How Does Our Brain Memorise New Vocabulary?

Trying to learn vocabulary is often a struggle for language learners. It can feel like you are remembering nothing and it can get extremely frustrating.

However, the problem is not that you are bad at this whole language learning thing; it’s just that you don’t understand the process of how your brain works.

Once you understand how your brain actually memorises things it will take away a lot of the stress and will allow you actually study in a way that will help you increase your vocabulary. 

How Does Are Memory Work?

Words enter our memory by first being put into our Passive Vocabulary. Here they are quite weak, but over time, and more importantly repeated exposure, they will become stronger and stronger until they enter our Active Vocabulary, where they will be quite strong. (I will go through this in more detail below)

This all happens subconsciously and often words slide between these two vocabularies on a sort of scale. One word may fly across very quickly, while others may take time to go across.

It’s hard to say exactly why this happens, but it does appear to be linked to your level of exposure. Basically the more you see a word, the stronger it will become in your mind.    

If you feel like you are not remembering words, it’s probably because you are not giving the words time to enter your memory. It can take a long time for a word to go from your passive to active vocabulary.

If you learn a word today and can’t remember it tomorrow, that’s okay. You have not failed; you have just not given it enough time or exposure yet. You have maybe seen the word 2 or 3 times, that isn’t enough yet.

Keep learning this word, it will get stronger with time. Yes, it’s annoying, but this is the process you have to go through.  

What Is Passive Recognition Of Vocabulary?

Passive recognition is simply when you see a word and you recognise it, and you probably know what it means but that is about it.

This shows that the word has entered you memory, but only at a very basic level, as it’s usually not very strong. The fact that it feels blurry and you need a second to remember what it means is normal. This is the first step to learning a new word.   

I suffer from this a lot when reading in my target language. I will see many words that I recognise and know. However, when if you asked me what the word for “X” is …I would have no idea. My mind would be completely blank. You could then tell me the word and I would be like “oh yeah, of course it’s that” it’s like I know it, but I don’t.

This is just your passive vocabulary in action. You will hear many language learners complain about this, as they do not understand this is the first step in acquiring new words.

They will often complain that they can understand a language but they cannot speak it. Initially this sounds impossible, surely if you can understand all the words, you can just speak them yourself …well this is prime example of having a good passive vocabulary and a lack an active vocabulary.

This isn’t anything to worry about; it is all part of the process of learning and is totally normal.

Eventually you will build up an active vocabulary, but initially it all starts with being able to just passively recognise words. 

Passive Recognition Of Vocabulary Grows From Exposure

The brains memory isn’t the same as a computer’s hard drive. You can’t just see something once and it’s saved forever. It’s more like a stone slate that you have to repeatedly carve the information on to it.

The more you go over something, the deeper it will be engraved onto the stone and the clearer it will be “saved” into your memory.

So basically the more you are exposed to a word, the more likely it is that you will remember it and it move along the scale from being weak to strong.

Initially you may need to think about a word and it might even take a few seconds to register what it means as everything is a little hazy, but with time it will be almost instant.

Immersion

Immersion is the key to strengthening your passive vocabulary. Immersion gives you a lot of exposure to the language and allows you to see the same words over and over again.

You will find that you just get very good at recognising the words, the language goes from being quite hazy to pretty clear if you do a lot of immersion and this is just all down to the repeat exposure you are getting.

(You can read more about – What Is Learning A Language By Immersion?)

Flashcards

It can take a lot of exposure to get really comfortable with a word, which is why flashcards are also so important in the process.

You can use flashcards to make sure you are actually getting exposure to a word on a regular basis. The word may show up in your immersion, but it’s not guaranteed. A flashcard is going to make sure you do see it again.

This is especially important for words that are maybe not as common and that might not appear in your immersion as frequently.

You could of course skip this step and hope the words show up again in your immersion, but flashcards just streamline everything and give you more control, so you can actually get exposure to the words you want to learn in a quicker manner.

(You can read more about – Are Flashcards Effective When Learning A Language?)

Active Recall Of Vocabulary In Language Learning

You will find that words in your passive vocabulary will become very comfortable after a while. You will instantly recognise them and you may even notice that you can now start to recall them yourself. This is the first sign that a word has moved into your active vocabulary.

You cannot control when this happens as its subconscious, so you may not even realise it has happened. Words will just start to feel clearer in your mind and you may notice that you can pull them out of thin air, you are able to actively recall them by yourself.

However, your active vocabulary is a bit like your passive one, where it’s a scale of strength. Again your memory is not like a computer where it’s just instantly saved and it’s done. You will find that the words you can recall are a little blurry and you may need to stop and think for a minute while trying to remember it.

The good news is that again with more exposure and practice you will be able to do this quicker and quicker until it just comes out instantly. This is exactly happens in your native language, you can open your mouth and words will fall out. You can achieve this with your new language if you give it enough time.        

Active Recall Grows From Using It

More immersion and exposure to the words will help your active vocabulary, but the real secret is to start using the words yourself.

Trying to actually recall a word will be quite tricky at first; you may get it slightly wrong or not be fully confident. However, the more you try and recall the word, the easier it will become.

If you really want to strengthen your active vocabulary you need to do output, which means speaking and writing. The more you output the more comfortable you will get with doing it.

If you look at someone who is starting to speak they often have long pauses between words or lots of filler words like “umm and ahhh”  if you see them a few month later their speech will seem so much smoother and coherent. All that has happened here is practice and it has allowed their vocabulary to become stronger in their minds so they can just recall everything more efficiently.

Follow The Study Plan

If you have seen my study plan you will maybe notice that it is designed to fit this natural pattern of how your brain remembers.

My suggestion is that you immerse a lot and just try and understand the language first. This is basically building your passive vocabulary.

After enough immersion you will reach a point where feel very comfortable with understanding and this is the point where you need move on to outputting, which is of course going to then focus on developing and strengthening your active vocabulary.

(You can read more about – The Only Study Plan You Need To learn A Language (For Complete Beginners))

Language Learning Is Messy

While I have explained how this works in a pretty linear way, the reality is that it can be pretty messy.

You will be doing this process with hundreds of words all at once. Some will slipstream into your active vocabulary almost instantly, while other words may be stuck at the point where you can barely recognise them for months. You may also find words that you knew one day, suddenly seem to have disappeared from your memory the next.

Doing things like flashcards of course can help try and speed up the whole process, but really you can’t control what speed you will remember certain words, or even if you will remember them at all.

You will be seeing hundreds, if not thousands of words a day in your language, some new, and some you will already have seen many times before. Your brain is dealing with each one individually on a subconscious level.

You can’t force it to do what you want, but you can help it along by making sure you get enough exposure. So long as you do that, the rest will all fall into place at some point.

Slowly over time things will sink in and at some point you will hit a critical point where you are comfortable with more words you are encountering than not. Give it time, it will happen.

(You can read more about – What Is The Best Way To Learn New Vocabulary When Learning A Language)

Conclusion

Just keep working on your language and your memory will do the rest. I know it can feel slow and painful at times, but eventually everything you want to remember will stick.

Allow your brain to subconsciously acquire words into your passive vocabulary and then finally into your active vocabulary. Just keep feeding your brain the language and it will take care of the rest. 

(You can read more about – How To Memorise Vocabulary When Learning A Language)