Learning Spanish - Making Your Own Modern Study Aids

A huge part of learning any new language is absorbing new vocabulary words. If you are like me, staring at a long list of vocabulary words in a book puts you to sleep faster than a powerful sedative. One way to make learning more interesting is to create your own modern alternatives to books and flashcards with digital technology. The key is to create something visually stimulating and portable that can be studied in short increments throughout your day, making use of any spare time in your schedule.

1. Photo albums on your ipod or  as your laptop screen saver  

If you have access to a photo editing program such as Photoshop you can create great photographic flashcards with the Spanish vocabulary superimposed over the image. Organize the photos by related subject (ex. foods, places, people, etc.) and load them as your screen saver on your laptop or as a photo album on your ipod. Scroll through the album periodically throughout the day, studying or quizzing yourself. 

2. Take pictures with your cellular phone

Do you have a camera phone? Try taking pictures of people and objects throughout the day and saving the Spanish name for the object as the title of the photo file. 

3. Record audio and video

Some people learn best by visual association, while others learn better by audio recognition. Many phones and cameras today allow you to record audio memos and video clips. There is an inexpensive attachment for ipods that allows you to record memos on them as well. Shooting and editing short video clips specific to phrases and vocabulary is another way to travel light and learn quickly, combining the benefits of visual association and audio repetition. This could be anything from short clips taken on a cellular phone, to slide shows put together with one of the basic photo and/or video editing programs (that come standard these days on most computers), or  can be short films/ videos as complex as your time, budget, and creativity will allow. 

With modern digital study aids you have the added benefits of portability and quick reference. By having these prepared and loaded on your phone, ipod or pda device you don't have to "find" time to sit and study Spanish. Spending 5-10 minutes at intervals throughout your day, especially during otherwise idle times in your schedule (such as when you are waiting in a line, riding a subway, etc) is an effective way to quickly build your vocabulary. Associating the new Spanish vocabulary with visual images or symbols your brain is familiar with greatly increases the speed at which your memory records the information. Even the act of looking for the objects to photograph will create memory associations that will help when recalling the Spanish vocabulary. Buena Suerte!