Having trouble memorizing vocabulary? You’re not alone. Memorizing has long been one of my weakest points, dating back to the good old days of elementary school. If your second language software lacks a few extra points to help you out in vocabulary building, try a few (or all) of these ones that have worked for me.
Apply images to words. Some words are easy to memorize using images. When memorizing “duck” in French, just picture a duck. However, not all words are as tangible in form. How do you memorize words like “patience,” “someday” or “courage,” for instance? My suggestion is to apply images according to how they sound by closing your eyes, repeating the word aloud and relating it to whatever picture comes to mind. It may sound corny, but it works like a charm.
Semantic mapping. In this method, you create an imaginary map of a language and plot the “location” of specific words in it, like they’re countries. Any time you need to access a word, just look at the map.
Write them down. Writing, for some reason, is very good for committing things to memory. Remember when your teacher made you write down to behave in the blackboard multiple times? It works like that.
Use keywords. One of my favorites is using keywords in English to words I’m memorizing in the target language. I use synonyms, antonyms, homonyms…anything, in fact, that sounds fun. Eventually, they acquire relative meanings in my head.
Feel it. Some people like to memorize by feeling the words. I’m not sure exactly how it works, since I’ve never done it. However, the general idea is geared towards kinesthetically-inclined individuals (about 20% of the general population), who may be able to relate more powerfully to “how things feel.”
Now, try the above techniques and see which one works best for you!