Hacks to Memorize Spanish Words

We all know that one of the most important but difficult parts of learning a language is learning words (and then remembering them when needed). Here we’ve compiled some hacks to make memorizing vocabulary that little bit easier.

To make yourself understood in the early stages of learning a language, you only actually need to know a few hundred words. If that sounds daunting, remember it’s not as bad as it sounds. In your native language, you already knew about 5000 words by the time you were four years old!

Every word we know is grouped into a ‘semantic field,’ which basically means that it relates to a particular topic or theme, for instance, ‘goggles,’ ‘pool,’ ‘dive,’ ‘swim,’ and  ‘water’ all relate to swimming.

Some people are naturally visual learners, meaning that seeing things is the best way for them to memorize them—you might have heard people refer to having a ‘photographic’ memory.

Try making a word map for a certain theme. There’s no set way of doing this, but you might want to:

Colors can be really helpful for visual learning. Try making a word map for each new topic that you learn in Spanish, assigning a different color to each topic.

Use this task as an opportunity to make your study notes neat and beautiful! Although computers can be a great asset in this respect, handwritten notes are highly recommended—the process of writing them out can really help start the process of sticking them in your head. So get yourself some shiny new stationery and get started!

A simple but fun idea is to put sticky notes on items around the house. For example, ‘puerta’ (meaning ‘door’) on your bedroom door, ‘frigorífico’ (‘refrigerator’) on the refrigerator door, or ‘espejo’ (‘mirror’) on—you guessed it—your mirror!

You can even start adding adjectives (description words) once you’re comfortable, e.g. ‘puerta blanca’ (‘white door’).

The more times you practice something, the more easily it will ~stick~. Since you’re looking at these objects every day anyway, why not make the most of it?!

You can really introduce creative thought into language-learning when it comes to vocab!

Cognates are words that have similar linguistic origins—meaning the Spanish version looks identical or similar to the English—and if that ain’t helpful, I don’t know what is!

Let’s look at some examples:

Bet you know more words than you thought you did!

You don’t even need to use English as your link. French and Italian, for example, have similar roots to Spanish (they are all Romance languages). So if you speak other languages, you can use any one of them to help with the others!

For instance:

This is all great, but … beware false friends!

Some Spanish words look like English words, but they don’t mean the same. Like, AT ALL. Be careful with these. Used incorrectly, they can get you into some hilariously awkward situations:
Examples:

One of the wonderful things about Spanish is that a lot of words are formulaic, so when you learn one word, you’re actually helping yourself understand loads more. What I mean by this is:

Once you recognize the components covered in these tables (and others which you’ll naturally pick up through reading in Spanish), you’ll be able to work out loads of words without having to memorize them all separately.

The Spanish-speaking world is so vast that there are many, many songs out there written in Spanish—from all sorts of genres. One of the best-known styles globally is reggaetón (à la Daddy Yankee) which gives you loads of vocab—some of which is specific to the place of the song’s origin, and some of which is more general.

There are also songs designed specifically for learning. Search for songs about days of the week, numbers, animals, and so on. The tunes will get stuck in your head, but so will the lyrics—and that’s the whole point! I still remember some of the songs I learned in language classes over 10 years ago!

When it comes to memorizing things, items start in the short-term memory, and get transferred into the long-term memory once your brain has been exposed to them enough times. You’ll start off being able to recognize Spanish words, and eventually be able to use them.

… this list of hacks is not exhaustive, and what works for some people won’t work for others. Each learner is individual: the trick is to try them out and see which ones work for YOU! Most of all, don’t panic if you’re struggling—that’s part of the process! Keep at it, maintaining a daily learning habit, and you’ll notice progress. For a great range of vocabulary topics to get you started, check out our book.