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Mastering Vocabulary: Have You Heard About the Goldlist Method?

Vocabulary is the foundation of effective communication. Whether you're striving to excel in your academic studies, enhance your professional skills, or simply become a more articulate speaker and writer, the journey to expand your vocabulary is a crucial one.

There are diverse approaches available to improve your vocabulary. Language learning is highly individual, and different techniques suit different people. It's important to find the methods that work best for your personal learning style and needs. In this article, we will have a look at the Goldlist method.

Goldlisting is a method that uses long-term memory which operates subconsciously, and it is particularly effective when you are unaware of its workings. The method was developed by the polyglot David James.

Goldlisting is based on writing down lists of words and phrases you want to learn in a lined notebook. Afterward, there is a waiting period of at least two weeks before you begin the process of testing yourself, distinguishing between expressions that you remember and those you do not. You'll discover that about 30% of the expressions from each list are retained in your memory without any conscious study.

It Works Like This:

# Creating Headlist 

On the first double-page spread of your notebook, you write down a headlist with 20 expressions you want to learn. For example, you can list expressions from the OLS Slovak Course A1 or from resources available in “Practice your Slovak” forum. The words in the foreign language are listed in the left column, and their corresponding translations in your native language are in the right column. 

You should use whole expressions or phrases. Do not put individual words, they are very hard to remember without a context. Also, avoid putting infinitive verb forms when learning a language that has a specific verb form for each person. 

When the headlist is ready, read every item aloud, just once. You can choose to read solely the expressions in the foreign language, but it's preferable to read each new expression followed by its translation. Remember: do not memorize it. After reading, close your notebook and you are done with your first list. 

For the next 13 days, repeat the same thing: write a new list on a new page spread, read it aloud once and close your notebook. IMPORTANT: during those 14 days, do not look at any previous list! The goal is to keep the expressions in your long-term memory.

# 1^st Distillation

After 14 days, you can go back to the first headlist and test yourself by covering the expressions in the target language. You will remember about 30% of the expressions. Copy the expressions that you don’t remember to an opposite page together with their translations. Read them aloud once and leave them for another two weeks. 

# 2^nd Distillation

After 14 days, go back to expressions written in the 1st distillation list and test yourself again. Again, copy the ones that you don’t recall, read them aloud once and do not look at it for another two weeks. 

# 3^rd Distillation

Apply the same distillation concept for the expressions in the 2nd distillation list. You should have around 7 expressions left. And that’s it!

# Keep Up Goldlisting

Do the goldlisting every day. Keep writing new headlists and apply this process for every headlist you have created, don’t forget to keep the 14-days period between individual steps. 

It is important to do the whole goldlisting process in a relaxed state. Also, don’t forget to date every list so you can track the 14-days period between the individual steps.

If you are considering using the Goldlist method, we recommend reading a detailed guide that will teach you how to use this method effectively.

What do you think about Goldlist method, would you give it a try? What are your favourite ways to learn vocabulary? Are there any creative techniques you use to make learning new words fun and engaging? You can share your wisdom with the rest of the community here.