Is It Normal To Forget Words You Have Learned In Your New Language?

Learning a language is a hard task and it can seem impossible at times. This is usually because it can sometimes feel like you are making no progress.

This is feeling is usually made worse when you realise that you no longer remember a word that you use to know. This is extremely frustrating, but it happens and is totally normal.

It’s pretty common to forget words we have already learned. It can be annoying to have to learn things over and over again and for them not to stick, but just keep going, you will get there eventually.   

New Words Take Time To Stick

When you are learning a new language it can take a while for new words to stick. This means you may learn them and forget them a few times before you get them to remain in your brain.

Your brain needs to form connections with each word and this will take a few exposures to do this. The strange thing is that some words will need less exposure than others.

We don’t really understand why this is, but it happens. One word you may see once and be able to remember it, other words you may have to be exposed to it hundreds of times before it sticks. It is probably down to your current neural pathways; some words can probably be slotted into your existing frame work easier and can therefore be remembered faster.   

(You can read more about – Can Taking A Break From Language Learning Cause You To Forget What You’ve Learned?)

Short Term and Long Term Memory

You also need to consider that we have a short term and long term memory which work very differently, but play a role in language learning.

Your short term memory is where most information initially goes, but also quickly gets removed again. If you have ever studied with flash cards you will understand the pain of learning a word only to forget it a few minutes later.

Your brain will move the word into your long term memory if it thinks it is important. Seeing a word once is not enough, your brain assumes this is irrelevant and something you will never need to see again. 

This is exactly why apps like Anki show you the same word over and over again. They have worked out how long it roughly takes for you to forget a word, so they make sure to expose you to it again before that happens.

With enough exposures your brain starts to realise that this word is not irrelevant, since it keeps seeing it again and again, so its moves it into the long term memory. 

Passive and Active Vocabulary

Along with your long and short term memory, you also have your passive and active vocabulary. This is slightly different and is basically your ability to recall words or just recognise them.

This type of memory is extremely important in language learning and usually explains why you have forgotten a word you have already learned.

Basically after a few exposures you will be able to only recognise it and maybe understand it when you see or hear it. This is your passive vocabulary and is the first stages of your long term memory, but the connection in your brain is still pretty weak at this point, as you need to be prompted to recognise the word.

If you have a word at this stage, you will not be able to actively recall it. Your mind will be blank. However, the second I show you the word, you will be like “ahhhh I know that” as you are able to passively recognise it.

Once you know a word properly, you will be able to recall it from your active vocabulary without any prompt. This again takes a few exposures to happen. Basically your brain is building the connections and getting them stronger and stronger until you go from just recognising the word, to being able to recall it with ease.

(You can read more about – Active vs Passive Vocabulary, What Is The Difference)

You Need More Context To Remember Words

Context is very important when learning a language and without it, it can be really difficult to remember words.

Learning words in context will make it much more likely that you don’t forget them, but even then it will still happen, just hopefully less often.

Learning words in context means they are surrounded by other words in a situation where you are likely to see the word naturally. Then you can actually connect the new word and relate it to what is around it and what you already know.

This means the next time you see the word, you may be unsure, but the surrounding words (its context) should help you work it out and help you recognise it much more easily than if it was on its own. 

You Need To Use Words To Remember Them

I’ve already mentioned that you need more exposure to help you remember words, but this only half the battle. You also need to try and use the word yourself.

This goes back to the passive and active vocabulary. If you are able to actively recall a word, it means it is much stronger in your mind.

However, that does not mean it will stay there forever, if you do not use the word, your brain will assume it’s not that important and try and fade it from your memory.

Basically if you don’t use it, you lose it. This means that if you do learn a word, you need to tell your brain its worth keeping by using it, and showing it that it’s something you need to keep in your memory.

You Might Be Doing Too Much

If you are struggling with remembering words, then you may be doing too much. Your brain can only process so much information at once and if you overwhelm your memory, you will struggle to remember everything.

If you are trying to learn 100 words a day, this is clearly a lot of information and is just going to over load your system. You may get away with doing this once, but you certainly can’t do this day after day.

You will not be able to build 100 different links in your brain that quickly and moving them all from your short term memory in your long term memory is going to be a real struggle.

If you scale things back and really take the time to learn a small number of words a day, maybe about 5, you will see much more success. However, you may even find this is a challenge, but it is more manageable.   

You Will Get There

Learning a language is difficult and there are lots of up and downs. You are going to forget all sorts of things, even extremely basic things that you had mastered.

This is extremely annoying, but the good thing is that you can quickly relearn these things and usually the 2^nd or 3^rd time you do this, they will stick in your brain a little longer.

Just keep going. It doesn’t matter if you keep forgetting a word, it will eventually stick.

Just keep working at it and trust the process, you will get there.

(You can read more about – Memory Tricks For Language Learning)