name when they see me. And I don’t see them that often. This lady works in retail and she greets everyone by name.

[@stuartlong6217]

Good advice. I spend too much time learning infrequent nouns, which are fairly easy to pick up along the way. It is the nuts and bolts, connector words, and ways of speaking which are the hardest. I like Olly Richards' recent tip, ie to try and nail down greeting and first contact vocab so you don't feel awkward and tongue-tied when meeting someone.

[@contagious_noob3651]

I have this problem too i work in a mexican restaurant so I know plenty of restaurant based vocabulary but when i try and have an actual conversation its just like uhhhhhh

[@celine9322]

I think prepositions are really hard sometimes (I learn german atm). Even though they are some of the most important and common words a lot of them seem to have no direct translation, or they have several meanings at once. I’ve been putting of learning them for this reason in favour of more concrete but less common words, which is probably not good for fluency. I notice that I understand quite a bit both listening and reading, yet I can barely form a simple sentence due to not knowing the right preposition.

[@stuartkirk231]

It sounds simple but it really works! I enjoy reading novels at night before sleep and if I see a word that I don't understand completely or just that I want to grab and remember, instead of getting out of bed and finding a pen and paper, I'll do a "mental sticky note" and say to myself something like "I want you to remember that word", repeat it in my head about 3 times, and the next morning I almost always remember it and look it up in more detail. I guess this is similar. The key is to not overuse this because if you do it with 10 words, for example, you'll be more likely to forget. I usually do it with one or two words/phrases.

[@sammyytube5999]

I do this just to remember a task the next day. Like when you are in bed and something important comes to mind and you don't want to take the time to write or even put it in your phone. So you say it in your head or out loud like 3 or 4 times before sleeping, and always I do remember it the next day. So the same should be true to apply it to the mental note of language learning.

[@nie409]

I use the app read era, so I just "highlight" the word and I can translate it directly in the app. The next day I take all the words I have highlighted and put them on Anki and in my pocket notebook.

[@Xlicty]

Thank you just saved me 15 minutes 😂😎

[@oswaldocaminos8431]

@@sammyytube5999 It sounds great, I'll do it, to see if it works for me. Thanks guys.

[@sammyytube5999]

@@oswaldocaminos8431 Curious, did you retain any vocabulary over night?

[@AqilahSafia]

The fact that your brain is capable of mental stickies 😭 goals . I literally have to go over things like 50x to remember .

[@eundongpark1672]

same. I'm also weirded out that some words go into my head on a single reading without any reason that I can discern, they're sometimes easy words, sometimes diffucult, sometimes relevant, often not relevant words...and then there are words that I really want to know, which I think would be really useful but I canNOT get them into my head, not in short term or long term, or sometimes I can -with difficulty- get them into my head but they disappear really quickly. WHY!? 😩

[@lynda.grace.14]

50 repetitions to remember a concept is average. That's why some of learning is to drill the skill.

[@macLoscope]

I love your take on learning a language, I feel like it's quite unique

[@Earthcrosser]

That makes sense Robin. You can’t afford to remember everything. Just tag the important ones. Also, since I’m trying to increase my French vocabulary, it’s vital that words get associated with something in order to effectively remember them, not just put random words into my memory. :-) The most important thing i’ve learned today is visualizing that digital pin in my head to tag important details and reinforce the encoding into my long-term memory. Thanks again Robin!

[@amelieveegaert8841]

Salut Robin! I just found your channel. You are inspirational. When learning German and English, I would read new vocab before going to bed, and read it again when getting up in the morning. I learnt so fast. Thank you for all the time and quality you put into your videos. I just started learning Russian and your videos are super helpful. Merci beaucoup!

[@sophiel7639]

I can't stop myself to watch your videos for 2 days. your contents are amazing! Thank you!

