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Want to improve your speaking vocabulary? STOP LEARNING NEW WORDS✋ — Transcript

by Accent's Way English with Hadar · 2,904 words · 403 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00hey it's Hadar thank you for joining me
0:02and in this episode I'm going to talk
0:04about why if you want to improve your
0:07vocabulary and stop getting stuck in
0:10English you have to stop memorizing and
0:13learning new words here's the thing as a
0:16speaker of English as a second language
0:18you may have found yourself in the past
0:21or in the present speaking English and
0:24then you got stuck right you were
0:27looking for a specific word and that
0:29word was nowhere to be found
0:34word where are you worried word and then
0:41you ended up using a different word that
0:43didn't quite convey the message as you
0:46wanted it to convey the message or you
0:48just got stuck and you started getting
0:50all anxious and nervous and then you get
0:52stuck even more and started making
0:53stupid mistakes and then afterwards you
0:57felt like crap you thought oh my elissa
1:01so terrible I don't know words in
1:04English and then you say to yourself hey
1:06you know I just need to improve my
1:08vocabulary that is the problem I get
1:10stuck because I don't know enough words
1:13you compare to yourself to your
1:15abilities in your native Italian and
1:17your native tongue your words are just
1:19like laying there waiting for you to
1:21grab them right and in English it's just
1:25like you have to search for them with a
1:27flashlight now first of all stop
1:31comparing yourself to who you are in
1:33your native tongue because it's not
1:34productive it's only going to make you
1:37feel bad about yourself and it's just
1:40not fair these are two different
1:42circumstances it's kind of you're
1:43comparing apples and oranges you don't
1:46want to do that second you have to
1:48understand that the problem here is not
1:50your poor vocabulary is what you are
1:54doing with the words that you already
1:57know and to explain that even more I'm
2:00gonna have to take you to my whiteboard
2:01but before I want to share with you a
2:03quick story
2:04when I first started out teaching it was
2:07after a long period where I wouldn't
2:10speak
2:11English at all so just a quick reminder
2:13I moved to New York in 2000 and moved
2:17back to Israel in 2004 or five so I was
2:23there for almost five years and then for
2:26for two years here I haven't talked in
2:29English I haven't read anything in
2:31English I had no connection maybe I
2:33listen to TV shows but that's about it
2:37so when I first started teaching I
2:39wasn't very confident about my English
2:41abilities especially my fluency so I was
2:45pretty good with pronunciation still but
2:47my ability to communicate and the the
2:51the words that my knowledge of English
2:53was fairly limited especially comparison
2:57comparison to where I am right now and I
3:01remember the situation where I I was
3:04teaching this executive he was in my
3:07house back then I didn't have an office
3:10I was teaching in my apartment and he
3:12wanted to practice reading articles and
3:15I was just like okay sure so let's open
3:16the New York Times I wanted to sound
3:18sophisticated and read an article so he
3:21started reading an article and I was I
3:24my eyes went black because we started
3:27reading it and I was just like you know
3:29trying to show him how to pronounce
3:32every word and it was really great and
3:35then we came across a word that I have
3:38no idea what it meant like I could
3:41figure out how to say it but then he
3:43asked me what does that mean I'm like
3:46and then I would try to understand from
3:50the context what this word is and then I
3:52would make up something and then mind
3:55you it was like almost like it was ten
3:57years ago I was young and naive and kind
4:01of my ego was a lot bigger than what it
4:04is today and then I and then we came
4:09across another word and I had no idea
4:12what it meant and then another word and
4:15another
4:16and at some point I was just like okay
4:17let's go back to the beginning and read
4:19it again so I don't come across as
4:21completely stupid not knowing all of
4:25these words right and then I really felt
4:29horrible I was just like how is that
4:31even possible
4:33you know the imposter syndrome started
4:35rising up
4:36it's just how is it possible that you're
4:38a teacher and you don't know all of
4:40these words and this is ridiculous you
4:43shouldn't be even teaching he thinks
4:45that you are stupid and not intelligent
4:48and bla bla bla bla bla bla bla
4:50of course he loved the lesson and then
4:52he texted me oh it was such a great
4:53lesson thank you so much I learned so
4:55much but that doesn't matter right all
4:57everything that I thought to myself and
4:59then I got obsessed with learning all
5:02these fancy where it's from the New York
5:03Times so I invested a lot of time
5:05learning a lot of words that I came
5:08across in all of these academic articles
5:12and and business articles and as I
5:17started teaching I noticed that I'm not
5:20using these words I'm not using these
5:23words and all of a sudden I started
5:26forgetting about all these words right
5:28so I spent all this time learning these
5:30fancy words I never had a chance to use
5:34these words and then I started exploring
5:36it and I started talking to my students
5:38seeing what they are focusing on when
5:41they're learning new words and they were
5:43pretty much doing what I was doing
5:44learning all these fancy words but they
5:47never had a real opportunity to use them
