What’s the most time-consuming part of language learning? While some will argue that it’s different for each person, there’s one area that almost all language learners inevitably spend (at one point or another) the bulk of their time on – memorizing vocabulary.
If you’re laden with a naturally-retentive memory, then you’re a lucky fellow. That means you can remember a greater number of things in a shorter span of time, potentially saving you a whole lot of repetitive memorizing while building up your vocabulary.
For those not so lucky, here are a few techniques you can apply while you work with your language vocabulary software to help you suck those words in.
Associate new words with other vocabulary. If you’re slightly more advanced than a beginner, it’s helpful to link new words you learn to words you’ve previously learned in your studies. This method serves a dual benefit: it becomes easier to remember the new word and you get a refresher on the old one.
Gender words. If you’re a guy, build a mental picture of a naked woman and associate all female words with her. Everything else gets imagined being attached to an image of you. Reverse the process if you’re a girl. For languages with multiple genders, just add extra images.
Regularly test yourself. Use software-based vocabulary exams and flash cards to regularly test yourself on what you learned. This will help retention immensely by building up your word associations.
Learn words in context. This is probably the longest-running, most doled-out vocabulary advice for one reason: it works. Learn words in groups according to context and associations will naturally build themselves.
Read a lot. Reading, put simply, beefs up vocabulary without any extra effort. The act of seeing words used in different contexts allows associations to form on their own.