When I was at school my worst subjects were foreign languages. It was compulsory to study Spanish and French; but I just couldn't. I remember at the end of 3 years I took a Spanish test and scored 2.5 per cent! I basically hadn't learnt a thing in those 3 years. And it wasn't for want of trying. I would work for hours on my homework, but not get anywhere. It would take me an hour of repetitive drills to take in 5 or fewer new words. My progress was very slow and I would quickly forget what I'd spent so long learning.

10 years on and things have changed. One of the things that has really helped me make progress recently is a strategy for learning vocabulary. Now it takes me less than a minute per word - and I'm getting quicker.

Vocabulary is particularly difficult to memorise because it is so abstract and there is little connection between the word and its meaning. The connection does not exist in reality, but is formed in our heads. This makes it difficult to memorise. However, with a bit of creative imagination and a clear strategy, we can make the task easier.

It is important to understand that vocabulary cannot really be understood properly using a dictionary definition. Dictionaries are useful, but words evolve from being used in different situations and contexts. So before you really understand a new word, you're going to have to use it in a variety of contexts.

That part, however, will happen naturally as you begin to use the words more and more. Our major concern, then, is to plant that original seed of a memory.

To do this we need to do two things. First we need to make sure we have properly perceived the word, and then we need to connect it with something we already know.

Perceiving the word

It's easy to just glaze over a new word and not really take it in. Just knowing a word enough to recognise it later is not enough; we need to really know what it sounds like and how it is spelt.

This is done in two ways: phonetically and visually.

For the phonetic part:

• read the word

• look away from the page and say it aloud

• check that you have said it correctly

For the visual part:

• look at the spelling

• close your eyes

• visualise each letter

• say the spelling out loud

• say the spelling again, but in reverse order. (This confirms that you have learnt it visually and not just phonetically.)

• Open your eyes and check that you spelt it correctly

If you can do that, you know the word really well.

Committing it to memory

Now that you know the word, the next task is to connect that word to what you already know. To do this we need to turn the word into a memorable image in your imagination.

This will be best explained with an example. Imagine you are trying to learn the German word 'sogar' (an adverb meaning 'even')

Consider what the new word reminds you of that can be easily visualised. Try to pick the first thing that comes into your head because when you re-encounter the word you're likely to think the same way again.

So the first thing that comes to my mind when I see the word 'sogar' is sugar. As a word, it looks practically the same. This is great. It's easy to visualise a pile of sugar. So the first connection has been made.

Now we need to connect it to the translation - 'even'. To do this I simply imagine pouring the sugar onto a pair of scales in even amounts.

Visualise this vividly enough and you should find it easy to remember.

It's a simple concept but it may take a while to master. Other vocabulary is going to be more difficult to translate into an image than this word. But it can be done with any word. The more you practice, the more you'll improve, and the easier it will get.

Once you have memorised a word, you still don't really know it. To really understand the word you will have to use it in context in everyday language. Fortunately this is a natural process of using the language, and not something you should train specifically. As you discover the word again and again it will gradually become ingrained in your memory.

Copyright 2006 by Alan Pritt