[@Bob-wr1md]

This doesn't have to do with language learning specifically, but his method of book highlighting made me want to share it: I took the idea from a lecturer, to immediately write a summary of a book chapter you just read into the book. Often, at the end of a chapter, there's enough room to do so without needing extra paper, too. This doesn't just help with remembering the content, but if you ever look for a specific thing from this book you read years ago, you can just check your summary. Great video, and great tips! I will try them out! :)

[@celine9322]

I actually just started doing that with my german book 😀 I’m by no means fluent but I write a summary based on what I understood the text to be about. I hope I can become more detailed in my summaries as my understanding of german gets better.

[@celine9322]

To be clear, this is a method I specifically use for language (german) learning, but it could probably work for many other subjects as well 😀

[@blotski]

I made progress when I realised (whilst doing the Gold List method) that I had a far worse memory for words I'd come across in texts compared to words that I'd heard people using in dialogues or interviews. The difference was pretty big. Since then to improve my vocabulary I spend a lot of time watching stuff on Netflix and KZbin which have subtitles in the original language and make notes of phrases I want to learn. I still read a fair amount for practice but don't beat myself up too much about trying to memorize from texts. For some people it might be the other way round but it's good to find out how your memory works.

[@wangzisworks]

Nice! That’s always an awesome way to remember. I would just add that reading definitely comes into play with more “intellectual” and higher level vocabulary. Once you have a great grasp on conversational skills-watching shows like you said-I would definitely start adding some reading because it’s a great way to learn more obscure words that aren’t used as often in everyday conversation !! But thanks for the tip! I’m gonna see if that works for me as well haah

[@katarzynaapril5054]

I have the same poor memory. I also feel that listening with subtitles.improve my english.

[@marionrichardson3966]

These are my favorite videos! Such USEFUL information. I can't get enough! thank you!

[@johannfer7073]

The problem with myself is I often forgot to read again what I have highlighted😂

[@Roger-mz4lx]

Good information. I'm learning German at age 62 and it's quite a challenge. I'll give that some deep thought.

[@Risenoph]

Haben Sie Deutsch gelernt?

[@Sally-vf8eh]

LOVE the words and phrases table in Notion for language learning "sticky notes" and put one on my target language page right away. Going to add a step where the word/phrase gets put into a flashcard deck after it's been there for some amount of time, but I understand that just the act of transcription/highlighting is the important part. Also appreciate the idea that napping after a learning session might help with retention. Great video!

[@janmarsh5643]

Thank you for your lesson. This reinforces what I have been doing with learning as well. But you were able to add to the learning process. Great!

[@mariavictoriazapataarias4808]

I think is a really effective trick and I love the part 'when you are a beginner' because definitely I felt identified. Thanks for your content!

[@andymorillo8046]

Thank you so much, Robin! I needed something to remember English vocabulary. What I've been making is: I made 3 envelopes, I named them Everyday, Tuesday-Thrusday and Friday so words I can remember easily are on Friday, the ones remember easily but I'd like remember because I sometimes forget them are on Tuesday-Thrusday and the ones I can't remember are on everyday. For example if I forget a word on the Friday envelope, I have to put it on the everyday envelope again... I think it has helped me a lot but definitely I'll try what you say!

[@paulwalther5237]

I'm convinced it helps. I wrote down so many German vocabulary words I probably could have filled books. Trying to memorize said words was pretty fruitless and I mostly gave up except maybe as something to kill time on the subway. But I still learned tons of words and I think this act of writing down words I found was part of that.

[@ricardomd4229]

you are incredibly amazing !!! I love this tip, because actually I noticed that I used it a lot witout knowing this... and Im noticing now that those words stay with me for ever ! Amazih and helpful tip thatI highly recomend to everybody

[@TraSea72]

You've helped me so much. I started learning Mandarin last week and was having such a struggle remembering, the words and phrases just seemed to fly out of my head. Yesterday, I started looking up the pinyin, and writing down every new word or phrase, listening to it, and speaking it. Anyway, I went to bed and when I got up this morning, everything seemed to be there in my brain that Is been struggling with. For me, just the act of writing helped me tremendously!

[@kenschroeppel3128]

Great video! I do something similar to sticky notes in my head when I want to remember a new word or phrase in Spanish: Often, I will associate a mental picture of a person, place, or thing with the Spanish word---basically a mnemonic device or a "mental-picto-sticky". Keep up the good work Robin!

