Stop memorizing word lists (do this instead), by The Bookish Pup on YouTube. 6 min 52 s.
- Video length
- 6 min 52 s
- Time to do it
- 10 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
Catch three words you do not know from something you would watch or read anyway. Copy the whole sentence each word came from, not just the word.
Crack the word open. Split it into a root and an ending, such as aud for hear, vis for see, bio for life, or the endings -ish and -worthy.
Guess the meaning from those parts before you reach for a dictionary, then check whether your guess was close.
Give the word a hook. Invent a ridiculous mnemonic that links how the word sounds to what it means, the sillier the better.
Draw a tiny doodle of that hook next to the word. A rough sketch beats a neat one for memory.
Add the word to Anki as a card with the example sentence on the front and the meaning plus your doodle on the back.
Review your Anki cards daily and rate each one honestly. The schedule brings a word back right before you would forget it.
Do a quick check: cover the meaning and recall the word from its sentence only. If you stumble, make the hook stronger.
Live with the word. Use it in a message that day and listen for it in shows, books and podcasts so you meet it again in context.
Tips and common mistakes
Keep the original sentence on every card, because words learned in context stick better than words from a list.
Review a small batch daily instead of cramming a big deck once a week, since the timing is what does the work.
If a mnemonic does not come back to you instantly, replace it with a stranger one rather than repeating it more.
Do not add more than about ten new cards a day at first, or reviews pile up and you quit.
Questions
Do I need Anki to do this?
No. Paper cards in a shoebox work the same way if you sort them into daily, weekly and monthly piles. Anki just handles the timing for you.
How many words should I learn at once?
Start with three a day, which is the ten-minute version in this method. Add more only when your daily reviews feel easy.
What if I cannot find a root or a hook?
Skip the cracking step and go straight to a hook based on how the word sounds. Not every word splits neatly, and that is fine.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
