Vocabulary trainers use a variety of methods to teach words.  Finding out which ones your specific software uses will go a long way towards ensuring it fully meets your learning requirements.  Some of these methods include:

1. Self-documentation.  Here, the software makes you actively participate in your learning by having you record words you know, then randomly testing you for them.
2. Flashcards.  I’m a huge fan of flashcards for any type of memorizing, as they’re both simple and effective.  Software-based flashcards add convenience to the mix, so it’s definitely one we recommend.
3. Multiple-choice and fill in the blank tests.  The default resort for a lot of vocabulary software, these straightforward testing techniques are easy to perform, yet manage to effectively gauge a user’s actual vocabulary level.
4. Targeted testing.  Many new vocabulary trainers use targeted testing, based on your level of abilities and current test results.   Provided their targeting algorithm is sound, this type of feature can be very useful for seeing gradual but consistent improvements.

These four principles, often referred to as the 4 R’s, for improving your ability to memorize should offer an excellent way to approach the activity:

1. Resolve.  Make sure your head is in the right place.  If you don’t want to memorize a bunch of new phrases, no amount of technique will help you.  Develop a serious intention to commit elements of a language to memory — that’s how the process should start.
2. React.  Don’t just passively take in information.  If you want to remember things better, you have to actively respond to the language elements you’re trying to commit to memory. Every time you learn a new word or phrase, react to it — process it mentally, create a visual image in your head, write it down on your journal and do other things that will help you form natural associations.
3. Reflect.  Contemplate on the new information by relating it to something you’re already familiar with, making analogies and comparisons that flesh out the new information’s inherent qualities.
4. Refresh.  Solidify your acquisition of new language elements by reviewing immediately, either through practice or exercises in your language software that will strengthen the associations you’ve made with it in your mind.  Do this right away — the less time you allow to pass, the better results you can gain from your review.

The more you advance in your language abilities, the more that a strong vocabulary will play a part in your effectiveness with a language.  Here are a few ways to make that richer vocabulary a reality:

1. Read a lot.  The more materials you read in the target language, the more elements of it you end up exposed to.   Over the course of going through a book or several articles, you’ll likely become well-acquainted with many new words and phrases, some of which will end up added to your vocabulary.
2. Open a thesaurus randomly, find a word and make up sentences using it.  The sentences you make up need not be grammatically perfect, although it makes for good practice to try and make them as correct as possible.
3. Play word games.  Word-based games, like Scrabble and crossword puzzles, can work great for building up your vocabulary.  Try working with a dictionary or thesaurus in hand, so you can get precise definitions as you need them.  Some language software come with both games and a thesaurus bundled in, so you might not even need to look far to find tools you can use.

Assuming you can already read at an elementary level in a foreign language, this is one of the most powerful tools you can add to your arsenal of language learning activities.   Just integrate reading as a regular activity, even for only short periods of time (a page a day from a book probably wouldn’t impinge much on your time).

The more you read work written in a language, the more commonly-used words and phrases you are exposed to.   Even if you’re encountering a word for the first time, you can infer some of its meaning from the context expressed in the rest of a sentence.   Being exposed to it several times, you begin to get a clear picture of its usage, allowing you to slowly integrate it in your own use of the target language.

You don’t even need to look far for evidence of this.  Consider your group of friends.  Which one of them has the best vocabulary and spelling skills in your native language?  Chances are, it’s going to be the one who is the widest reader of the bunch.

To put it simply, integrating reading as a supplement to working with your Dutch, Portuguese or French learning software will yield tremendous benefits in the areas of vocabulary building and spelling.  Who knows, you might even end up discovering a good book while you’re at it?

According to language researchers, however, fluency can be achieved with much less than that.  In Spanish, for instance, having a stock of 2.5 percent of the most-frequently used words in the language is enough to get you speaking in a fluent manner.  Many languages follow along the same lines, as well.

That 2.5 percent represents around 2,500 words out of the estimated 100,000 in the Spanish language.  That may not sound like a lot, but being frequently used in daily interactions, you can supposedly understand up to 95 percent of conversations using just those stock of words alone.

Knowing about that fact can give many students some much-needed confidence, especially those a bit too worried about their chances of actually learning a language.   While 2,500 words is no easy feat, it’s a goal that can realistically be achieved, especially with the help of a good language learning software.

With a trip to the library, you can read books and other publications (such as newspapers and magazines) in the foreign language.  The more you read, the more new words you’ll naturally end up coming across.  If you go about it actively (e.g. looking up the meaning of new terms you encounter and jotting them down), you can build a hefty stock of vocabulary over time.