[@rejbrodeur7069]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and so many simple, useful tips.

[@SlecnaLiska]

Oh my god what have i just found!! Amazing channel, thanks a lot for your tips, I love language but struggled to move further for fluency than English (although I started like 5 languages already)...cheers!

[@user-vj5fb3ig4z]

it's nice to see that somebody else is also doing something similar. This is something that I discovered myself. I use anki everyday and part of my routines is adding phrases that i want to remember. It's amazing how well it works! I also type the sentences when I get asked in ANKI, because it adds another layer AND helps me discover mistakes while writing the words. This last part, I discovered recently and it's really helping me to advance. When I write something, my brain keeps telling me: "careful here, last time you made a mistake" XD

[@warrenstates8955]

As per usual, an excellent video! It’s the small things that make an incredible difference.

[@romyfleurs4990]

I totally agree with all this! This is how exactly I learn languages. It is very effective! I use Quizlet to add any new sentence I've heard or read somewhere. I also highlight new words or sentences when I read Kindle books. 😊👍🏻

[@zuzannaskadanowska6940]

That's definitely a great method. I sometimes unconsciously use it but now, after watching your video, I am going to practice it more often and more purposefully. :) Color coding makes wonders by language learning, too. Since I came back to learning German after a 5 year long break, I started using colors to help me memorize genders of different nouns (I just use the color instead of writing der, die or das). And it truly helps.

[@learnindonesianwithchandra3637]

Always happy n to be happy, happy for all who watched this channel

[@christinae.burlison936]

Loved it! Subscribed! Going to try the mental stickies :)

[@vineesame5668]

Hi Robin I really think you should make a video on language learning goals the main thing that I don't seem to understand is for busy people like us should our daily weekly monthly goals be based on the the time we spent on the language or the context we learnt? Such as what's better spending 2 hours on Spanish or learning about Spanish grammar rules? I'd be happy if you'd answer

[@Oswaldovalverde]

thanks my friend. I happen to be learning english by listening to your videos.

[@ronaldgamboa6594]

Thank you for sharing, this is extremely interesting!

[@Earthcrosser]

Perfect timing Robin! I’m just looking for ways to improve my memory! Let’s see... :-)

[@evelynbaron2004]

And I did it For Real (tx Tom Petty). Great video and vr useful. Just a comment on why we learn another language. During Covid 19 I have had more free time than I would have planned for so I learned to play the celtic harp, yes I am already a musician, but still long long road, and also tried to rediscover Serbo-croatian. My father Zigo the great idealist and hero still of mine at the age of 64 was born in a small village in 1908 and because of hard work and many other things, by the time I was born in 1956 was well on his way to becoming inadvertently wealthy ... which means exactly what I wrote. My sister and I went to private schools because Zigo thought the curriculum made sense to him; we travelled a lot as a family when we became affluent and those memories are golden. My mother's history is equally riveting to me and I grew up in a household of Serbian, German, French, ok some Yiddish, and Italian ; English because I was born in Canada. Also a lot of travel. Extended stays. Knowledge of history. No If This is Tuesday It must be Belgium stuff ever. This is my personal rant on behalf of people who inspired me but if you learn another language, as my Dad firmly believed, you are contributing to the Global Community, bravo; if you want to improve your memory, fine. But if you aim to join the human race as best you can, try as I have to have the humility and openness to other cultures and ways of seeing and describing the world. It means everything. It means the world.

[@RhianeHacker]

Thank you! I've been losing my french lately due to having no one to practice with me and I've felt like I've been forgetting them! Perfect timing for this video! Also what mic do you use cause the audio sounds great!

[@thomassouvorov330]

French is quite difficult language, even for a french native ^^ if you need practice, I'm available. I need also to improve my english :)

[@graham974]

All of your tips are great, thank you

[@languagesrainbow2070]

Bravo. I liked a lot your attitude towards aubergines and microwaves! ...

[@laurencejansen-lg6gl]

Thank you very much. It was very interesting 😊.

