Foreign Language Vocabulary Builder: Sticky-Notes

In order to make language-learning fun, and practical, you have to have to look forward to being surrounded by it on an everyday basis. I have found that sticky-notes have helped me not only build my vocabulary, but have also helped me to start learning words by which I am surrounded. Since I want to become an advanced learner of German, I have tried to immerse myself as much as possible with the language. One of my goals for this upcoming year is to become fluent. You may be asking yourself, “how, and can she really do this?”

One of the most powerful, and inexpensive tools that I have used to my advantage have surprisingly been sticky-notes. What I have already done is very simple. I have labeled different objects throughout my bedroom, and bathroom with their translations in German, along with their genders. For example, where I have my necklaces, I have labeled them “die Halsketten”, the drawer “die Schublade”, the toilet paper “das Toilettenpapier”, and the doorknob “die Türklinke.” I have had many objects labeled for about a year now, and have noticed an increase in my vocabulary. Most people, even the best polyglots, do not find it necessary to learn these kinds of words, but I think that it makes languages a more integral part of your life.

What do I mean by this? Every day when I wake up, I lay on my bed, and look around my bedroom. I then stare at objects that I know are labeled with sticky-notes, and test myself to see if I remember the words (if you are learning a language that has masculine, feminine, and or neuter words, it is important to always learn the words with their genders). It is practical, because I only had to label these objects once, and know that they will stay there, as long as no one else takes them down. By doing this, you learn vocabulary that native speakers use on an everyday basis.

If you are a college student like me, and live in a dorm room, and you want to try this, but your roommate does not want you to do so, do not worry. Simply label objects in your bedroom at home. This method can also be done with objects throughout the house (especially in your kitchen, and in your living-room).

This is also a great exercise for your brain. Whether you are ever going to have to actually say, or write the word “the doorknob” is unlikely, but what does matter is that you are pushing your brain to its limits trying to remember abstract, yet useful vocabulary that you would never learn in a textbook. Who knows? Someday, you may have the chance to impress a native speaker by effortlessly saying one of these words.

Switching Your Phone to Another Language

To start off this blog, I want to write posts about easy ways that you can start incorporating languages into your everyday life. I know how busy we can get, and how little free time we have, so I want to write about realistic changes that you can start making today. Since we live in a technology-oriented society, most of us have smartphones, or own our own laptops. The easiest, and fastest way to start thinking in a language is by changing your phone, and or your laptop to your target language.

There are many reasons why this change is very beneficial. The first is that it allows you to start thinking in your target language. When you wake up and check the weather app, or simply check your phone for updates, you will automatically start reading the words in your target language. It will take a little getting used to at first, and you may have to translate a few words into your native language, but it will not be as hard as you may think. Most of you have probably owned your devices for enough time to be familiarized with where all of your applications are, and where everything is located on your devices. This means that you would do everything that you had been doing prior to changing your language setting, but simply in another language.

No matter if you are a beginner, an intermediate learner, or an advanced learner, you will expand your knowledge of your target language. Your Facebook, your Instagram, your emails, and even YouTube will automatically switch into your target language if you change your language settings, but do not panic. If you ever run into a situation in which you do not know what you are reading, simply copy and paste the words onto Google Translate, or look up any unfamiliar words (I do not recommend being reliant on Google Translate, because it is very rarely a hundred percent accurate, but it can make your transition a little easier, especially at the beginning).

Another reason why this technique is helpful is because it is free, and takes no extra effort. Eventually, you will become so used to reading everything in your target language that you will no longer have to translate everything. This allows for a complete immersion experience, which is a great way to make a lot of progress in a short amount of time. A lot of people tend to overlook the benefits of doing this, but I promise that it will help you strengthen your skills. I have had my phone in German for a few months now, and have learned a lot of words by simply making inferences on their meanings. I have also looked up any unfamiliar words, which has helped me expand my vocabulary.

Bonus: If you want to have an even more immersion experience, you can organize your device by creating folders that contain applications of a particular topic (for example: current events, social media, or music). Instead of labeling each folder in English, look up the translations of those words. This way, every time that you use your device, you will only be reading, and pronouncing these words in your target language. In no time, you will be able to say words like “network failure”, or “delete” without even thinking about it.

Below, you can see what my phone currently looks like in German.

I hope that this post was helpful! If you have any suggestions on posts that you would like me to write, feel free to comment down below.