One of the hard things about learning Spanish is that the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know…
One area this applies is vocabulary.
Viewed all at once, it looks insurmountable.
And yet, millions of people manage to learn second languages, learning thousands of words in the process.
I can’t tell you how everyone else does it, but I can share a bit from my own experience.
So today, I want to share a simple approach to learning new words that’ll help you engage more with your new language.
From recognition to use
Some people remember things effortlessly. Not me.
You wouldn’t believe the number of jackets and headphones I’ve lost.
My interest in languages would be made easier if I had a photographic memory.
But…No such luck.
So instead, I’ve tried pretty much ALL of the available ways to learn new words.
- Physical flashcards
- Writing sentences
- All of the popular apps
- The Goldlist method
- Mnemonics
They can all work. I’ve had some degree of success with all of them, and I know many others have, too.
But a big challenge people tend to have is going from recognizing a word to being able to use a word.
Taking it from passive to active vocabulary.
Most apps and other methods aren’t great with this part.
When we learn a new word, it always starts on the passive side.
We learn to recognize esquivar, but it doesn’t come out easily when we want to say dodge.
This process from passive to active is a bigger topic than I can cover in one 600 word newsletter.
But one truth that is borne out in the research is that processing, engaging with, and interacting with new words helps them be more memorable and brings them “closer to the surface”.
Here’s one way you can do that:
Here’s a 4 step process:
1. Analyze
Look at the word carefully. Do I recognize anything inside it?
Take the words espejo and escalera. Can I think of any English words that have similar sounds or combinations of letters?
For espejo, I can think of spy or espionage.
For escalera, I can think of scale.
Of course, you can’t always find an easy connection. I picked these because they are good examples.
But there are thousands of words in Spanish with distant connections to English that can help us remember them (think caballo / cavalry, hueso / ossify).
And your “connection” does NOT need to be real or even logical.
The value is in taking a few seconds to think critically about what you’re learning.
2. Look up the etymology
Search etimología espejo / etimología escalera and learn more about the history of these words.
For example, connecting espejo to speculum can bring to mind English words like spectrum, which evokes images of light and is easier to connect with than “mirror”.
3. Look it up in google images
Put espejo and escalera into a Google Image search. Click on one or two of the images to read the captions and see the words in more context:
You can also see what other meanings it might have. From the images, we can tell that escalera can mean both stairs and ladder.
This works great with verbs, too, since you get to see what kind of action it’s associated with.
4. Use it
To bring a word closer to your active vocabulary, use it.
One way is to make a couple sentences of your own with it out loud:
Hay un espejo rectangular en el baño
Cuando conduzco uso el espejo retrovisor
Subo las escaleras para ir a mi dormitorio
Tengo que subir muchas escaleras para llegar a la oficina
Learn slow to learn faster
To summarize:
- Analyze it
- Look up etymology
- Image search
- Use it
This takes some time — maybe 3 minutes per word.
It’s an approach that requires slowing down and lowering your expectations for the number of words you can learn at once.
But it also means you save time on reviews later, learn more related things in the process, and build a better foundation for learning new vocabulary.
Connor
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