Vocabulary learning is one of the most fun yet also most challenging activities in language learning. You study many words, but a week later…they’re gone. Or you know the meaning of the word when someone says it to you, but when you want to speak, your mind goes blank.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. In fact, it happens too often to my German language to be admitted true. And when you add those Trennbare Verb (like EIN*nehmen, ZU*nehmen, AB*nehmen, etc.) to the mix, I swear my brain could go crazy to distinguish one from the rest.
❤️Read Vietnamese version here: 5 Hoạt Động để Học Từ Vựng Vui mà vẫn Hiệu Quả
There are also good days, when you pick up a new phrase or word and can apply them right away when speaking, listening, or writing to someone. It feels just amazing. The moments you comprehend a text or can follow a conversation, you feel proud of your vocabulary pool and language skills.
Similar to learning grammar patterns, a vocabulary usually needs a lot of practice and usage to stick. Different from learning grammar rules though, learning vocabulary can be quite fun, creative and not much time-consuming.
Besides learning new vocabulary from a course or textbooks, I’m sharing in this blog post 5 vocabulary learning activities that I’ve personally practiced, enjoyed doing on a weekly or daily basis, and seen real results from. They are simple, low-commitment, and perfect for busy days, especially if you’re learning a language for work (while working it like me), or preparing to move abroad.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
1. Learn New Words by Listening to Podcasts (ft. a Language Journal)
One of my favorite and fun ways to learn new vocabulary is by listening to podcasts that teach words in context.
Instead of memorizing random lists, you learn a group of words or phrases with shared topics or usage.
Better yet, you hear how words are actually used, how they sound, and when people say them. This is especially helpful for pronunciation, listening skills, and speaking confidence.
A podcast I highly recommend for German learners (from B1 level) is Expertly German. The episodes are well-designed and theme-focused, such as I learned recently 10 C1-level must-know words in business settings or professional phrases to say “no” at work. I started to use some in my day job already, yay!
👉 (coming soon) Podcast recommendations for German language learners and English language learners.
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Why doing this?
✨You learn words with (native-speaker) pronunciation.
What a cool and fun alternative to switch from studying only with a dictionary (and without audios most likely)?! It even feels fun, not like studying.
✨You understand real-life context.
This is what I like most about this learning experience, as I get examples and relevant contexts when a word or phrase can be used in. Hearing the explanation helps me memorize the words too.
✨You practice listening comprehension, at the same time.
How you can start doing it (ft. a language journal thread setup)
Vocabulary learning and reviewing with podcasts is a quick, low-commitment activity.
👍Even 10–15 minutes is enough to make progress. You can do it in the morning before work or school, or whenever when you could sit in quiet with a notebook.
In fact, it is now part of my morning study routine, before turning on my work laptop.
👎Though low-commitment, do not just turn on the podcasts in the background while cooking, cleaning, or driving.
I recommend making it a more active learning with note-taking, rather than “passive” listening use of podcasts.
To make the most out of your podcast learning experience, spread a simple 2-column language journal layout:
- Left column (narrower width): Vocabulary
- Right column (wider width): Example sentences
While listening to the podcast, pause when a new word is explained and write it down right away. Add the example given in the episode or your own version.
This method helps your brain connect: sound → meaning → usage
2. Review & Memorize Vocab by Teaching Yourself the Words Again
This activity sounds simple, but it’s so powerful.
Instead of just rereading your notes, you review vocabulary as if you were a teacher explaining the words to yourself.
When you teach something, you understand it deeper and longer and you notice what you don’t fully know yet.
“Teaching others requires learners to organize their knowledge, explain ideas clearly, and identify gaps in their own understanding.” — Fiorella & Mayer, 2013
Why doing this?
👉Forces active recall (not passive reading)
👉Builds confidence when speaking
👉Helps you see connections between words
I particularly like the last effect. It reminds me of how my highschool English teacher always taught us words with shared roots, synonyms or antonyms, etc. Such as, I did not just learn“develop” as a single verb, but also “development” as noun or “developing (country)” as adjective.
I now try to “teach myself” the same when learning and reviewing my German vocabulary, such as when I reviewed words with the theme “Schule” (or “School”), I taught myself that:
“Don’t forget, we say “zur Schule gehen” but “an einer Hochschule studieren””. (in English, just “go to school” or “go to university”, but as always, the German language must have its own specific way).
