My guide to learning vocab
hich English words should you be learning?
When you are learning vocab to help you with English at work, remember real life it is not an English exam.
This may sound obvious but so many of my clients worry that their English sounds too simple, or for example, that they need to show a great range of adjectives or use long words. However, the audience is not there to assess your English, they are there because they are interested in the content of what you are saying.
You will benefit much more (and stress yourself out much less!) if you focus your efforts on learning a shorter list, full of really useful words, rather than a long list full of words you might never need. Therefore, be very selective about the words you want to learn. Before you add a word to you list, always ask yourself:
‘Will this word really help me be able to do my job better in English?’
For this reason, I rarely recommend learning set lists of words from books, podcasts etc. Instead, to make your vocab list as relevant to you as possible, the words should be taken from your life:
Both at work and in our sessions:
1) if you find you are missing an English word you need, take the time to look it up and add it to your list.
2) if you hear/read a word and think that would be useful for me, put it on your list.
Don't just write down individual words but also 'chunks', so words that go together. This might be;
- where the verb is different to your own language e.g. for German speakers ‘to make an effort’ (in German it is to 'give effort'),
-short phrases e.g. ‘at the latest’ or 'at your earliest convenience'
-whole sentences you hear/read and you think would be useful. e.g. 'It was a pleasure to meet you'.
Where to store your words:
Whether you have a special notebook for your vocab, a file on your computer or use a vocab app, is a matter of personal preference. In general, I recommend an app as they have many useful functions. However, apps are not for everyone, so choose whichever way you are most likely to use.
Whichever way you choose, you need to take the time to add your words regularly- the best way is always as soon as possible. Writing words down on random bits of paper with the intention of adding them to your list when you get home, very rarely works! Get in the habit of noting down words of interest in your English calls and meetings and then taking two minutes afterwards to add them to your list.
If you want to use as app, the apps I recommend are Quizlet (Quizlet.com) or Vokablebox (Vokablebox.com). Quizlet is free and has lots of good ways to practice the words, However, it is not user-friendly and learning how all the sections work can be very frustrating. Also, the free version only works when you are online. Vokalbelbox is much more logical and clearly set up. It also is designed specifically for vocab and uses the spaced-learning approach. However, you need a paid account (at present a one-off payment of 10.99€) and it doesn't have as many learning options as Quizlet.
As Quizlet can be challenging at first, I made this walk-through video where I explain the most useful functions and how to set them up. You can also look at my guide to using Quizlet PDF.
How often to learn your vocab:
You need to actively learn your vocab. Having a list of great words is no help if you never look at it!
To store words in your longterm memory, the most effective way to learn is short and spaced out. 10 minutes per day, three days per week, is much better than 30 minutes once per week. Don't forget to review your old words as well as learning new ones.
An example schedule would be;
Day 1: new words
Day 2: review of old words
Day 3: repeat new words
Day 4: review of other old words
Day 5: repeat new words again
All the evidence shows you are much more likely to be successful at sticking to a new habit (in this case vocab learning) if you decide upon a specific set point in the day when you do it. e.g. first thing in the morning, on your commute, the start of your lunch break,.... whatever works for you. Rather than choosing an exact time e.g. 11am, attach it to an existing habit/routine so 'during my coffee break' or 'the moment I stop work for the day'. Take the time to work out the best time slot for you and which day you are going to start. Then stick to it! Creating a new habit is hard, but once it really becomes a habit (research shows this takes around 30 days), it is easy to keep going.
Tips for learning:
Research shows that for long-term memory, your brain remembers best when it is really pushed. Therefore, learning words in one big group of 20 is more effective than studying the same words in 4 x small groups of 5 words. No-one knows the magic number but learning in groups of around 20 words is a good starting point.
Your brain remembers better if you can attach the new piece of information you are trying to learn to an existing piece of information. Therefore, rather than learning the word with the translation from your own language, put the word into an English sentence or think about it in relation to a person you know or a personal experience.
e.g. 'intimidating' - match it to a colleague who you find intimidating
'repetitive' - X task was boring as I found it repetitive.
ChatGPT (or similar) is a brilliant tool for helping you learn your vocab. It can test you, give you explanations, examples, have conversations engineered to make you use the vocab etc, etc. Have a look at this PDF for a full list of ideas and prompts.
