Vocabulary Method

I'm curious as to how you guys learn vocabulary. Until recently I would just read books like Harry Potter, write down the unknown words, then learn them via the Iversen method (basically just a pen and paper rote memory method). It works pretty well actually, but I'm starting to realize the power of SRS, so I'm going to try plugging the words into Anki from now on and see how that works. My method is also flawed partly because you need a good base in the language already to be able to get through your book of choice without becoming frustrated/misunderstanding words in context.

So /lang/, how do you personally:

1. Find new words to learn?
2. Actually go about learning them?

Use in conversation.

You can write down unknown words in a notebook all day and then review them for "memorization" but unless you actually apply the words (assuming they're conversational or, at the very least, spoken language), it won't do much for you. Even creating draft sentences with is better than the flash card method because it allows you to associate and link words together to create ideas (language).

recently I've found an open-source program that's kickass, Anki, it's basically flash cards
you get say, 5 words each day added for review, if you know the word, great, you'll see it in a month, if you know it but it wasn't easy to remember the meaning, you'll select sooner, if you don't remember it you'll see it soon, then when you see it again, you extend the time to a day, it sounds confusing but it works, it makes you store the word in your long term memory

I'm using it to expand my french vocabulary, it's really good


reading a book on a kindle is another of my methods,just put cursor over a word for the dictionary to look it up, you need to find a good dictionary in electronic format though, which could be a bother, especially if you want a bilingual one

I've been testing the Gold List Method for a short time - it sounds promising but I can't see results yet. The weeks to come will clarify whether it's worth to invest further time into it I suppose.

I've tried the "reading method" when I was focusing on Spanish but even though I did pick up new vocabulary and idioms it happened at a relatively slow pace.

I think the key to success is using, using, using a language and constantly expanding one's knowledge.

>>3
This is a very efficient method. You can find free software based on the SM algoritm ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperMemo ) like Anki, Mnemosyne or Genius on OSX.