Vocabulary Post #1

Hey guys!
In this entry you're going to read about my strategy on learning vocabulary.
Acquiring vocabulary is doubtless something that takes learning and time. One needs to be patient when it comes to learn a language. It is impossible not to do this step by step because you can easily overwhelm yourself sitting before seemingly endless vocab lists. Of course, this isn’t very attractive and quickly puts you off. So, to know how to learn vocabulary effectively and for a long term is essential. Here is my personal strategy of extending my vocabulary slowly but surely:

In my opinion, a word can only be learned, if you use it passively as well as actively. In other words, I am not able to use a word when studied solely from a vocab list. This particular word has to be read, listened to, and spoken by myself. Otherwise, I am very likely to forget about it and have to look it up again and again in my dictionary. For example, I am reading some article online. I catch up a word its meaning I’m not entirely sure about. I look it up then, and write down its different usages and so on. But this is not enough. Additionally, I need to hear it on a different occasion in a different context so that I feel comfortable using it actively myself. To put it in a nutshell, my key of learning vocab is variation.

What really helps me to keep on practicing, are cards. I always write them by myself out of normal paper sheets in a college block. I cut them in small pieces and write on the upper side the word I want to learn. The other side gets covered in meanings, examples and sometimes translation in another language if I think that helps additionally. Studying with cards is like a game and it makes me remember words easier.

Lately, I’ve been studying vocab on the vocabulary.com website. Before knowing this great website, I preferred not to study online, as I think I am basically more concentrated if I hold a piece of paper in my hands, being able to highlight important information and not having to stare at a screen. But with vocabulary.com it’s no problem studying online really. You can create your own lists, share lists and learn them in different kinds of ways. So, again something that I like: variation.

Last but not least, the good old mind map, something that didn’t really interested me when I first got in touch with it in secondary school. Now, many people I know continually tell me how brilliant this tool is so I’ve tried it out (again) and I have to admit, this is one of the most practical programs when it comes to studying vocab. I still need to improve my handling with this new device but I suppose it will help me a lot in the future.

What are your strategies to learn vocabulary? Do you still stick to endless vocab lists or have you developed a particularly clever way to extend your thesaurus? ;-) Share your ideas!