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How to efficiently learn vocabulary, so that you are able to remember it

 All about remembering vocabulary 

The importance of vocabulary 

Apart from the basic skills that we need to learn a language (reading, writing, listening and speaking), there are also two other aspects: grammar and vocabulary. These two are important, because they are what a language is made up, and to improve our basic skills, we first need to have a certain understanding of this two. 

As we improve our knowledge and have more and more vocabulary in each level, there will be a point where you start to forget vocabulary, whether it is because of lack of interaction or simply bad memory, this is something inevitable, but don't give up just yet, because we can find ways to reduce this.

How to remember vocabulary 

The first thing you need to take into consideration is that what is well learnt is not easily forgotten, so when you are learning vocabulary don't only focus on the character and the translation, you should also try to create sentences this way you can see how a word can be used, and it might stay more time in your memory.
It's important to mention that if you are still a beginner and don't feel too confident creating sentences, try to look up some examples first. You can do this through the following: Chinese Grammar wiki, this website is mainly for grammar, but you can also find some examples for vocabulary. On another hand, If you really don't understand a word use Pleco, this app not only works as dictionary, but it also has some examples. To find the examples, just click on where it says: Sents. 

Another thing that's important is to have a book. Even though, it seems a bit obvious, I think it's important to mention it, because having a book helps you focus on a specific vocabulary each lesson, and usually the vocabulary is used in readings, grammar examples, etc. this way you can have more interaction with the vocabulary, and it will be easier to remember it. In my case I use The GoChinese Books, if you want to learn more about them click here.

Finally, the last aspect you should consider is interaction with vocabulary, as you change lessons or learn new words you'll start to forget the vocabulary, so for this you can try using flashcard, I recommend you do this through Anki. 



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