The internet, of course, is a rich source for reading materials in any language.  Even better, there are many browser plugins you can use, that will enhance the experience for learning.  One plugin you can install in Firefox, for instance, lets you automatically see the meaning of a word on a page by simply pointing  the cursor over it.  The one I used before worked for English, Spanish and Portuguese; there’s a good chance a similar tool is available for other languages.

As with many activities you can use for second language vocabulary building, this may be more applicable to some languages over others.   If you’re an English speaker, for instance, reading Chinese will probably be a lot further down the line in your own language development.  In case you’re studying a language system that uses the Roman alphabet, however, then it should be more feasible.

Do note that this only one possible approach to this technique.  You can devise your own, based on what jives best with you.

1. Assign nouns to your town.  For every noun in the language, link it to a familiar object or place in your city where the word has some relevance.  For example, I’ll link the target noun for computer to a local internet café and the corresponding word for restaurant to my brother’s eatery down the block.
2. Assign verbs to a local gym or a sports center.  Verbs, being action words, lend themselves naturally to associations with equipment and activities in such places.  You can also use a local theater, a busy market or any other location where “action” takes place.
3. Assign adjectives to a park or other picturesque locations.  Places with plenty of greenery and scenery lend themselves well to adjectives.  “Cold” could be the water in the fountain, while “bright” could be the sun shining over the park in the afternoon.

You catch the drift?  You could the same thing to other word groups in your target language, associating them with places in your locale (or favorite city) in a way that makes sense to you.   Doing this, coupled with regular lessons from your language software, should prove a good way to expand your vocabulary.

But why aren’t more people using them?  Fact is, they aren’t that easy to find.  Sometimes, you’ll get lucky and find a few games included with your language education software.  For the most part, though, you’ll have to really do some digging to turn them up.  If you can get a language program with vocabulary-learning games in tow (especially those that teach them in a categorized manner), it could very well prove to be an excellent pick.

Do a search on Google for vocabulary games, for instance, and you’ll get thousands of results – almost all of them consisting of word-based games for learning English.   It’s fine if you’re an ESL student.  When you’re trying to build up your language stock in French, Portuguese or Japanese, though, you’re out of luck.

One of the best ways to find vocabulary games is to ask around language learning communities.  Join one and see what other members have already shared.  Start a thread for people to share vocabulary games they’ve come across.  They’re out there – you just have to know who to ask.

Different software titles will have different approaches to vocabulary-building, so it’s best to expose yourself to what’s out there before settling on a choice.  Make sure you read about the different options on offer, learning as much as you can about each one.

Personally, I recommend looking for a vocabulary software that has these features, at a minimum:

1. It should have a structured method.  If there’s no structure or algorithm to the way words it helps you pick up words, you might as well just grab a dictionary and start memorizing it alphabetically.  Good vocabulary software will use methods and strategies that can improve and accelerate learning.
2. It should track your progress.  One of the more significant reasons to use software-based learning is the easier progress-tracking it allows.  This is a feature that should be on any type of learning program.
3. It should integrate pronunciation practice.  What good is memorizing a word if you can’t rehearse it spouting off your mouth?
4. It should offer multiple test modes to ensure retention.  Tons of vocabulary tests have been devised over the years and the software you use should come with several of them.  It’s usually easier to gauge actual retention if you can keep it through varying types of tests.

Those four comprise the bare-basics of what we believe a good vocabulary software should have.  Do note that many of the all-around language learning programs come with built-in vocabulary modules, so you may also want to explore that option.  At the least, it will save you from buying another piece of software when you decide the embrace language instruction in a fuller capacity.

Why Variation Works

Most of the time, the best mediums used to teach the basics of a language aren’t necessarily the most ideal way to build a solid vocabulary. That’s why we recommend expanding your horizons beyond it. There are plenty of materials out there designed for the express purpose of vocabulary work alone. Try them and you are likely to find ones that fit your learning style very well.

Types of Resources

If you like things old-school, you may want to pick up a book or tape of vocabulary-building lessons. A quick search on the web can also turn out plenty of paper-pen-thesaurus style exercises that you can take part in. While they’ve been replaced, in some ways, by software equivalents, flash cards remain a popular learning material for folks building a stock of vocabulary in any language.

For those more inclined to newer techniques, you can download computer games and software all designed to facilitate vocabulary learning. Highly-popular with younger language learners, many of them are available for free.