Why Learning Foreign Language Vocabulary Is So Difficult — and What to Do About It

One of the most common complaints I hear from people learning a foreign language is this:

“I can’t remember any of the vocabulary!”

And the disappointment is understandable. After spending so much time and effort memorizing words in your new language, it’s incredibly frustrating and, even worse, demotivating to find yourself unable to recall the right word at the right moment when trying to express yourself.

This experience often leads people to proclaim:

“Well, I guess I’m just no good at languages.”

Or

“I don’t have a good memory.”

Personally, I find it disheartening that our first reaction to this kind of struggle is so often self-blame, as if it were a sign of personal weakness or a lack of ability.

Why Learning Vocabulary in a Foreign Language Is Hard for Everyone

First of all, let’s get something straight: acquiring new vocabulary in a foreign language is difficult — and it’s difficult for everyone. You are not alone in facing this challenge.

But the difficulty does not lie in your inability to learn languages, or in having a “bad memory.” Learning new words is hard because what you are attempting to do is convince your brain to seamlessly accept a completely new sound system and allow those new sounds to represent meaning.

Let me explain. A word is a verbal representation of a concept, idea, object, or physical entity.  Ok, that is pretty straightforward.

But when you really think about it, learning these verbal representations in a new language is not straightforward at all.

If you’re learning a second language, that means you already have a first language you use every day — one you’ve used since birth. What you’re trying to do now is train your brain to accept brand-new words and sounds as substitutes for concepts that already have well-established names. And it’s the most natural thing in the world for your brain to resist.

So this goes way beyond simple memorization or matching a word to its meaning on a vocab test. You’re essentially building a brand-new mental database from scratch, one that allows you to access and use the right word instantly when you need it. And that is no easy task.

What’s Actually Happening When You Can’t Remember Vocabulary

Alright then — we now see why learning new words in a language is challenging. But let’s take a closer look at how this difficulty shows up and seems to sabotage our attempts to acquire a foreign language.

We often find that we:

• Can’t recall the word we need when trying to express ourselves (even though we know we’ve learned it)
• Struggle to understand words quickly enough when they’re spoken, making it hard to grasp the full meaning of a sentence or conversation

The first issue is what most people mean when they say they “can’t remember vocabulary.” Perhaps you’re trying to speak with someone, but the words you need to express your thoughts are simply not coming out, even though you’ve studied them. This could be described as an inability to recall a piece of information. And it’s why many people conclude they have a bad memory.

The second issue, however, is actually more common, especially at the beginning of your language journey. It means your brain hasn’t yet fully linked the word to its meaning, at least not fast enough for fluid conversation. This is often labeled a memory problem as well, but it’s really an association problem.

These are two distinct challenges:

1. Recall problem: You know the word, but it won’t come out.
2. Association problem: Your brain hasn’t fully formed the link between the word and its meaning.

And yes, you can absolutely struggle with both. If you haven’t formed the association yet, recall becomes nearly impossible.

The Real Reasons Foreign Language Vocabulary Is Hard to Learn

Just as recall and association are different issues, they also stem from different causes, neither of which is related to having a bad memory or an inability to learn.

How Lack of Usage Affects Vocabulary Recall

If you understand a word when it is spoken to you, but cannot retrieve it when you want to use it, that usually means you haven’t used it enough yourself. This is a usage issue — not a vocabulary issue.

Going back to study word lists is not the right solution. Recall is built through actual practice.

And really, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. We must apply any type of information we learn in order for it to become ingrained. If not, we will be left with a theoretical or intellectual knowledge, but not a practical one.

Why Repeated Exposure Is Key to Learning Vocabulary

When we are children, we are exposed to our native language throughout our waking hours. We hear the same words again and again until they become part of us and we begin to use them ourselves. This constant exposure is what allowed our minds to build the connections and associate the words to their meanings.

It is difficult to truly learn a word in just one sitting. You need to hear it in many contexts, across many situations. Only then does it start to “stick.” Eventually, you’ll begin using it naturally because it’s become a part of you.

How to Learn Vocabulary Effectively in a Foreign Language

So, we’ve discussed how to recognize the problem and identify the main causes. It is important to understand that point, because anyone who knows me knows that I believe very strongly in understanding what is happening in our own learning experience. Once we do, we are primed to find real solutions. This is independent language learning at its finest.

There are two things we’ve recognized that we must do:

1. Train our minds to quickly associate a word with its meaning without stopping to think or translate
2. Train ourselves to actually use the vocabulary

So, how do we do that?

Use Massive Exposure to Truly Learn Vocabulary

I’ve already explained why a lack of exposure to real language is one of the biggest reasons we struggle to acquire vocabulary. But there is an easy fix: Listen to the language as much as possible.

