Must-Know Vocabulary in Study and Education for Language Learners

Learning vocabulary is one of the most important activities to jump speed both comprehension and fluency level when learning a language. Yet, it can also be a very frustrating challenge. Why do I write that?

👉🏻Read Vietnamese version: 155 Từ Vựng Chủ Đề Học Tập và Giáo Dục Ai Học Ngôn Ngữ Cũng Cần Biết

Because no matter how much vocabulary I cram (from English, Chinese, some others in between and now German), it seems like I can never learn all the words there are in that language, like ever. The question is though, must I, or should I, in order to be fluent fast?

What’s also annoying when I start learning a new language is that I tend to forget their new words so fast, like they just don’t make sense so they don’t stick. Especially if they are bizarre words that my brain automatically filters out, as she already knows I would not have a daily use for those words, such as “precipitation” (yes, I definitely did not learn or at least, remember having learned this word in my first 10 years with English! It came later with the TOEFL exam 😏)

As I start writing the 30-day Language Journal Challenge for practicing German and try out different fun activities to learn vocabulary, I am reinforced with the idea that concentrating on high-frequency words and phrases will allow you to start using the language more quickly (Nation, 2006).

Not only that, I also love grouping these most commonly used words into topics, or chrological order as if I’m telling a story, so the memorization becomes more easy and the retention is more natural.

With that guiding principle, I started to embark on this series of THE LANGUAGE ESSENTIAL WORD LIST, built for English and German learners, but applicable for any language lovers. You can simply copy these selected words and look up translation for them in your target learning language. (tip: use this fast and free tool mentioned later in the blog).

Let’s jump right to the first blog of this series about must-know words for the topic “STUDY and EDUCATION”.

Must-Know Words for Study and Education topics in German and English

Early Education

Below is a brief description of different types of schooling, not only common in Germany, the United States or Europe, but also in the majority of early education systems around the world.

I must point out that despite the similarities, the age range when each school level begins can differ, per my knowledge from growing up and going to school in Vietnam, living in different parts of Europe and learning English, German, etc for many years.

DEUTSCH	ENGLISH	TIẾNG VIỆT
1. die Bildung	the education	sự giáo dục
2. die Schule	the school	trường học
3. die Grundschule	the primary school	trường tiểu học
4. zur Schule gehen	go to school	đi học
5. die Klasse	the class	lớp học
6.1 auf die Hauptschule gehen	go to the secondary school	học trung học
6.2 auf die Realschule gehen	go to the secondary school (a different kind of school in Germany)	học trung học (một loại trường khác tại Đức)
6.3. aufs Gymnasium gehen	go to the secondary school (the kind with an Abitur in Germany)	học trung học (một loại trường có cấp bằng tốt nghiệp Abitur tại Đức)

NOTE: The different types of highschool as 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 would become a lot more relevant to you, if you are reading this blog as a German language learner or probably living in Germany with a kid moving into secondary highschool.

It’s interesting too talking to the locals with different education paths. I have met Germans, who wanted to study at Gymnasium so they worked hard on their scores at school, wrote an Abitur at the end and went on to Universität, while others did not want that path and chose a more practical rather than academic education.

This flexibility is not a thing for us, Vietnamese students. We simply have a 12-year standard schooling system, from 5-year primary school, to 4-year secondary school and end with a 3-year highschool. More ambitious and hardworking students can try for highschools for the gifted, but the schooling duration is the same.

What about schooling in your country? Tell me more in the comment below!

Regardless of the differences, students attend classes and complete their schooling but can also skip classes and drop out of school. Here’s how you can say the different “scenarios”:

DEUTSCH	ENGLISH	TIẾNG VIỆT
7. die Schule besuchen	to go to school	đi học
8. die Schule schwänzen	to skip school	trốn học
9. die Schule abbrechen	to drop out of school	bỏ học
10. die Schule abschließen	to finish school	hoàn thành việc học
11. der Schulabschluss	the school completion certificate	chứng nhận hoàn thành việc học
12. einen Schulabschluss machen	to graduate from school	tốt nghiệp trường học
13. das Abitur	the school completion certificate (for Gymnasium in Germany)	chứng nhận hoàn thành việc học (đối với trường Gymnasium tại Đức)
14. das Abitur machen	to get (a) high school diploma (for Gymnasium in Germany)	lấy bằng tốt nghiệp trung học (đối với trường Gymnasium tại Đức)

✨TIP: Group related words with contrasting meanings to learn together, like “to go to school” vs. “to skip school”.

