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Learning a foreign language involves a chronological succession of phases or stages, and possessing a skillful mastery of vocabulary is one of the most fundamental aspects.
Be it Urdu, Spanish, or English; a robust vocabulary empowers you to strengthen every communication area — writing, reading, listening & speaking. However, that isn’t a cakewalk.
Fortunately, herein, in this blog, we’ll be enlisting pro four tactics to have a firm grip over the language.
Read on to Try These Smart Techniques:-
1. Learn Words With Their Context
When learning a second language, we have two columns in our notebook. The first column is for the foreign words, and the second column is for the translation of words in your native language.
Now, you need to create a third column, which is for the example sentence for each word. Thanks to the context, the words will stick in your brain better.
If you’ve come across a new word while learning a new language but don’t know how to use it in a sentence, check helpful sites such as wordincontext.com — it provides multiple examples of simple & complex sentences every word.
Not only will this let you memorize the different words, but it also guides you on how to use them in a context effectively.
2. Learn From Real-Life Situations
Taking one step ahead with context: Web series, movies, songs, and podcasts are not only a great source to make yourself familiar with everyday-use second language words, but they can also assist you with memorizing language vocabulary because they are in association with a person in a scene or simply a real-life event.
So, try to watch movies in the original language with subtitles, carefully listen to music, point various words and figure out what the three words mean.
If you come across a phrase or sentence that you don’t understand the meaning of, write it down, search, and know what it means.
3. Group Words Thematically
One large vocabulary memorizing mistake we make is concentrating on a single word we bumped into lately and then proceeding to the other word. With this technique, we tend to forget the previously learned words, and all our efforts go in vain.
So what’s the solution? Thematically group words you learned recently. For instance, create a group of words of gratitude to others or words to greet someone.
Learning words by association is a powerful technique to expand your second language vocabulary.
If you’ve just learned the word “Cat” in Arabic, don’t stop there; find, write & remember words such as “Kitten,” “Dog,” “Mice.”
4. Use Spaced Repetition
To memorize unfamiliar words in a second language, you must repeat them. But how many or how often I have to repeat them?
Repeating the words a hundred times in one day is not as effective as repeating it a few times over several days or even weeks. This way, the words you learn will have the time to rest in your brain and be refreshed.
Linguists believe that the spaced repetition technique mainly depends on the revision process’s efforts.
Massed repetition requires no effort, but spaced repetition can be challenging for our brains. But, if you devote time and effort to this technique, you’ll be blessed with good vocabulary power.
You can set repetition reminders on your smartphone or language learning App.
Final Takeaway
Memorizing vocabulary is not an overnight adventure; it takes time and your real passion for mastering it. You can benefit from joining online Arabic classes. They have a qualified linguists panel to improve verbal and spatial abilities, enhanced creative thinking capacity, and techniques to memorize vocabulary.