How to learn Spanish vocabulary and remember it
Posted in 'How to' articles, Learning ideas, Spanish ebooks, Spanish vocabulary on October 31st, 2011 by Maria – Be the first to commentYou can learn new Spanish vocabulary fast, and remember it easily, if you use the right learning technique.
One of the biggest frustrations we all face when studying a foreign language is failing to remember the words and phrases we thought we had learned. How do you stop forgetting the words you came across in previous lessons? Here is the technique my students and I use:
1. Learn new vocabulary with audio material rather than from text only. The difference between learning new Spanish words by reading them in your lesson’s glossary only and by hearing them said by native speakers is abysmal. Hearing the vocabulary said by a native speaker will not only make you familiar with those words substantially faster, but it will also help you understand them better, and you will pronounce them correctly and memorize them easily.
2. Learn new vocabulary in context. Whenever you learn a new Spanish word, make sure you also hear it in context; in you lessons’ dialogs, for instance. Remembering lists of single words without context is practically impossible for most of us, because the human brain works best when it can make associations. In my experience both as a language teacher and a learner, recorded dialogs are the most effective tool for reinforcing your vocabulary.
3. Review vocabulary by listening to your audio material regularly. Listen to the dialogs and flashcards in your lessons as frequently as you can. Repeat them out loud, along with the recordings, with and without the transcript in front of you. In other words, make reviewing part of your study routine. Reviewing always pays off. The more often you review the vocabulary you have learned, the more solid your knowledge will be and, in turn, the faster you will be able to learn and remember new, more difficult, words.
4. Learn all Spanish nouns with their article (“el”, “la”, “los”, “las”) rather than on their own. Whenever you learn a Spanish noun with its article, you are avoiding endless future mistakes. In essence, you are saving yourself a lot of time, and unnecessary, repetitive work. As you may know, the Spanish gender rules can help you “guess” the gender of many nouns, especially those ending in “a” and “o”, but there are many nouns that will let you down if you try to guess their gender. That is why it is safer, and faster, to learn them all with their article when you first come across them.
5. Learn phrases and idioms as a whole, rather than analyzing them word for word. Better still, learn them in context, within complete sentences, and you will not forget them.
6. Redo the vocabulary drills in your course until you can get all the answers right.
You can read these and more tips on how to learn Spanish vocabulary and remember it in my ebook “How to learn Spanish“.
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Hi, I'm Maria Fernandez, a highly experienced native Spanish teacher. I'm the author of the Spanish courses at 