Higher Education

If you are considering to study abroad in either an English-speaking or German-speaking country, below is the must-know vocabulary to start your university life.

I already grouped them in the chronological order of the process to help your memorization, from choosing a university type and degree you’d like, to apply, get admitted, enroll, etc.

DEUTSCH	ENGLISH	TIẾNG VIỆT
15. die akademische Laufbahn	the academic career	sự nghiệp học thuật
16. die Hochschule	the higher education institution	cơ sở giáo dục đại học
17. die Fachhochschule	the university of applied sciences (usually more practical than academic in Germany)	trường đại học ứng dụng (mang tính thực tiễn hơn là hàn lâm ở Đức)
18. die Universität	the university	trường đại học
19. an einer Hochschule studieren (*)	to study at a university	học đại học
20. das Studienfach	the subject of study, the major	chuyên ngành (ở đại học)
21. sich für ein Studienfach entscheiden	to decide for a subject of study/a major	quyết định về chuyên ngành học
22. die Studienwahl	the choice of study field, the choice of degree program	lựa chọn ngành học, lựa chọn chương trình học
23. sich für ein Studium bewerben	to apply for a study	nộp đơn xin học đại học
24. der Studienbewerber	the study applicant (m)	người nộp đơn xin học (m)
25. die Hochschulreife	university entrance qualification	điều kiện nhập học đại học
26. zugelassen werden	to be admitted (e.g. to a university)	được nhận vào học (ví dụ: đại học)
27. die Zulassung	the (study) admission	sự trúng tuyển, quyết định trúng tuyển
28. sich immatrikulieren	to matriculate, to enroll	nhập học
29. die Immatrikulation	the matriculation	việc nhập học
30. sich exmatrikulieren	to de-register from a study/a university	thôi học
31. die Exmatrikulation	the exmatriculation	sự thôi học

✨NOTE (*): To my German language learners friends, do you notice how the German say zur Schule gehen but an einer Hochschule studieren?

Next is the group of vocabulary that describes the study timeline and possible events or outcomes of a study, such as to finish university and get a degree, or to interrupt the study and drop out of it.

DEUTSCH	ENGLISH	TIẾNG VIỆT
32. ein Studium beginnen	to begin a study	bắt đầu việc học đại học
33. ein Studium absolvieren	to finish a study	hoàn thành việc học đại học
34. das Studium abbrechen	to drop out of university	bỏ học đại học
35. der Studienabbruch	the study drop-out	việc bỏ học đại học
36. das Studium unterbrechen	to interrupt a study	gián đoạn việc học đại học
37. die Unterbrechung des Studiums	the study interruption	sự gián đoạn việc học đại học
38. das Studium abschließen	to complete a study	hoàn thành việc học đại học
39. der Studienabschluss	the university degree	bằng đại học
40. der Hochschulabschluss	the university degree (synonym)	bằng đại học (từ đồng nghĩa)
41. der akademische Grad (*)	the academic degree	bằng cấp học thuật
42. der Absolvent	the university graduate	sinh viên tốt nghiệp đại học
43. die Promotion	doctoral studies, PhD studies	nghiên cứu bậc tiến sĩ

NOTE (*): Extra vocabulary for the Bachelor degree or der Bachelorgrad, and the Master degree or der Mastergrad.

✨TIP: Study words with associated verbs together for correct and immediate application.

I WANT FREE 1000+ Vocab List plus this 155 Must-Know Words to Learn Any Languages

Actors in School and University

Now that we have learned must-know basics of education systems, from primary school to doctoral studies, it’s time we fill in the “actors”, how we, the participants of such systems, are called differently per schools and phases.

