Stop Forgetting Words: Save, Share and Review Vocabulary
Keep forgetting new words? A simple save-and-review system for vocabulary you meet in real life, using LingFit's saved words and share feature.
You learn a word on Monday, nod at it on Tuesday and discover on Friday that it has vanished. If you want to stop forgetting new words in a foreign language, the answer is not a better memory. It is a better system: capture the word at the moment you meet it, then see it again at sensible intervals.
Why words vanish
Forgetting is normal. Memories fade quickly after first exposure and slow down when you revisit them. Seeing a word once teaches you very little; seeing it several times, spread across days, makes it stay. Words you meet in context and care about last longer than words from a random list.
The capture problem
Most forgotten words were never captured. You meet them while reading a menu or watching a clip, think "I'll remember that", and do not. So step one is to make capturing take two seconds.
Capture inside LingFit
LingFit is a language-learning app for iOS, Android and the web. When you tap an unfamiliar word in a story or in a video's subtitles, you see its translation, and you can bookmark it as a saved word. Saved words live on your own shelf, where you can browse them, star favourites and practise them as vocabulary cards.
You can also add words by hand with the plus button: a word plus up to 6 translations. The shelf has a limit of 2,000 saved words, which is a lot, but it means pruning and prioritising are healthy habits.
Capture from outside the app
Words appear everywhere: a website, a message, a social post. LingFit supports "Share to LingFit" on Android and iOS: select text, share it, and the app opens a sheet where you pick the language and add a translation. This makes the shelf a catch-all for real-life words, not only app-based ones.
Review at intervals
A simple schedule beats a perfect one:
- Review new words the same day.
- Again the next day.
- Again after three or four days.
- Again after a week or two.
You do not need to track this manually; just return to the saved words regularly and practise the ones that feel shaky. Starred favourites can be your "must keep" list.
Turn a handful into a chapter
Here is a neat trick. Pick up to 20 saved words and turn them into a generated chapter. It creates a lesson around exactly the words you have been forgetting, with exercises. Seeing them in a new format helps them stick. This works well after a week of saving words from videos.
Make each word richer
A bare translation is fragile. Add context:
- Learn the base form. The tooltip shows a base form header when it differs from the tapped word, so you learn the dictionary form of verbs and nouns.
- Learn with the article where the language has genders.
- Save the sentence, not just the word, or note where you met it.
- Say it aloud and use speech recognition feedback.
Use games for stubborn words
Words that refuse to stay respond well to speed and play. A round of Flash, Ping-Pong or Tug-of-War forces quick retrieval, which is what memory needs.
Don't save everything
Saving fifty words a day turns the shelf into a graveyard. Pick a few per session, ideally words you have met more than once or that you want to use this week. Delete or ignore the rest.
A tiny daily system
- Save up to five words while you read or watch.
- Review five older words.
- Once a week, turn a set into a chapter.
Five minutes, every day.
Try it at lingfit.app. LingFit is a subscription app, not free, and the annual plan includes a 7-day free trial.
FAQ
Why do I forget words so quickly?
Memory fades quickly without review. Revisiting words at increasing intervals helps them stick.
How many words should I save per day?
A handful, around five, is enough. Quality beats quantity.
Can I save words from other apps?
Yes, LingFit offers "Share to LingFit" on Android and iOS.
Is there a limit to saved words?
Yes, up to 2,000 saved words.