[@clareomarfran]

I came upon this method long before digital media. To cement a word, phrase, or concept in mind I wrote it down, longhand. Decades later I can still see those words on the page.

[@DouglasSilva-ys6lw]

Fantastic content as always! I am still hoping for videos about Language Islands/Conversation Building, how do you create them and how do you set up them to be remembered for long time. :)

[@LisaGrant_CA]

Great tip! Thank you

[@parastararts]

Why does he make me think of him as Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Adrian’s handsomer, more interesting, calmer & smarter younger brother?

[@lajoyalobos2009]

Sleep is important. Also I find lack of sleep or stress can also be helpful (maybe for some at least). There are some times I do Duolingo lessons when I'm exhausted or busy on purpose or try to rush through the extra XP opportunities. The initial lessons I'll do slowly but then I want to practice rapid recall and recognition memory. I am going for accuracy, but also speed, to produce the correct answer as fast as possible. About 50% of my mistakes are simple errors (like forgetting "sehr" when "sehr gut" is called for or misspelling something) but my aim is understanding the meaning ultimately or to produce a correct response. Even in our native languages we often say something by mistake and then correct ourselves. Im finding that in a more relaxed environment, I'm catching the meaning without as much mental effort and producing responses more automatically. Again, this may not work for everyone, and the point isn't to frustrate yourself but to put yourself under some kind of stress, similar to regularly lifting 100 pounds to make lifting 50 easier. It's also pretty cool to be able to respond in German to something when you're half asleep, realize you're supposed to respond in English, and then also realize that the German response was correct had the conversation been in German.

[@IowaLanguages]

Do you go back to the phrases in Notion to review them? I have to highlight textbooks. It helps me absorb the meaning of the words. Just deciding if the words are super important/moderately important/ etc. makes the info stick.

[@irenemcnamara9699]

I think it was a very useful video. I am always wondering how you learn so many languages!

[@BirgitLiepelt]

I like your Videos very much. They are very motivating to me. Thank's a lot.

[@artiesolomon3292]

good helper technique which I will use.

[@bolt8987]

Thanks mate

[@mamunurrashid5652]

Thank you......Helpful video....

[@gristen]

im not a morning person but i do this to help myself not sleep through my alarm. if i remind myself very sternly right before i sleep that i have to wake up tomorrow im always more likely to actually wake up. sometimes ill even wake up before my alarm which is something i never thought id be able to do lol

[@mayanlogos92]

Now im gonna try bubble

[@marcwibble7949]

Did you make those attractive wooden panels behind you or if not where did you get them? I've only just started the video that you in advance for I am sure will be another great piece of advice!

[@leylaturkmen2514]

love your enegyyyyyyyyy

[@mandy145]

I do the exact same things!

[@Chris-xc3kn]

Your pronunciaton of German is great.

[@joniputr4]

What are ur thoughts on using Anki to memorize phrases/sentences?

[@user-hc9jd1nr2n]

I want to see your book shelf tour

[@PikRabbit]

When you explain the mental stickies, I instantly thought you have Pinterest in your brain

[@alobo_78]

Hi Robín! Happy Wednesday! What is your opinion about mind mapping?

[@Coachmaster76]

Fantastic

[@dianamachado2415]

Usually if I want to remember some word, I write, it’s help me, not to much how I would like, but for now, I will experiment to memorize the word when I read any book, maybe it will be better instead of write.

[@irenemcnamara9699]

I'm going to use this in my translation work. Not the Notion, , however. Notion is too hard for me right now.

[@maximilianovaldes3694]

Why don't you use Anki? I mean there are plenty of decks with voice and it's free. I use it for learning German and I use the stylus for writing down the word and the phrases that I'm learning. You should try it.

[@justaguyfromreddit]

Anki is amazing

[@mariathoma2004]

As I see using a laptop isan effective way to keep notes , but what about hand writring??Isn't so popular ,is it?

[@brucehinkley3813]

Simple ,but effective.