5:50maybe I used them in my room
5:52academic writing because at the time I
5:54was also learning English literature at
5:56the university so yeah every now and
5:59then I used this one of those fancy
6:00words but in speaking in my lessons when
6:03I was talking to friends I I was never
6:07using them and then I started thinking
6:10about how we go about learning words and
6:13is the investment that we're making in
6:16learning all of these new fancy
6:19nice-to-haves words is really
6:22dancing us and where we want to be which
6:24is pretty much speaking fluently and
6:27being able to convey our message clearly
6:29with the right words with the right flow
6:31and of course with the right
6:33pronunciation and intonation I want you
6:40to imagine your vocabulary as a circle
6:43[Music]
6:45as a sort of a circle so it was never
6:53great at drawing okay
6:56anyway you get the point that's your
6:58vocabulary I'll even write it here now
7:05this is your overall vocabulary that
7:08means that these are words that you
7:10understand that you know that if you
7:13were to read them in a book or hear them
7:15when someone speaks you'd be like I know
7:17exactly what it means you wouldn't need
7:19to go to check them in the dictionary
7:21okay so here's the problem the words
7:26that you use in regular conversation are
7:31here it's a much more limited circle
7:37okay so these are that you use easily
7:41right these are the words that are
7:44retrieved easily where it's like house
7:46and on and chicken and and soup and
7:49ladies and gentlemen and maybe other
7:52words that you use on a regular basis
7:54may be words related to technology
7:56because you use them at work all of the
7:58time however there's still a gap here
8:03between the words that you know in the
8:06words that you actually use now the
8:08problem is that a lot of people don't
8:11even think about these words as a
8:12challenge they don't think they need to
8:15do anything with these words because
8:16they know these words so they go ahead
8:18and spend a lot of time expanding and
8:21extending the circle now since it's the
8:24outer circle it'll take a lot more
8:27energy and work to expend it and you'll
8:30do a lot of
8:31hard work to extend it just a bit right
8:35and here's the problem when you extend
8:39the outer circle it doesn't do much to
8:42the inner circle right so these words
8:45usually stay unaccessible I mean you may
8:49understand them better when you read so
8:51it definitely helps your comprehension
8:53and your listening skills but the
8:56question is is that helpful for your
9:00fluency and does it prevent you from
9:03getting stuck I don't think so
9:06so what I'm saying is that instead of
9:09investing in the outer circle and
9:11extending the outer circle focus on this
9:15inner circle I'm using gonna use a
9:17different color for it so you know that
9:19these are the words that you use easily
9:22start putting your focus on the words
9:25that you already know but you never use
9:29these are the words that are not
9:31available these are the words that get
9:33you frustrated because your subconscious
9:36mind knows that you know these words and
9:39you're like I know this word how come
9:41it's not available how come I can't use
9:44it and then you remember it right an
9:46hour later you're like oh that was the
9:49word I was looking for or when someone
9:51helps you you're like yes yes that's it
9:53right whether it's like words or phrases
9:55whatever but you know this and you are
10:00just limiting yourself or you haven't
10:03done something to make these words to
10:07turn them into active words right now
10:08they're only passive and passive doesn't
10:11help us with anything especially not
10:14with our fluency so as I'm suggesting
10:18instead of expanding your vocabulary
10:20with all these fancy words that are
10:22important don't get me wrong I mean it's
10:25great to know more words it really it
10:27really is helpful especially if you need
10:29to write academic articles and if you
10:32want to write books and if you want to
10:35understand better what it is that you're
10:36reading
10:37so of course invest more time in it I'm
10:39just saying don't expect it to be
10:42available right away without doing
10:44something if
10:45and what I'm also saying is these words
10:49or words that you hear around you all
10:50the time so maybe in the hierarchy of
10:54words in terms of what words are more
10:57important than others probably these
10:59words are more important because you
11:01constantly hear them you know them right
11:03that means that they're very very
11:05present in the language it's just that
11:07you don't use them and that's the
11:09problem okay so I'm gonna take you back
11:14to the table and there I'm going to
11:17share with you the steps that will help
11:19you start implementing those words into
11:23your day-to-day speech so the first
11:25thing I want you to have is a memo on
11:29your phone so you can use the Notes app
11:31you can use Evernote I'm gonna put a
11:34link to it below that's a really great
11:36app to keep track of your notes and
11:39there you're going to make a list of
11:42words now this list of words it needs to
11:46be super accessible where every time you
11:49come across a word that you know but you
11:52say to yourself I never use this word so
11:55you need to have this inquisitive
11:56listening where you constantly listen to
11:59words but you're also asking yourself is
12:01this is this a word I use okay
12:05especially words that you need and again
12:06remember these are not words that you
12:09need to go to the dictionary to look