Good luck!
When you are learning vocab to help you with English at work, remember real life it is not an English exam.
This may sound obvious but so many of my clients worry that their English sounds too simple, or for example, that they need to show a great range of adjectives or use long words. However, the audience is not there to assess your English, they are there because they are interested in the content of what you are saying.
You will benefit much more (and stress yourself out much less!) if you focus your efforts on learning a shorter list, full of really useful words, rather than a long list full of words you might never need. Therefore, be very selective about the words you want to learn. Before you add a word to you list, always ask yourself:
‘Will this word really help me be able to do my job better in English?’
For this reason, I rarely recommend learning set lists of words from books, podcasts etc. Instead, to make your vocab list as relevant to you as possible, the words should be taken from your life:
Both at work and in our sessions:
1) if you find you are missing an English word you need, take the time to look it up and add it to your list.
2) if you hear/read a word and think that would be useful for me, put it on your list.
Don't just write down individual words but also 'chunks', so words that go together. This might be;
- where the verb is different to your own language e.g. for German speakers ‘to make an effort’ (in German it is to 'give effort'),
-short phrases e.g. ‘at the latest’ or 'at your earliest convenience'
-whole sentences you hear/read and you think would be useful. e.g. 'It was a pleasure to meet you'.
Where to store your words:
Whether you have a special notebook for your vocab, a file on your computer or use a vocab app, is a matter of personal preference. In general, I recommend an app as they have many useful functions. However, apps are not for everyone, so choose whichever way you are most likely to use.
Whichever way you choose, you need to take the time to add your words regularly- the best way is always as soon as possible. Writing words down on random bits of paper with the intention of adding them to your list when you get home, very rarely works! Get in the habit of noting down words of interest in your English calls and meetings and then taking two minutes afterwards to add them to your list.
If you want to use as app, the apps I recommend are Quizlet (Quizlet.com) or Vokablebox (Vokablebox.com). Quizlet is free and has lots of good ways to practice the words, However, it is not user-friendly and learning how all the sections work can be very frustrating. Also, the free version only works when you are online. Vokalbelbox is much more logical and clearly set up. It also is designed specifically for vocab and uses the spaced-learning approach. However, you need a paid account (at present a one-off payment of 10.99€) and it doesn't have as many learning options as Quizlet.
As Quizlet can be challenging at first, I made this walk-through video where I explain the most useful functions and how to set them up. You can also look at my guide to using Quizlet PDF.
How often to learn your vocab:
You need to actively learn your vocab. Having a list of great words is no help if you never look at it!
To store words in your longterm memory, the most effective way to learn is short and spaced out. 10 minutes per day, three days per week, is much better than 30 minutes once per week. Don't forget to review your old words as well as learning new ones.
An example schedule would be;
Day 1: new words
Day 2: review of old words
Day 3: repeat new words
Day 4: review of other old words
Day 5: repeat new words again
All the evidence shows you are much more likely to be successful at sticking to a new habit (in this case vocab learning) if you decide upon a specific set point in the day when you do it. e.g. first thing in the morning, on your commute, the start of your lunch break,.... whatever works for you. Rather than choosing an exact time e.g. 11am, attach it to an existing habit/routine so 'during my coffee break' or 'the moment I stop work for the day'. Take the time to work out the best time slot for you and which day you are going to start. Then stick to it! Creating a new habit is hard, but once it really becomes a habit (research shows this takes around 30 days), it is easy to keep going.
Tips for learning:
Research shows that for long-term memory, your brain remembers best when it is really pushed. Therefore, learning words in one big group of 20 is more effective than studying the same words in 4 x small groups of 5 words. No-one knows the magic number but learning in groups of around 20 words is a good starting point.
Your brain remembers better if you can attach the new piece of information you are trying to learn to an existing piece of information. Therefore, rather than learning the word with the translation from your own language, put the word into an English sentence or think about it in relation to a person you know or a personal experience.
e.g. 'intimidating' - match it to a colleague who you find intimidating
'repetitive' - X task was boring as I found it repetitive.
ChatGPT (or similar) is a brilliant tool for helping you learn your vocab. It can test you, give you explanations, examples, have conversations engineered to make you use the vocab etc, etc. Have a look at this PDF for a full list of ideas and prompts.
Good luck!