Please note that, in the case of German, each actor has a version for male and female noun. Furthermore, it probably goes without saying, that we usually call the teacher or der Lehrer/ die Lehrerin at school, but the lecturer or der Dozent/die Dozentin at higher level of education.

DEUTSCH	ENGLISH	TIẾNG VIỆT
44.1. der Lehrer	the teacher (m) (not at university level)	giáo viên nam
44.2. die Lehrerin	the teacher (fm) (not at university level)	giáo viên nữ
45.1. der Schüler	the pupil, student (m) (not at university level)	học sinh nam
45.2. die Schülerin	the pupil, student (fm) (not at university level)	học sinh nữ
46.1. der Mitschüler	the classmate (m)	bạn nam cùng lớp
46.2. die Mitschülerin	the classmate (fm)	bạn nữ cùng lớp
47.1. Lehrende	lecturers	giảng viên (số nhiều, không xác định)
47.2. die Lehrenden (*)	the lecturers	giảng viên (số nhiều, xác định)
48.1. der Dozent	the lecturer (m)	giảng viên nam
48.2. die Dozentin	the lecturer (fm)	giaảng viên nữ
49.1. Studierende	students	sinh viên (số nhiều, không xác định)
49.2. die Studierenden (*)	the students	sinh viên (số nhiều, xác định)
50.1. der Studenten	the student (m)	sinh viên nam
50.2. die Studentin	the student (fm)	sinh viên nữ
51.1. der Kommilitone	the fellow student (at university) (m)	bạn học nam (ở trường đại học)
51.2. die Kommilitonin	the fellow student (at university) (fm)	bạn học nữ (ở trường đại học)
52. die Studienanfänger	the freshmen (only Plural form in German)	sinh viên năm nhất(chỉ dùng ở dạng số nhiều trong tiếng Đức)

✨FUN NOTE (*) for German learners: I learned from my German textbooks that die Lehrenden & die Studierenden, the nouns that derive from the verbs lehren & studieren, respectively, are used more often, than the plural forms of die Dozenten & die Studenten.

You could probably have guessed, it’s because these are plural forms of the male nouns! Using die Lehrenden & die Studierenden would be gender-neutral and hence, preferable. I love this so much <3.

Study Areas & Academic Fields

This section lists out subjects and disciplines across education levels. There are so many different subjects, majors and minors, courses, etc. but I tried to cover some of the must-know words for study and education at university.

👋Please comment below to let me know what is your subject or major, in English, German or any languages!

DEUTSCH	ENGLISH	TIẾNG VIỆT
53. das Fach	the subject	môn học
54. das Hauptfach	the main subject	môn học chính
55. das Nebenfach	the minor subject	môn học phụ
56. die Literatur	the literature	văn học
57. die Mathematik	the mathematics	toán học
58. die Geschichte	the history	lịch sử
59. das Fachgebiet	the subject area	lĩnh vực chủ đề
60. die Naturwissenschaft	the natural science	khoa học tự nhiên
61. naturwissenschaftlich	natural science (adjective)	khoa học tự nhiên (tính từ)
62. die Geisteswissenschaft	the social science	khoa học xã hội
63. geisteswissenschaftlich	social science (adjective)	khoa học xã hội (tính từ)

Teaching & Learning at School

This and the next vocabulary groups might be the most important of this blog post, as they describe the activities of a student or a teacher at school/university, to study, acquire knowledge, write an exam, etc. Writing this suddenly makes me want to go back to school, to be honest! 🙂