12:11them up these are words that you know
12:14but you find yourself from never using
12:17them and then I want you to put it on
12:19that list now every now and then you'll
12:22come across a word that you don't know
12:24but you feel people are using it all of
12:27the time and you may think to yourself
12:29hey maybe I need to know that word you
12:31can put it on the list as well but
12:34remember the purpose the first stage is
12:36to get you to start using all the words
12:39that you already know it'll be a lot
12:43faster and a lot more effective and then
12:46you are going to start adding those
12:49words as you are listening to English so
12:52don't think about it and try to remember
12:54it
12:54because you'll forget the moment it
12:56happens the moment you come across that
12:58word you put it on your list and then
13:02once a day or once every other day I
13:06want you to go to that list and pull one
13:08of those words out the best way to make
13:12this word more available and more
13:14accessible is to first of all develop
13:16the muscle memory of the pronunciation
13:18let me tell you a secret a lot of times
13:20your subconscious mind know the word but
13:23will avoid using it because you are
13:25uncertain about its pronunciation there
13:28is this fear year that is preventing you
13:30from using that word even though you
13:32know when you need to use it so it keeps
13:35shoving it down until it's no longer
13:38available so for example let's say that
13:41on your list you have the word
13:42regurgitate now this is a word that I
13:45know but I never use and I know that I
13:47can use it more often so let's say that
13:50that's my word and I'm going to probably
13:54say it 20 30 times just like this
13:57regurgitate regurgitate regurgitate
13:59regurgitate regurgitate regurgitate then
14:03I might want to use another resource to
14:06help you me get it into my system so
14:09there then you can use our friend Google
14:11to Google for sentences with the word
14:14regurgitate and then I would probably
14:17say these words out loud a few times
14:21then I would want to invent some
14:24sentences with the word regurgitate so
14:28for example now I need to think about it
14:31the students regurgitate the materials
14:34they learned from their teachers okay so
14:38maybe at first I'll get stuck no wait is
14:41there a better way for me to say it the
14:42students keep regurgitating
14:45the material they learn from their
14:48teachers and then I say it again and
14:50I'll try to refine it and do it again
14:52and again and again until it comes out
14:55naturally with flow that's how I'm
14:59starting to connect all the dots
15:01together all the senses hearing it
15:05seeing it cuz it's written in my
15:06notebook you might want to write it
15:08phonetically feeling it in your mouth
15:11getting the muscles to work around this
15:13this sound reading it out loud using
15:17resources that someone else created and
15:19then creating my own sentences right and
15:23connecting all the dots there the word
15:25with context that's how you start
15:28remembering words now don't overwhelm
15:32yourself you don't need to do ten of
15:35those a day one word a day is enough
15:38expanding your vocabulary by 20 words
15:41within 20 days or 30 days one month is
15:45incredible it's more than what you've
15:48had before right so the other
15:51alternatives they don't work as well
15:53so start enhancing the words that you
15:56already know you will see that it's a
15:59skill it's an acquired skill the easier
16:01is start retrieving words that you know
16:03the easier it will be for you to store
16:06new words or to start using words that
16:10you actually don't know so what we're
16:12doing here will expand your vocabulary
16:14will help you feel more expressive but
16:18most importantly it'll give you the
16:20skill to know how to retrieve words
16:22easily and to integrate words into your
16:24day-to-day speech fast and effectively
16:28remember that understanding something
16:31gaining clarity without taking action
16:33right away is meaningless it's as if you
16:36haven't done anything so what I want you
16:40to do right now is take a piece of paper
16:41and a pen and write down ten words so
16:45you you'll need to do some mind
16:47searching right now brain searching and
16:49you'll need I want you to come up with a
16:51list of ten words that you know but you
16:55never use you find yourself never using
16:58because you're not sure how to say those
17:01words or maybe it's just they're not
17:03available
17:04and if you can't think of something then
17:06start a list of five words maybe words
17:09that you heard in
17:11this video may be the words that you
17:14have recently come across if not make a
17:17point that you'll get that list done by
17:19the end of today and then I want you to
17:23post those 10 words in the comments
17:25below because I really want you to
17:27commit to yourself to take action and
17:30also your words are going to be someone
17:32else's resource so this is a win-win
17:36situation ok that's it thank you so much
17:38for watching if you like this video I
17:40invite you to subscribe to my channel
17:42and come on over to my website to sign
17:45up for my email newsletter where you'll
17:47get a new lesson into your inbox every
17:50single week also if you felt that this
17:53episode was beneficial then share it
17:57with your friends your students your
17:59colleagues so they can all enjoy the
18:02knowledge of new and old words have a
18:05beautiful week and I'll see you next
18:06week in the next video bye

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