Top 5 ways to memorize vocabulary: Tried and Tested

Have you spent hours trying to learn new vocabulary, just to realize that they have already slipped off from your memory?

These 5 tips will help you memorize the vocabulary fast and efficiently. You will never learn new words the same way again!!

Make Flash Cards

Flash cards can be made by writing french vocabulary on a side and its English translation on the other. Another way is to associate Words with pictures. Remember to add the gender of the words ex. le/la or un/une. This helps in memorizing genders easily.  One card could have 5 to 6 words at max. The cards can be colour coded according to their category (I made the vocabulary related to house category red and the office vocabulary to be blue).

Learn the vocabulary of similar category together instead of different categories, it will help to recollect it faster. Make your own flash cards or use the ones that are already available.

Learn with Audio

Spoken and written french are in themselves two different languages. It is important to know the pronunciation of words while we know their structure. Listening to the audio of new words, will make us familiar with its pronunciation. Many students find it difficult to understand spoken french. This issue will be resolved while learning with audio.

Write it Down

Maintaining a record of new words is important as they can be easily revised. Along with that follow the 3 is to 1 rule where in, the french word is written 3 times and its translation is written once.

Advantage: Helps to remember the spellings along with the accents, as spoken and written french are different.

Make Associations

Associate new words and phrases with the words that you are familiar with. This will help to recollect the word faster and efficiently. Try to create association between two familiar words. Some words are similar in french and English, but their pronunciations may differ.

ex.

• Télévision,
• Information
• Transformation
• Compétition

While some words are similar, the others may be totally different. For these, use your imagination! Be creative!

To remember seat belt in french (ceinture de sécurité) I associated it with being the center of security for my seat.

Revise and Repeat:

Experts say that “No matter how much we study it cannot be memorized until it is revised. Our brain normally remembers everything we do for 24 hours so its is important to revise in those 24hours. Once you have revised within 24 hours you will be able to recall it for a week. The same data needs to be repeated after a week to be memorized for a month.” The most common mistake students make while learning, is, to not revise. We need to polish our knowledge for easy access.

Remember : Repetition is the key

Recalling new words is the toughest part of learning any foreign language. It can be frustrating at times but it is always worth your time. Richer your vocabulary the better you will be at any language. 80% of conversation is made up of estimated 500 most common words. The remaining words form only 20% of the conversation. so it is simple you just need to learn the 500 most common words!!

I hope these tips help you through you vocabulary learning process. I post new tips every week so make sure you subscribe to suezway. See you soon!