DEUTSCH	ENGLISH	TIẾNG VIỆT
64. die Schuluniform	the school uniform	đồng phục học sinh
65. der Lehrplan	the lesson plan	kế hoạch bài học
66. der Lernstoff	the learning material	tài liệu học tập
67. der Unterricht	the lesson	bài học, buổi học
68. jemandem Unterricht geben	to teach a lesson to someone	dạy học cho ai đó
69. das Wissen	the knowledge	kiến thức
70. die Kenntnisse	the knowledge (only Plural in German)	kiến thức (chỉ dùng ở dạng số nhiều trong tiếng Đức)
71. vermitteln	to transfer knowledge	truyền đạt kiến thức
72. die Vermittlung von Kenntnissen	the transfer of knowledge	sự truyền đạt kiến thức
73. die Fähigkeit	the skill	kỹ năng
74. erwerben	to acquire	có được, lấy được
74.1. Fähigkeiten erwerben	to acquire skills	có được kỹ năng
75. der Erwerb von Kenntnissen	the acquisition of knolwedge	việc tiếp thu kiến thức
76. erweitern	to broaden	mở rộng
77. seine Kenntnisse praktisch anwenden	to apply his knowledge in practice	áp dụng kiến thức của mình vào thực tiễn
78. auswendig lernen	to learn by heart/by memorizing	học thuộc lòng/ghi nhớ
79. die Note	the grade	điểm số
80. eine Leistung erbringen	to perform well (at school)	học tập tốt
81. eine Klassenarbeit schreiben	to write a test (in school)	làm bài kiểm tra (ở trường)
82. die Nachhilfe	the tutoring	việc dạy kèm
83. Nachhilfeunterricht erteilen	to give tutoring lessons	dạy kèm
84. Nachhilfeunterricht nehmen	to take tutoring lessons	học kèm

Study Activities at University

Besides having freedom to select the study programs with varying activities, universitiy students also have different workload, assignment types and assessments in higher education.

I try to group these words in a logical order, in which you can imagine a schoolyear at a university: from starting a semester with different courses to choose from, then each course has its own lectures, seminars, and specific assignments, such as presentations or term papers. Finally, you end a semester with final exams.

Needless to say, at university, you learn not only knowledge but also time management, project management and self-management skills!

DEUTSCH	ENGLISH	TIẾNG VIỆT
85. das Semester	the semester	học kỳ
86. die Lehrveranstaltung	the course	khóa học
87. die Vorlesung	the lecture	bài giảng
88. das Vorlesungsverzeichnis	the course catalog	danh mục khóa học
89. das Seminar	the seminar	hội thảo
90. an einem Seminar teilnehmen	to participate in a seminar	tham gia hội thảo
91. die Teilnahme	the participant	người tham gia
92. das Tutorium	the tutorial	buổi hướng dẫn
93. der Tutor	the tutor (m)	gia sư (nam)
94. der Arbeitsaufwand	the workload	khối lượng công việc
95. die Kreditpunkte	the credit point	điểm tín dụng
96. Kreditpunkte sammeln	to collect credit points	tích lũy điểm tín dụng
97. das Referat	the presentation	bài thuyết trình
98. ein Referat halten	to hold a presentation	tổ chức một buổi thuyết trình
99. die Hausarbeit verfassen	to write a paper	viết một bài luận
100. die Klausur	the exam (at university)	kỳ thi (ở trường đại học)
101. die Prüfung	the test	bài kiểm tra
102. eine Abschlussklausur / Abschlussprüfung schreiben	to write a final exam	để làm bài kiểm tra cuối kỳ
103. eine Prüfung ablegen	to take an exam	tham gia kỳ thi
104. eine Prüfung bestehen	to pass an exam	vượt qua kỳ thi
105. bei einer Prüfung durchfallen	to fail an exam	trượt kỳ thi
106. der Stundenplan	the timetable	thời gian biểu
107. einen Stundenplan zusammenstellen	to put together a timetable	lập thời khóa biểu
108. sich die Zeit einteilen	manage one’s own time	quản lý thời gian của bản thân

Student Life on Campus

A student sure has more than just studying to think about. A student life is cool, lots of fun, but could also be stressful (and probably expensive!).

So I write down words that might be of life-saving, from the different buildings on campus to find your way around to financial topics.

