How to cope with new vocabulary?

Learning new vocabulary can be tricky. Different people have different ways of remembering new vocabulary. Some people prefer to drill learn lists of words, others like to learn new words in the context of the whole sentence. Whichever is your case, here is some advice how to understand and learn better.

1) If you come across a new word, try to guess the meaning from the context. Think of the situation that the language describes. If someone is describing how they won in a competition, you might hear words such as
delighted, exhilarating, astonished etc.

2) Think about what part of speech the unknown word is, e.g. a noun, a verb, an adjective. Sometimes it is not that important what the word means, and you can understand the overall meaning even without it.

3) See if you can divide the word into smaller parts that would suggest the meaning. For example sunbathing: if you know what sun and bath mean, then you can guess! But be careful about the correct pronounciation - you can find it in a dictionary.

4) Think of words that you know that are similar to the unknown word. If you know what employee or employer is, then you can guess what unemployment means. It is always useful to know some common prefixes (this is the part of the word that you add at the beginning of the main word) and suffixes (you add these at the end of the word). In this case un- means "no" and -ment makes a noun from the main word.

5) Sometimes the word might be similiar in your language. Especially European languages are often based on Latin words, so you can have a guess! Words such as international, millenium, justice, product, etc. are in some way similar in many languages. But be careful about so called false friends! These are words that might sound similar but have a completely different meaning and might confuse you! For example firm in English means "a company", but firma in Spanish means "a signature"!

6) If you have problems remembering new vocabulary, try to at least remember if it has a positive or negative connotation. You might not be able to use the word, but at least you will understand the whole meaning when you come across it again. E.g. ghastly is quite advanced vocabulary and not so often used word, but you can remember that it has a very negative connotation. (Look it up in the dictionary and you've learned a new word ;))

7) It is a good idea to write down new words with their meanings on a piece of paper and stick it up on your bedroom wall, the mirror, the fridge or elsewhere you look often. Even if you do not try to remember them on purpose, your brain will after some time somehow start to recognise them. Another tip is to draw pictures next to the words, if you are a visual person. With smartphones and computers you can easily add new words to the screen! You can also create small notions or stories with the new words. How about "immolating a satsuma in the toolshed"? :)

Do you have any other tips or your own experience with learning new vocabulary? Do not hesitate and share it in the comments!
Oh, and anyway:

(Article inspired by Oxford University Press' new textbook Insight.)