MEMORY TRICKS FOR BUILDING A

BETTER BUSINESS VOCABULARY

by: H. E. Colby

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MEMORY TRICKS FOR BUILDING A

BETTER BUSINESS VOCABULARY

Unfortunately, vocabulary instruction is almost non-existent in English

classrooms.

The benefits of a strong business vocabulary in the commercial arena

are manifold.

The broader and stronger your vocabulary the more precisely you can

communicate your ideas to others, an essential function for anyone in

business.

Words are those tools you use to precisely convey your thoughts. The

more seriously you express your ideas the more your ideas will be

respected.

Bosses, colleagues, and clients do judge your intelligence by the

words you use!

Business professionals, however, can learn powerful memory

techniques to help them build and retain a larger business lexicon.

In this report, we are going to explore the following topics to use

memory to help build your vocabulary:

how memory works while building a vocabulary.

active and passive vocabulary

how to use word lists

general memory tricks to start improving your vocabulary today!

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HOW MEMORY WORKS FOR VOCABULARY BUILDING

Memory plays a significant role in learning new vocabulary.

Memorizing business vocabulary is not a linear process.

Vocabulary has to be remembered and retrieved which is a

constant struggle for language learners.

Memorizing a new word requires a process of four stages: 1)

getting the word form, 2) getting the word meaning, 3) linking

word form and meaning in memory, and 4) using the word.

That is why I always have my students to define any new

words using a dictionary or glossary and write a sentence

using the word correctly in context.

Psychologists believe there is one memory system, but a

division into three parts: 1) sensory memory, 2) short-term

memory, and 3) long-term memory.

Sensory memory is an exact copy of what is seen and heard,

but only for milliseconds. Short-term memory (working

memory) allows us to store up to 7 items for about 30

seconds. Long-term memory is mostly permanent though an

exact duration is not known.

The trick for language learners is to store as many words as

possible in the long-term memory.

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ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOCABULARY

Your long-term memory is complex. You have two types of

vocabulary in language - active and passive – in your

memory.

Active vocabulary is recalled and is all the words second

language learners understand, plus all the words that they can

use themselves. If you use a particular word while giving a

business presentation or write a term in ad copy, for example,

you are employing your active vocabulary. These are words

you know very well and are at your fingertips whenever you

need to use them.

Passive vocabulary consists of words that you understand

when reading or listening (receptive vocabulary), but which

you cannot use or remember normally. When you read a word

in a text or hear a word in a newscast, for example, you

immediately recognize its meaning and understand its use in

context. However, you would not usually use the word

yourself.

While the aim is to build long-term memory to know a

vocabulary term, a similar goal is to move as many words

from passive to active vocabulary!

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BUILDING VOCABULARY BY MEMORIZING LISTS

Learning new vocabulary can take many forms.

One of the traditional ways, and also effective, is learning a

set of business terms in a list.

A list of words that are related to a certain theme, like

banking, for example, is easier for language learners to

associate the terms and recall them later.

Most language learners study a list of 7 to 10 words at a time.

Learning by word lists is a form of explicit learning. Learners

focus their mind on the words, and read or write the words

repeatedly, or read them aloud or silently. This longer

processing of a word helps you remember it better.

Writing a sentence with the words forces you to think about

whether the vocabulary word has been used in a sentence

correctly.

Repeating the word and connecting the term with old

knowledge strengthen your memory and you are able to recall

the new term faster.

GENERAL MEMORY TRICKS

1. Study vocabulary in context. Remember, studies

suggest that 80% of unknown words can be guessed from

context. So when you encounter an unfamiliar word, read the

sentence before and after and try to infer its meaning. A

simple guess (correctly!) means you will often remember the

word more than not the next time you discover it. Inferring

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also requires longer processing which as you learned above

helps you remember a word better.

2. Look up any word in doubt - repetition. Repeated

exposure to a word (defining it over and over until you learn

it!) helps you recall the word better. Remember, it takes at

least 7 exposures to a word normally to recall it.

3. Keyword technique. Associate the new vocabulary word

with a mental image. If you can, draw a picture of the term.

Our brains are wired for quickly processing visuals. If you can

associate a new term with an image you have drawn, you are

more likely to remember the word.

4. Breakdown the word. Are you familiar with prefixes or

suffixes? Do you already know what some of them mean? For

example, micro means “small.” If you discover the word

microbiology, knowing that micro means small, you might

guess micro + biology = the study of small things.

The same works for suffixes, at the end of a word. For

example, -ness means “state or quality of.” Hopefulness

means “state or quality of being hopeful.”

5. Think of the antonym. While some teachers may

disagree, pairing a new vocabulary term with its opposite

helps you remember it better.

Do you know the word intrepid?

Maybe if you know its antonym, cowardly or craven, you can

define intrepid as bold or courageous.

Sometimes knowing a word’s opposite helps you recall its

own definition.

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CONCLUSION

A large business lexicon is a key to greater person and

professional success.

Your memory is a secret to mastering new vocabulary terms

and using or recognizing them while reading, writing, listening,

or speaking.

Use the tools and suggestions above to start building a better

vocabulary today!

H. E. Colby is a Business English professor who has helped students reach their

professional goals in a variety of business fields. Her current book, Top 150

Business English Ace Vocabulary Words, is available at Amazon and Apple.