DEUTSCH	ENGLISH	TIẾNG VIỆT
109. der Campus	the campus	khuôn viên
110. auf dem Campus	on the campus	trên khuôn viên trường
111. das Studentenwohnheim	the dormitory	ký túc xá
112. die Bibliothek	the library	thư viện
113. der Hörsaal	the lecture hall	giảng đường
114. die Mensa	the cafeteria	căng tin
115. das Studium finanzieren	to finance the studies	tài chính cho việc học
116. die Finanzierung des Studiums	financing the studies	việc tài chính cho việc học
117. die Studiengebühren	the tuition fees	học phí
118. das Stipendium	the scholarship	học bổng
119. sich um ein Stipendium bewerben	to apply for a scholarship	nộp đơn xin học bổng
120. ein Stipendium erhalten	receive a scholarship	nhận học bổng
121. der Sozialbeitrag	the semester fee	học phí
122. der Semesterbeitrag	the semester fee	học phí
123. das Semesterticket	the semester ticket	vé học kỳ
124. die Ermäßigung	the discount	giảm giá
125. eine Ermäßigung bekommen	get a discount	nhận được giảm giá
126. der Studentenausweis	the student ID	thẻ sinh viên
127. den Studentenausweis vorlegen	present the student ID	xuất trình thẻ sinh viên

That’s it! You have got 127 must-know essential words about study life and education systems. How many words have you known before this blog post? Comment and let me know! 😉

BONUS 1: Research & Scientific Work

Chronologically ordered, the last two vocabulary groups are targeted students of post-graduate and researchers. Even if not a PhD students, you can still find many words helpful for when you need to research for a paper, write your thesis, and so on.

(*) For example, you can say “die Masterarbeit” for the Master thesis, like “die Doktorarbeit” for the PhD thesis.

DEUTSCH	ENGLISH	TIẾNG VIỆT
128. die Dissertation	the dissertation	luận án
129. die Doktorarbeit	the dissertation (synonym)	luận án (từ đồng nghĩa)
130. der Doktorand	the PhD student (m)	nghiên cứu sinh tiến sĩ (nam)
131. der Wissenschaftler	the scientist (m)	nhà khoa học (m)
132. der Forscher	the scientist/the researcher (m)	nhà khoa học/nhà nghiên cứu (nam)
133. forschen nach	to research about	để nghiên cứu về
134. die Forschung	the research	việc nghiên cứu
135. recherchieren	to research (synonym)	nghiên cứu (từ đồng nghĩa)
136. die Recherche	the research (synonym)	việc nghiên cứu (từ đồng nghĩa)
137. die Studie	the study	nghiên cứu
138. eine Studie durchführen	to conduct a study	tiến hành một nghiên cứu
139. Daten sammeln	to collect data	thu thập dữ liệu
140. Daten analysieren	to analyze data	phân tích dữ liệu
141. die Hypothese	the hypothesis	giả thuyết
142. eine Hypothese aufstellen	to make a hypothesis	đưa ra giả thuyết
143. eine Hypothese überprüfen	to test/verify a hypothesis	kiểm tra/xác minh một giả thuyết
144. das Labor	the laboratory	phòng thí nghiệm
145. die Ausstattung	the equipment	thiết bị

BONUS 2: Lifelong Learning

I’d love to end this (already super long) blog post with a final group of words about “Lifelong learning”. The words in this group are for us, language learners, and like a warm message from me to you, who loves self-development and learning new skills.

DEUTSCH	ENGLISH	TIẾNG VIỆT
146. gebildet sein	be educated	được giáo dục
147. das Bildungsniveau	the education level	trình độ giáo dục
148. die Begabung	the talent	tài năng
149. begabt sein	be gifted/talented	có năng khiếu/tài năng
150. verfügen über	to have	sở hữu
151. sich weiterbilden	to (further) educate oneself (synonym verb)	(tiếp tục) tự trau dồi kiến thức
152. sich fortbilden	to (further) educate oneself	(tiếp tục) tự trau dồi kiến thức
153. die Weiterbildung	the further education	giáo dục nâng cao
154. die Fortbildung	the further education	giáo dục nâng cao
155. der Kurs	the course	khóa học