Vocabulary is the base of learning any language. To reach fluency, you'll need to learn thousands of words! This category is for any time you're specifically studying and learning new words.
Parent Skills:
Child Techniques: Language App, Flashcard creation
Vocabulary is the base of learning any language. To reach fluency, you'll need to learn thousands of words! This category is for any time you're specifically studying and learning new words.
Learn to understand the language
Prepare yourself for immersion
Very easy to start and high impact on your ability
Vocab study can take a lot of different forms. You can learn with apps or your own flashcards or download decks from the internet.
Words are the foundation of language learning. You should prioritize vocab study at the beginning, but a good learning routine always includes new vocabulary in some way. But it should never be more than 25% of your total learning time.
It's easy to spend a lot of time learning words, so be sure to balance it with actual immersion activities.
Finding a tool you like for learning is important. We recommend Anki since it's customizable, incredibly powerful and free. Some people don't like it, however, so you may need to find your own favorite tool.
When you've found a tool, start by learning common words. A frequent mistake is that people will try to learn "basic" words or "themed" words. These are things like the days of the week, animal names or colors. These words will all eventually become useful, but you want to start by learning only the most common words that natives actually use. Look for the word "Frequency" or "Common words" when browsing vocab learning resources.
Avoid overlearning the function words (small words like he, over, to). While these words ARE very common, they're actually so common, that it's best to let your brain learn them in context. They're often difficult to perfectly translate, anyway, so exposure to them will help you learn them better. Once you've seen their meaning a few times, don't worry about them too much. Spending your time on the content words will help you understand more, faster.
When you know a word well, stop studying it! Many learners fall into the trap of relearning words they already know. Don't waste your valuable time on words you know.
And finally, vocab study is only a small piece of the puzzle. You cannot memorize words and then expect to "know" them. You must activate your knowledge of words by finding and understanding them in real language. If you find yourself struggling to learn new words, the answer isn't to do more study, but to do more immersion.