Learning Vocabulary

Whenever you learn a new language, you also need to learn new vocabulary. Whether you learn the second language in school, in evening classes or on your own, the more words you know, the greater your possibilities. But how can you learn new vocabulary the most effectively?

Cluster Learning
New words stick best if you learn them in connection to something. For example, make a word cluster with words that have to do with holidays, or with school. Then, learn the whole cluster.

Three Times Ten
Instead of learning new words for a long period of time every day, dedicate three times ten minutes per day to new words. The human brain is not able to "save" new input for longer periods of time; instead of remembering everything, it will concentrate on the first and last things you learnt. If, however, you split the time to shorter intervals, your brain can actually save everything more easily.

15 Words
Every time you learn new words, limit the amount of words to about 15 and repeat those 15 words a few times in random order.

Rinse and Repeat
New words need some time and several repetitions in order to be saved in your long-term memory. Repeat new words every day for three or four days, and then go over older sets of words every week until you feel you really know them.

Make it a Game
Learning vocabulary can be very tedious. If you manage to make it fun, though, the task doesn't only become more pleasant, the words will also be easier to remember. Try to make the longest word chain (start each new word with the last letter of the previous word) you can think of, or grab some friends who learn the same language and try to come up with words from different categories which start with the same letter (for example nouns, verbs and adjectives which begin with an a).

If you have other tricks to learn new vocabulary, I would appreciate it if you shared them with us. Thanks!