Who says you can’t have fun while working on your vocabulary? If conventional flash cards, lists and mnemonics isn’t quite up your alley, you should really consider using the lot of available games designed to aid in developing your stock of words in a foreign language. While we won’t recommend using vocabulary builders such as these as a primary language learning program, they make for an excellent addition to a comprehensive language software or a regular class.
Flash has evolved as the de facto platform for many games aimed at helping language learners build up their vocabularies. Relatively easy to program and available on many platforms, it has paved the way for a slew of attractive tools, which you can use to boost your own inventory of a target language.
People learning English as a second language should find this medium to be particularly rich, as I’ve seen tons of resources with games dedicated to helping folks improve their abilities in the vernacular. Doing a quick search on the web alone, should turn up plenty of helpful sites, with games that range from simple to complex, running the gamut from slang words to TOEFL-level usage.
While the pool of choices isn’t as rich for those trying to learn other foreign languages, it’s usually not as bad as you might imagine. Back when I was learning Mandarin, I was able to use at least half a dozen vocabulary games after a good deal of searching.
