How can I memorise a new word?

Learning a new language means first of all having to deal with a series of new words. This is not so easy at first because, as they say in German.

‘All beginnings are difficult’. So here are a few tips on how you can best memorise a word and, as Gabriel Wyner puts it, never forget it again.

First of all, you should never learn new words in isolation, but always in context.

Long lists of words are difficult for our brain to process. So let's make it easy for it and put the new words in context with each other, for example by organising them vividly in a mind map. Just by thinking about how the words relate to each other, you will make an initial learning progress!

Another way to contextualise vocabulary is to use it in complete sentences that also have a personal meaning for you. If a sentence is personally relevant to you, you will find it easier to memorise.

If you want to learn the German word for dog, ‘Hund’, you might remember that you once had a dog called Emi as a child

Thirdly, our brain can memorise many more images than words. So add a suitable picture as in the following example.

Try it out for yourself and get creative!

Here is an example of a mind map I created with my students in online lessons. I also like to work with figma.com to create these:

Tip: always write the new words with the corresponding article and choose a colour for each article, like this:

der Hund – Mein Hund heißt Emi

Die Katze – Meine Katze mag mich nicht. 

Sources and additional literature:

Wyner, G. (2014). Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It. Harmony/Rodale.

Wagner, H. (2017, November). Want to learn better? Start mind mapping. TEDxNaperville. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nTuScU70As