There are many different ways to learning vocabulary, whether it be for a test in science, business or politics, learning the vocab of a new language or even the small details within your speech that you want to memorize. The way that you memorize vocab is very important – it needs to be powerful, smart and efficient in order for you to progress with speed. Luckily, there are some helpful tools and resources out there to help you unlock your potential in memorizing key vocab.
Creating associations is a very clever tactic to developing memory strength for specific information that you are learning – in this case, vocabulary.
These are very simple ways to remember a large sentence of words. Below is an example. This has helped millions learn the solar system, the north, east, south and west directions, and the colors in the rainbow, among other important things.
This is an opportunity to expand your association to physical objects and real life things. Associating your vocab or information with a physical object has been very useful in helping to learn and relate to the original piece of information. People have been doing it with their hands, equipment and resources around them for years.
3. Weird associations
Another useful method is using weird associations to already existing objects or names of certain things. An example of this is when one of my friends in my class remembered “mandare”, which is “to send” in Italian, by associating it to her other friend’s name Mandy, who would mail her presents at Christmas. These kind of associations won’t let you forget the information of the word and its meanings.
Tool for Associations:
4. FlashSticks – For Language Learning
FlashSticks are foreign language Post-it Notes, each printed with a unique, commonly used word, translation, icon and phonetic.They are designed to help you memorise vocabulary by using association. The main benefit to using FlashSticks is the opportunity to stick them in the areas that help you remember more easily. For example, if someone wanted to learn Spanish and they had a pack of FlashSticks, they would place each note over the object of relevance.
This helps the brain create association and build on its memory strength. You can also strengthen this by taking out your smartphone and scanning the note, and from here you can get a language coach to show you the correct pronunciation.
The next step:
Creating an environment – This is developing things around you to learn a specific thing.
5. Different Sources
You need to explore different sources of taking in new vocabulary that tests what kind of person you are, whether you are more visual, audio or physical.
6. Learning from friends
Your friends can be an environment, and they can be of huge use when it comes to engaging with another one on one about something that they know and you are trying to learn. Whether it s a language, computer problem or training, learning the right vocab from another will help you build association and learn more effectively.
7. Using Technologies
Using new technology, wearable technology, and podcasts are resources that you need to be taking advantage of.
Revise and memorize anything online. This is targeted towards students and other learners, as StudyBlue is an online flashcards website that allows you to learn online and on the go. This website is amazing for collaborating with others on notes and improving student’s revision. Perfect for memorizing vocab.
This is, again, targeted toward language learners, but on the go you need to have something at your fingertips. StudyBlue has an app, but Duolingo has an Android wear application that allows you to learn vocab on languages on the go. This is based off of a card app that allows you to choose whether you’ve gotten something correct or incorrect. You get 10 new words a day to learn and it is available in multiple languages,
Reviewing your memory – Using a review system is useful in build up a much stronger ability to memorize vocab. For this process I take my time to discover some new technologies out there to meet the needs of my vocabulary
10. Evernote & Get Reflect – For reviewing on your notes
If you are using Evernote for the collection of notes, images and documents throughout your day, then you’ll love this application on the web. Get Reflect is designed to help you recover notes, review notes, and remains perfect for learning vocabulary from notes – just use a tag in your Evernote and you’ll master this vocab revision opportunity.
11. Drink lots
When learning new things, it is important that your brain knows what you are doing and keeps working to its top capacity. Drink lots of water throughout your day for that vocab to be retained.
From experience, some of the best ways to memorize vocab is audio and SoundCloud has a massive library of vocabulary-based content, especially in the language area. This is such a great source to check out!
Focus on one task, don’t get distracted. When learning something like vocab, you need all of your attention. Find a quiet place and focus on just one thing.
14. Chewing gum
Apparently if you are chewing gum while studying, then gum of the same flavor will help you make the association when reviewing the material later. Very powerful – grab some gum and try it out over time.
Get a big piece of A3, and hit into spreading your vocab across the page. This will help you discover and learn the words in a more visual way.
Featured photo credit: Flashsticks via flashsticks.com
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