Hello! Are you learning a foreign language? Well, I have something to
say about that, because I’m explaining it to you in English, which is
not my native language. Learning a language was so challenging for me
that, after reflecting on my difficulties, I ended up creating an app to make vocabulary learning easier. But more on that later. For now, I'd
like to share my approach to learning words. It works for me, and I hope
it will help you too.
What do you think is most important when learning a language?
- grammar that explains how to build sentences,
- increasing your vocabulary,
- or perhaps practicing with native speakers?
All of that matters — but there’s one essential condition:
MOTIVATION.
Some people love learning languages, and that’s motivation enough. But
what about the rest of us? They're not excited about it, so they only
start learning when they really need to. Maybe they need to travel,
deliver an important speech, or communicate with someone who doesn’t
speak their language. In short,
WHEN IT's CRITICAL — that's when learning begins. Without motivation, there’s no progress.
So, you have enough motivation to study. Maybe you're working
with a teacher, a textbook, or an online course. That means you’re
learning the rules that help build sentences — grammar. Along with
grammar, you’re also picking up new words — maybe from your teacher,
your study materials, or something you’ve just seen and want to
remember. And that’s exactly what we’ll focus on: memorizing words.
Here are the key principles:
- TWO DIRECTIONS. Learn words in both directions: Foreign Word ➡ Native Word and Native Word ➡ Foreign Word.
If you only learn FOREIGN ➡ NATIVE, you’ll understand what others say,
but struggle to reply. You’ll find it hard to recall the foreign word
quickly. And if you only learn NATIVE ➡ FOREIGN, you’ll have trouble
understanding what’s said to you. - LISTEN AND REPEAT. You should hear how NATIVE SPEAKERS pronounce a word and try to imitate them.
- WRITE. Writing helps you remember and recognize
words in texts. But don’t write them by hand! Almost all texts you read
are in printed letters, and you simply won’t recognize a familiar word
in print! Learn the printed form.
- REVIEW REGULARLY. Words are easy to forget. You
might learn some today and forget half tomorrow. Without repetition,
you’ll forget most of them within two weeks. A good teacher will reuse
learned words to help you retain them. But the more you’ve learned, the
harder it gets to keep them all in memory — unless you keep using them.
Most importantly, learn DAILY. You need to build a habit.
It takes about 40 days to form a habit. That’s not something I made
up — it’s how our brains work. To get through those 40 days, you need
motivation. Once the habit is set, remembering words gets easier. But be
prepared: some days you won’t be able to learn even two new words.
That’s okay! Don’t force it — just review what you’ve already learned.
And don’t get discouraged if you can’t remember many words at once. With
consistent effort, your vocabulary will grow.
To make memorizing easier, I created an app called Word
Dolphin. If you have the motivation to study daily, Word Dolphin will
help you remember and not forget new words.
Motivation to create Word Dolphin
When learning new words, it's usually recommended to write them into a notebook and learn.
It is not the only approach, but it is the most widespread. It actually works quite well, especially
for a small number of words. But if the learning process is continuous, you may have some problems:
- Quick forgetting. Words you've already learned are quickly forgotten, so you have to create a review schedule constantly.
- Varying memorization difficulty. Not all words are easily memorized, so some need extra attention and more frequent repetition.
- Pronunciation issues. Transcription only gives you an idea of how a word sounds. For correct pronunciation, it's best to hear a native speaker.
- Inconvenience of paper notebooks. The notebook
format isn't ideal for learning words or for adding comments or usage
examples. Of course, no one forbids you from writing new things between
the lines, but too much extra text in front of your eyes hinders
memorization.
- Recognizing printed text. If you learn words written by hand, it's hard to recognize them in printed form.
- Finding words. After you've written down several hundred words, quickly finding the one you need becomes difficult.
- Inconvenient learning order. Adding words to a
notebook forces you to learn them in the order they were added. That's inconvenient when you need to learn just a few words quickly.
- Lack of a notebook at hand and duplication. Your notebook
often isn't around when a new word appears that you want to write down.
What's more, recorded words can be duplicated. This happens when you've
written down a new word but haven't learned it yet, and then you come
across it again.
- Loss and damage. A notebook with words often gets lost or forgotten somewhere, and in the end, it just falls apart.
- Cluttering the vocabulary. Editing clutters your notes, making learning harder.
When I began searching for a program that would address these drawbacks, I couldn't find what I wanted: some apps were quite complicated (especially for children); others worked slowly or only supported one language. So, I decided to write Word Dolphin, an app that would be free of these problems. I put a lot of effort into making the app fast and as simple as possible. I hope it worked out and you'll like Word Dolphin.
Word Dolphin doesn’t aim to compete with regular dictionaries.
Its purpose is to store new words, help you learn them, and prevent you
from forgetting them.
Language learning encompasses several key components: constructing and understanding sentences, expanding vocabulary, refining pronunciation, and honing communication skills. To communicate at a basic
level, you need to know about 3,000 words. For everyday communication,
you’ll need 7,000–9,000 words. Where can you find these words?
- Search online. Look for phrases like "1000 most common words."
- Read in the target language. Start reading in the
language you’re learning. It’s best to choose texts on topics you’re
familiar with. This way, in addition to the most common words, you’ll
get examples of real, living language.
After you have found the unknown word, add it to Word Dolphin and decide on its translation because there can be many meanings. However, you should learn the three or four commonly used meanings. The optimal quantity is two or three, as more will be difficult to remember.
For many languages, Google or Microsoft Translate provides commonly used meanings, pronunciation samples, and more.
After adding unfamiliar words and their translations, you can start memorizing them.
- Start with a few words, such as five, and gradually increase the number of words. The main rule is that there should be just enough words for you to memorize them easily.
- Always listen to the pronunciation and try to repeat it.
- Writing (typing) greatly helps with memorizing words.
Word Dolphin offers many features. You can add a word by copying it to the clipboard or using the “Share” function.
You can learn it in both directions, practice writing, and work on pronunciation.
If a machine can recognize your pronunciation, a person will understand it too!
Reinforcing knowledge
Reinforcing knowledge is essential because learned words are quickly forgotten without practice.
- First, review recently learned words, then the rest.
- Word Dolphin tracks your skills and creates a personalized repetition list based on them.
