diff --git a/test/test_vocab.py b/test/test_vocab.py
index c78cd5c708..1f938731b7 100644
--- a/test/test_vocab.py
+++ b/test/test_vocab.py
@@ -241,3 +241,20 @@ def test_build_vocab_iterator(self):
         expected_stoi = {x: index for index, x in enumerate(expected_itos)}
         self.assertEqual(v.get_itos(), expected_itos)
         self.assertEqual(dict(v.get_stoi()), expected_stoi)
+
+    def test_vocab_specials(self):
+        token_to_freq = {'hello': 4, 'world': 3, 'ᑌᑎIᑕOᗪᕮ_Tᕮ᙭T': 5, 'freq_too_low': 2}
+        sorted_by_freq_tuples = OrderedDict(sorted(token_to_freq.items(), key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True))
+        specials = ["<unk>", "<bos>", "<eos>", "pad"]
+
+        v1 = vocab(sorted_by_freq_tuples, min_freq=3, specials=specials)
+        expected_itos = specials + ['ᑌᑎIᑕOᗪᕮ_Tᕮ᙭T', 'hello', 'world']
+        expected_stoi = {x: index for index, x in enumerate(expected_itos)}
+        self.assertEqual(v1.get_itos(), expected_itos)
+        self.assertEqual(dict(v1.get_stoi()), expected_stoi)
+
+        v2 = vocab(sorted_by_freq_tuples, min_freq=3, specials=specials, special_first=False)
+        expected_itos = ['ᑌᑎIᑕOᗪᕮ_Tᕮ᙭T', 'hello', 'world'] + specials
+        expected_stoi = {x: index for index, x in enumerate(expected_itos)}
+        self.assertEqual(v2.get_itos(), expected_itos)
+        self.assertEqual(dict(v2.get_stoi()), expected_stoi)
diff --git a/torchtext/vocab/vocab_factory.py b/torchtext/vocab/vocab_factory.py
index bdea76f0a6..835886e96f 100644
--- a/torchtext/vocab/vocab_factory.py
+++ b/torchtext/vocab/vocab_factory.py
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@
 )
 
 
-def vocab(ordered_dict: Dict, min_freq: int = 1) -> Vocab:
+def vocab(ordered_dict: Dict, min_freq: int = 1,
+          specials: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+          special_first: bool = True) -> Vocab:
     r"""Factory method for creating a vocab object which maps tokens to indices.
 
     Note that the ordering in which key value pairs were inserted in the `ordered_dict` will be respected when building the vocab.
@@ -15,6 +17,8 @@ def vocab(ordered_dict: Dict, min_freq: int = 1) -> Vocab:
     Args:
         ordered_dict: Ordered Dictionary mapping tokens to their corresponding occurance frequencies.
         min_freq: The minimum frequency needed to include a token in the vocabulary.
+        specials: Special symbols to add. The order of supplied tokens will be preserved.
+        special_first: Indicates whether to insert symbols at the beginning or at the end.
 
     Returns:
         torchtext.vocab.Vocab: A `Vocab` object
@@ -29,11 +33,10 @@ def vocab(ordered_dict: Dict, min_freq: int = 1) -> Vocab:
         >>> print(v1['a']) #prints 1
         >>> print(v1['out of vocab']) #raise RuntimeError since default index is not set
         >>> tokens = ['e', 'd', 'c', 'b', 'a']
-        >>> v2 = vocab(OrderedDict([(token, 1) for token in tokens]))
         >>> #adding <unk> token and default index
         >>> unk_token = '<unk>'
         >>> default_index = -1
-        >>> if unk_token not in v2: v2.insert_token(unk_token, 0)
+        >>> v2 = vocab(OrderedDict([(token, 1) for token in tokens]), specials=[unk_token])
         >>> v2.set_default_index(default_index)
         >>> print(v2['<unk>']) #prints 0
         >>> print(v2['out of vocab']) #prints -1
@@ -41,12 +44,20 @@ def vocab(ordered_dict: Dict, min_freq: int = 1) -> Vocab:
         >>> v2.set_default_index(v2[unk_token])
         >>> v2['out of vocab'] is v2[unk_token] #prints True
     """
+    specials = specials or []
+    for token in specials:
+        ordered_dict.pop(token, None)
 
     tokens = []
     for token, freq in ordered_dict.items():
         if freq >= min_freq:
             tokens.append(token)
 
+    if special_first:
+        tokens[0:0] = specials
+    else:
+        tokens.extend(specials)
+
     return Vocab(VocabPybind(tokens, None))
 
 
@@ -79,20 +90,10 @@ def build_vocab_from_iterator(iterator: Iterable, min_freq: int = 1, specials: O
     for tokens in iterator:
         counter.update(tokens)
 
-    if specials is not None:
-        for tok in specials:
-            del counter[tok]
-
     sorted_by_freq_tuples = sorted(counter.items(), key=lambda x: x[0])
     sorted_by_freq_tuples.sort(key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True)
     ordered_dict = OrderedDict(sorted_by_freq_tuples)
 
-    if specials is not None:
-        if special_first:
-            specials = specials[::-1]
-        for symbol in specials:
-            ordered_dict.update({symbol: min_freq})
-            ordered_dict.move_to_end(symbol, last=not special_first)
-
-    word_vocab = vocab(ordered_dict, min_freq=min_freq)
+    word_vocab = vocab(ordered_dict, min_freq=min_freq, specials=specials or [],
+                       special_first=special_first)
     return word_vocab