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Good morning, good evening, or 
good night wherever you are in 

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the world. 
I'm Oliver and welcome back to 

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the Understandable English 
Podcast. 

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Today we are going to be talking
about vocabulary. 

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Vocabulary. 
What is it? 

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So vocabulary is the words that 
we know, so all of the English 

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words that we know and use. 
And today we are going to be 

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looking at how to build. 
So to grow your vocabulary and 

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to practice, what are the best 
techniques that you can use. 

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I will be showing you the 
techniques that I use with 

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language learning and that lots 
of students use too. 

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Building or growing a strong 
vocabulary is essential for 

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mastering or improving your 
English. 

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And today I am going to share 
some very effective techniques 

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which should make it easier for 
you. 

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But first we need to understand 
with vocabulary what is the 

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difference between active 
vocabulary and passive 

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vocabulary. 
Earlier I said that vocabulary 

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is all of the words that we 
know, and although we know lots 

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of words, we don't always use 
them. 

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We can understand often more 
words than we use. 

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So for example, when you're 
reading or listening to this 

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podcast, you will understand a 
lot of words that I say, even 

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words that you don't use in your
own speech. 

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This is called passive 
vocabulary. 

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So these are all the words that 
you understand and know in your 

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brain. 
Now, the words that you actually

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use. 
So when you're writing or 

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speaking, having conversations, 
this is your active vocabulary. 

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Not only do you understand these
words, but you also actively use

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them. 
So you use them each and every 

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day. 
Maybe not every day, but at 

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least you use them. 
When we are learning a language,

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usually when we learn words, 
they first become part of our 

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passive vocabulary. 
We understand them to read or to

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hear, but not yet to use. 
So we understand them, but we 

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don't use them. 
And the more we hear these words

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or come across them, the more 
likely they are to move into our

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active vocabulary to start using
them, you know, each and every 

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day as part of our regular 
speech. 

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And that is our goal, to both 
grow our passive vocabulary and 

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eventually to continue growing 
our active vocabulary. 

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That is all of the technical 
things out of the way. 

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For this podcast, for example, 
if I look at myself, I study 

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Russian language. 
To be honest, I've been pretty 

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bad at studying recently and 
learning, but in the past I had 

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a really big passive vocabulary 
and I still do. 

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So I understand a lot more words
than I actually speak or use, 

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and this is not a bad thing. 
When we speak, it's OK to use 

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simple sentences and phrases. 
And ultimately, at the end of 

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the day, it is more important to
understand than to create or to 

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speak. 
Because we can't control how 

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complicated people speak, so how
complicated their sentences are 

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or their vocabulary. 
And if we can understand more 

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than we can create or speak, we 
can reply with the words or 

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phrases that we know and there's
no stress or pressure. 

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But if our passive vocabulary so
the words that we understand 

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isn't big enough, we might not 
understand certain words or 

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phrases and this makes 
conversation quite difficult. 

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So let's look at some options to
help and grow your passive and 

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active vocabulary. 
The first is one that I talk 

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about a lot on this podcast, and
I'm not going to talk about it 

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today apart from just mentioning
it. 

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So saying it, and that is 
reading for vocabulary growth. 

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It's one of the most effective 
ways to expand your vocabulary. 

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It's the way that children learn
new words in school and they 

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read books. 
Books that are suitable or 

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correct for their level. 
And as you read, you come across

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new words. 
You can look them up online and 

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you see them in context, which 
is so important to understand 

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how and when a word is used. 
But I'm not going to talk any 

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more about reading today, as I 
have a separate podcast episode 

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about reading. 
So if you haven't listened to 

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that, Scroll down to look down 
my podcast and find that episode

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and watch it. 
It wasn't too long ago, so the 

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second method is flash cards and
word association. 

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So association is when you 
associate a word with something,

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so you connect a word with 
something. 

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Flash cards are a handy tool for
vocabulary practice if you're 

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doing them physically, so not on
a digital device. 

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You can write down new words on 
one side of the card and the 

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meanings or definitions on the 
other side. 

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Review your flash cards 
regularly. 

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I say that that word is 
difficult even for me to say 

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regularly, regularly means like 
every day or with a routine and 

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test yourselves on the words and
their meanings. 

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So when I use flash cards or 
when I recommend students to use

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flash cards, I think digital 
flash cards are the best and you

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want to use flash cards that use
spaced repetition. 

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What this is, is it is an app 
which will calculate when to 

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show you a flash card. 
So it will show you it and if 

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you know it very well it won't 
show it for a while. 

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So for maybe a week. 
If you don't know it, it will 

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show it to you again more 
quickly so maybe tomorrow. 

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And doing this helps to put the 
words into your long term 

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memory. 
Some apps that I recommend are 

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Anki, Droid, so ANKIDROID. 
If you use an Android phone or 

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on iPhone you can also get Anki 
Anki. 

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But this costs money. 
But for a free option you can 

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use tiny cards. 
So that's tiny cards. 

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Or just simply find a flash card
app that you like. 

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But I recommend that any time 
you see a word or a phrase that 

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you don't understand, look up 
the meaning and put it into your

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flash card app and continue to 
learn these words and phrases, 

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which really, really helps. 
And you can do this through kind

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of what my Third Point or method
is, and that is learning through

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content consumption. 
So that means consuming or 

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listening or reading or watching
English content. 

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So that can be this podcast. 
It can be videos, TV shows, 

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books, anything you want to 
consume or to watch. 

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Listen, read as much English as 
possible and when you don't 

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understand a word, look up the 
meaning online and add it to 

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your flip cards. 
Add it to your list of words 

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that you want to test yourself 
on and learn. 

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It will really help, really, 
really help. 

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Another great way to expand your
vocabulary, especially if you're

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a very busy person and you don't
have a lot of time, is to do the

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word of the Day challenge. 
Challenge yourself to learn at 

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least one new word every day, so
that is only 365 words per year.

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I think it's very doable and 
often you will learn much more 

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than one word per day. 
But this gives you a focus and 

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an easy goal. 
Just one word per day to build a

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healthy vocabulary routine. 
There are many apps which do 

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word a day, or you can simply 
make it a goal for yourself to 

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pick and learn one word per day.
Over time you will continue to 

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grow your vocabulary. 
So by using these techniques, so

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flip cards and word association 
and learning words from context 

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and consuming as much English as
possible, your vocabulary will 

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naturally grow. 
And the secret is there is no 

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special secret to learn lots of 
words. 

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The real secret is to consume, 
so to use as much English 

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content as possible. 
So watching TV, reading books, 

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listening to podcasts, and I 
know that is boring advice, but 

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it is the truth and it's the 
best thing for expanding your 

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vocabulary. 
So keep on learning and write in

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the comments below. 
If you're on YouTube, one new 

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word that you have maybe heard 
from this podcast or a new word 

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that you have learnt recently in
English and tell me what word 

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that is, I would love to hear. 
Thank you for listening and I 

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will see you in the next 
episode. 

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Goodbye.