One of the main issues I find among language learners is that they simply do not listen to the language enough. You must become deeply familiar with how the language sounds and how it’s used. When you do that, you’ll be exposed to tons of vocabulary in context, and that’s when it starts to stick. The more often you hear words in natural speech and understand them, the more likely you are to use them yourself. That’s when the vocabulary becomes yours.

This means moving beyond the classroom or app and immersing yourself in real speech for hours a day. Fortunately, this is easy to do: just tune in to talk radio or podcasts in your target language. We choose a talk-radio format for a reason — we want to listen to people speaking at a natural pace and in a natural manner.

In addition to hearing all of that vocabulary multiple times and in multiple contexts, you are also training your ears to get used to the sounds of the language. This point is often overlooked, but it’s crucial for letting the language in.

How to Find and Focus on the Vocabulary You Want to Learn

Even with massive exposure, it isn’t guaranteed that we’ll hear the vocabulary we want to work on. Common words will come up often, of course. But less frequent words, well…

That’s where you take control. You are not at the mercy of the topic in today’s podcast nor what the talk show’s host may be ranting about.

Seek out the vocabulary you would like to acquire. You can easily do this with a quick online search to find hundreds or even thousands of examples of those words used in real contexts. Take samples from ten different sources and use them as training material.

This will give you plenty of content — though much of it will be text-based (from newspapers, blogs, online articles, etc.). These are great resources and very helpful in your vocabulary quest.

But there’s another tool I love called Youglish. It is currently available in 20 languages and allows you to search YouTube videos for specific words or phrases used in real-life speech. The site promotes itself as pronunciation tool, but for me, it is a tool to focus on vocabulary acquisition. It’s fantastic for hearing your target words used naturally and repeatedly.

Practice Using New Vocabulary with Intentional Repetition

“Use it or lose it” goes the old saying, and when it comes to vocabulary, this rule is golden.

For a word to truly become part of you, you have to make it part of you. That means using it deliberately and consistently. Don’t wait for the word to magically appear in your conversations. Be purposeful about it. That speeds everything up.

Plan it out. If you have a conversation partner, make a list of words you’d like to use and then work them into your chat. Once you start using the words correctly and repeatedly, they’re yours.

If you don’t have a language partner or are not yet proficient enough to have a real conversation, no problem.  Use the words with yourself. One of the most powerful tools we have is our own resolve. Create role-plays and dialogues in your head. Write unique sentences with your target vocabulary. Say them out loud. Test yourself constantly. Even when you’re alone, if you start putting the words into practice immediately, you’ll begin to use them naturally.

Use Spaced Repetition Tools Like Anki to Learn Vocabulary

A spaced repetition system (SRS), such as Anki (free and widely used), lets you create smart digital flashcards. These cards are shown to you just before you’re likely to forget them, reinforcing memory at exactly the right moment.

SRS combats our brain’s natural tendency to forget things we don’t encounter often. And with Anki, you can also add media like images and audio to strengthen the word-meaning connection even further.

I won’t go into detail here since there are excellent resources from the Anki page itself explaining best practices. I also highly recommend the book Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner if you’re curious about this approach to vocabulary building.

How to Train Vocabulary Recognition Using Audio-Only Methods

I use a technique I call Dodgeball. (Yes, it’s named after that awful game my gym teacher made us play in junior high.) If you had a similar experience, you’ll know the drill: you stand in teams on two sides of the gym and whack rubber balls at each other. The goal is to catch a ball someone else threw at you and if you do, the person who threw it is out of the game.

It may be a silly name for this technique, but it is the first one that came to mind when I started using it, so I’m sticking with it for now.

Here’s how it works: I take words or full sentences from my audio materials and chop them into separate clips using Audacity (a free audio editor). Then I load them onto my phone and set them to play randomly.

This forces me to hear vocabulary aurally, but also quickly and out of an order I would be able to predict. My mind must train itself to “catch” the meaning the moment the word hits me (get the dodgeball reference now?). It’s challenging, but surprisingly fun — and very effective

Even better, it trains you for speed. The words and sentences come at you fast and you won’t know from which direction. This is similar to how language works in real life and this technique is the ultimate training to prepare you for the experience.

Final Thoughts on Mastering Vocabulary as a Language Learner

Languages are made up of words and in order to speak a language fluently, we must learn them. But it is not memorization we are after. What we really need is true mental acquisition: the kind that allows us to both understand and use vocabulary in a natural, effortless way.

That’s why it’s so important to understand why vocabulary acquisition can feel difficult. Once you gain clarity on what’s actually happening in your learning process, you’re in a much stronger position to take control and make that vocabulary yours.

I hope this article has given you both insight and motivation. If you have your own techniques for truly acquiring vocabulary in a foreign language, I’d love to hear them. Feel free to share them in the comments below.