Learn English: 300% Faster – 69 English Tips to Speak English Like a Native English Speaker!

Chapter 13: The Power of Flashcards, Done the Right Way
"We breathe in our first language, and swim in our second."
– Adam Gopnik
Flash cards are a fun and powerful tool for learning words quickly. Just make sure you use them the
correct way.
We already know this means always speaking the word in a full sentence, not just alone. Also, use
flashcards on the 100 most common words first, then the 300 most common words and so on.
Make them visual, either draw or print an image on all your flashcards. Remember, your mind and
memory responds best to images. To find your images, search on Google Images using the English
word (not the word in your language) – this is because you will get pictures that exactly represent the
English word as native speakers understand it. Sometimes words have very subtle differences in
meaning from language to language.
Also, images can really capture the meaning of a word in a way that is difficult to do with words in
your language. When you search for a word or even a grammatical phrase in Google Images, in a
few second you will see many images and even graphs that really grip your imagination. You will
instantly get a feel for what the word or phrase means.
For example, the word ‘dodgy’ means unreliable and perhaps dishonest. And it’s quite a colloquial
word. It’s not easy to translate into many languages. But a quick search on Google Images can give
you a great image to use on a flashcard, which will instantly remind you of the meaning. Like this
one:
Dodgy

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There’s really no need to write the word in your language at all. An image does all the work for you.
You can use a few different images if it helps, or if the English word has a few different meanings.
You can also color-code your flashcards, by category of words. The best flashcards are homemade
because you remember them so well when you make them yourself. But there are many online
resources to help you build flashcard collections. Vis-ed.com allows you to buy whole sets.
Flashcards are a powerful tool to help you learn any language much faster. You can also use
flashcards in combination with the memory techniques of the previous chapters, for the strongest
effect.
One very important method to double your English learning speed is setting the right goals to focus
your mind. The next chapter teaches you how to do this properly.
Key Tips
50. Use flash cards to help you memory
51. Use images on your flashcards, a picture says a thousand words

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