No matter how good you are at grammar, if you don’t have a vocabulary to use it with, your language skills won’t get you very far: vocabulary opens doors to new worlds, and expanding it can be highly entertaining and satisfying.
But expanding the range of words you know can sometimes feel like a diet: you have to put in a lot of effort, and there’s no magic trick, secret strategy, or formula. With language courses, either at home or abroad, you can acquire a good vocabulary and learn words that are used in everyday language there.
However, everyone has to find out for themselves how they can do it best; But patience, realistic goals and rewards for achieving them are part of a good strategy, which can then be supplemented with each of the following points. Here’s how you can quickly learn new vocabulary:
1. Use memory techniques
A popular method for quickly remembering vocabulary is to use so-called mnemonic symbols or mnemonics. These are mental shortcuts designed to help you remember more complex ideas or words. For example, you can create associations with the words: If you don’t know how to say the word accommodation (Accommodation) writes, then just remember instead that there are two cots (camp beds) there are also two mattresses (mattresses) need. Or you can create an acronym, an abbreviation from your word: If you have to go to the STORE, then you buy there Spaghetti, Tomatoes, Olives, Rice, Eggs.
The difficulty, of course, is that you still have to remember the abbreviation, song or association, but with a little practice you’ll get better at coming up with creative and useful connections. And: The longer you think about the abbreviations or associations, the better you will remember the associated words in the end.
2. Create a learning environment
When you study abroad, you hear and see and read the language all around you, and you learn much faster through this complete immersion.
But you don’t have to go abroad to slowly increase the number of words you know – you can create an inspiring and learning-friendly environment for yourself wherever you are: buy magazines and books in the new language, see Watch films and cook (or at least eat) typical dishes. This way you can quickly learn new vocabulary.
3. Put the words into context
If you want to learn more vocabulary faster, it’s a good idea to put them into a meaningful context: Instead of making arbitrary lists of words, try making sentences with all the new words. This way, you’ll immediately remember how and when a certain word is used in real life.
If you think of particularly funny sentences, it will definitely be easier for you to remember them. Depending on how you learn, you can also make drawings or find pictures that go with the sentences and show the words in their natural context.
4. Learn from real, lifelike situations
Speaking of context, movies, TV series, books, podcasts or pop songs are not only a rich source of the most common words, they can also help you memorize these words because they are always associated with a scene, a person or connected to a (true) event.
So try to read books in the original language, watch films in the original language (perhaps with subtitles), and find out what the words mean. If you come across a sentence or expression that you don’t understand, write it down, look it up, and add it to your watchlist.
5. Go one better
If you want to take language learning to the next level, leave enough space for so-called mind maps on which you can enter related words, synonyms or antonyms.
If you want to get even more out of the learning process, try not translating the word directly into your native language, but instead explaining and describing it in the language you are trying to learn.
6. Find the tools that suit you best
Each of us learns in a different way. So if you don’t know what works best for you, try out as many learning strategies as possible – or a combination of them: flashcards, apps, lists, games or post-its are all great ways to learn quickly Vocabulary.
The same applies to the right time: Some people want to set a fixed, regular time for themselves, while others prefer to spontaneously find quiet time to study. Whatever approach you choose, make sure you get into the habit of some kind of rhythm – after all, practice makes perfect.
7. Make it interactive
But not only do you need to find the right tools specifically for your way of learning, it’s also just as important to make your learning experience as comprehensive as possible: Don’t just read the words from cards or vocabulary lists – listen to them as they’re pronounced repeat them out loud and write or type them out.
The more you manage to include all of your senses in your encounter with words, the better. (Why not go for ice cream while you learn what the different flavors are called?)
8. Focus on useful words
If you want to expand your vocabulary because you want to work at a marketing firm abroad, you probably don’t need to read Shakespeare or focus on words related to the Middle Ages.
The more useful and popular the words are for your career, hobbies, and real-life conversations, the easier it will be for you to learn them – and the more you’ll be able to use them more often. (You can easily make a game of this: you can reward yourself every time you use a new word in real conversation.)
9. Repetition is key
Don’t forget that you should not only repeat the new vocabulary to memorize it, but also the “old stuff” that you think you already have in your head.
You don’t have to look at the familiar words as often as you do the new ones, but the more you use them, the better you’ll be able to remember them and recall them later.
