The Method

My Method

The strategy I'm currently using for Vocabulary acquisition in Spanish is through reading a selected text with at least 3 or 4 passes.

Pass 1: Read through the text without writing down unknown words. I allow myself the use of the google-translate app when a word is just begging to be translated. Reading out-loud is encouraged.

Pass 2: Read through for the sake of writing down unknown words. Once the words are compiled, meanings are sought, studied, and hopefully memorized.

Pass 3: The text is read again with the new vocabulary (hopefully) fresh in the mind, and with the vocab list handy, in case anything is forgotten. Reading out-loud is encouraged.

Pass 4: The text is read a fourth time 3 or 4 weeks after having finished the third pass. The delay is for the sake of transferring words from short-term to long-term memory. Ideally, I won't have to refer to the Vocab list by this point.

Recommended Practice

Pass 1: Download, print, and study my provided vocab list(s). Study the the words one chapter at a time. Actually read the book chapter by chapter in between memorizing words. Start with "Cajas de Cartón" if you haven't read Spanish books before.

Pass 2: Read the text, again, with the vocab list handy.

Pass 3: Same as Pass 2, except you might not need the list.

Enjoy your expanded library, and thanks for reading!
¡Buenas Suerte!

Vocab Extraction Method: Batch Processing

As you read books and articles in your target language, write down unknown words from the text. Later, type up the list of unknown words in Excel. You can copy/paste hundreds of entries from excel into google.translate, and back to the excel list, with only a few clicks. The only downside being google.translate doesn't know everything, and so you have to comb the translation list for typo's, translation errors, or ambiguous translations.

When google fails to give me a good translation, Spanishdict.com is a wonderful resource.