[@disdonc6012]

You should mark the "mit" as well in the sentence "Wie wäre es mit ...?" as this is part of "how about" ;-)

[@ludmilaprikhodko9795]

The tag for me: your brain is on your side… thank you, grai

[@sandydegener6436]

Apps and esl classes are for intermediate and advanced students.

[@apha3850]

thank you so much for making this video

[@vidalstivengutierrezpinto1701]

por q no usas Anki?

[@budekins542]

I confess I have chronic insomnia for which there is no cure. I try and deal with it by getting up from bed after 1pm. If I get up too early - my memory fails.

[@fromanicfroncais1485]

German word inclination are crazyyyy. I mixed DER with DEN at my exam you must have seen my teacher's face. Poor man 😅

[@mayobaid7976]

Cool

[@patfromamboy]

I’ve been studying Portuguese for over 8 years now but I still can’t converse or read. I have to translate everything into English to understand. I can’t translate fast enough to keep up with what people are saying. I’ve visited Brazil 18 times and I’ve been practicing every day with my girlfriend for over 5 years now. She only speaks Portuguese. I still have to translate everything she says except for greetings. I usually learn very quickly and score the highest on aptitude tests and other tests I take so I’m not stupid but it’s like my brain only works with English. People tell me to think in Portuguese but I don’t think in any language so I don’t know what they mean by thinking in a language. I think in images like I’m watching a movie. What can I do to learn without translating? Thanks

[@marlononeal8746]

If you think in images, then put those words in your head as an image or with each word add image that pertains to that word For example in español Mesa - table, think of a table Verde - green, think of the image green Look up memory palace on Google/KZbin, I think you'll be able to progress rather quickly once you do this

[@polyphoniac]

I was going to bitch about the vigorous distracting ceaseless gesticulating, but I see that no one else is complaining, so perhaps it's just that I've had too much coffee.

[@jemzee]

Some people are just wired like this. My partner gesticulates A LOT too and he has a really hard time trying to harness this...

[@fromanicfroncais1485]

It is in case you don't understand English. You can understand everything following his gestures

[@polyphoniac]

@@fromanicfroncais1485 That must be it.

[@jorgeromera3861]

What happened to the coffee?

[@EFoxVN]

Definitely not "underwhelming".

[@riyadmohmad4363]

Where are you from

[@mayanlogos92]

But bubble doesn't have all the languages i need 🥺🥺🥺 i don't see hebrew...

[@abhinavchauhan7864]

Shouldn't you highlight the part of the sentence in your target lang instead of english translation ??????

[@anthonybyrne1169]

2 year olds do this naturally acquiring their first language. Merci wuand-meme

[@anthonybyrne1169]

quand-meme

[@LCMM2150]

* * *

[@warrenr.johnson7990]

As a new language learner, I'm liking your videos. I would like to offer one piece of critical information with the hope that you will take this in and properly use it in the future. When concentrating on learning new words, don't forget to use proper grammar in your own language. You said, in referring to a study, "him and a graduate student". This should have been "a graduate student and he". I hope you're not offended.

[@YogaBlissDance]

In ACTUAL CONVERSATIONAL USAGE no one would say "a...student and he" it would sound WEIRDLY FORMAL!

[@xxdrleek10]

Highlighting has shown not to be effective for post people, but a waste of time.

[@SarahVivian9213140]

Anyone wants to practice French with me!

[@babykano69]

Oui

[@JamalAhmadMalik]

I could say you have copied all my tricks!

[@Loufi303]

Love your content but the filler muzak is highly distracting. Drives me nuts 🥴

[@lindaarmstrong5972]

Great chap , but waving his hands about is really really distracting. Please sit on your hands

[@JamesMcCabe703]

Why does every youtuber have to say "without further ado". Is there some kind of instruction manual that every youtuber follows? The cliché is so old. Just get into it.

[@RobinMacPhersonFilms]

Thanks for your feedback 😊 if you watch my newer content, which is going to me mostly short film/documentary style, you will find I never say this anymore.

[@jamesschuur2801]

Why go this round-about way to learn the dative? Just learn the dative.

[@ElNegroid1]

What happened to the coffee?