How you can start doing it
Take out your vocabulary list, perhaps from a textbook, then:
1.Go through the list, group related words and try to remember as many words as possible
2. Put the material list aside, then start writing the words on a piece of paper, notebook, or whiteboard, one by one
3.At every word, explain the meaning in your own words. You don’t need to be perfect. Even simple explanations work.
4.Group words into word families (same root, same topic, similar usage, or opposite meanings) when presenting them to yourself. The more connections you can make, the better.
5.Add example sentences if you can
This is a great activity for review days, especially when you feel stuck or unmotivated to learn something new.
If you are interested in learning vocabulary fast and with a focus, check out next 👉 155 Essential Words of Study and Education Topics that Language Learners need to know.
3. Learn with MyA5 Language Vocab Trainer (Excel-Based)
If you like structure, progress tracking, and quick feedback, this activity is for you.
What is this Tool?
The Language Vocab Trainer is an Excel-based automated vocabulary trainer. Think of flashcard apps, but more fun and features :).
You drill vocabulary, test your memory, and let the system automatically check your answers.
- You can use it to learn ANY languages
- Create your own lesson or vocabulary set quickly and easily in this Excel workbook
- Set your study goal and start a study session right away
- Input your answers directly and let the system run an automatic check for immediate feedback
- Monitor your learning using built-in dashboards that show:
- daily streaks
- progress over time
- focus areas for improvement
You immediately see how much you have learned (and how well), and where you need to focus on for the vocabulary to stick.
Why doing this?
👉Fast and fun
This is ideal for busy learners who want results, focus on drilling and grinding the language without overthinking. In fact, this tool is how I used to cram more than 1000 words to ace my German B1 exam in 3 short months.
👉Motivation comes from direct feedback and visible progress
👉Perfect for short daily sessions, which is ideal for the Spaced Repetition Systems (SRS)
Our brains are wired to forget. German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus famously described the forgetting curve, which shows how quickly memory fades if we don’t review information.
In fact, you’ll lose up to 70% of new information if not reviewing it within 24 hours. The solution is this Spaced Repetition Systems (SRS).
For example, instead of cramming vocabulary once and moving on, SRS requires that you see the words again after 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 1 month, etc.—a scientifically proven method to strengthen long-term retention.
How you can start doing it
✨Subscribe now to MyA5Letter to get:
- early bird news and exclusive discounts on the Language Vocab Trainer when it is launched later this 2026
- meanwhile, you take away a list of 1000 must-know words for English, German and Vietnamese languages
4. Join a 30-Day Language Journal Challenge
This 30-day Language Journal Challenge gives you a strong daily boost for language learning and practice consistency, because you will get to write short diaries every day using your target language.
Why doing this?
You can read more about the helpfulness of starting (and finishing too!) a language journal challenge in my blog. Basically, this “challenge” helps:
👉 Make learning more enjoyable, even personal
👉 Build you a daily habit of using the target language (esp. if you don’t have the chance to use it throughout the day for work or study)
👉 Boost long-term memory and retention, just as “practice makes perfect”
👉 Train your brain to think in the target language, rather than akward translations
👉 Learn useful and relevant vocabulary (that matter to you and your life)
If you are not following any courses right now, then the daily prompt and topic help remove the “What should I study today?” problem, as you can just follow the prompt and gather all the needed words for it.
How you can start doing it
1️⃣ Simply follow daily prompts laid out in this blog 30-day Language Journal Challenge
2️⃣ Write a little every day (5–10 minutes) with as many vocabulary and sentence patterns as you already have
2️⃣ Ask a tutor or use ChatGPT as your personal tutor to proofread and correct your text (only after writing it with all your might and heart out!)
✨ TIP: Keep a language journal to track progress and motivate you to keep going on every day.
Small daily actions make a big difference over time. If learning vocabulary by listening to podcasts (or reading magazines) is my go-to activity in the early morning before the work day starts, then writing a daily entry of language journal is my favorite activity to unwind in the evening before bed.
5. Learn New Words by Memorizing & Rewriting a Text
This activity is more challenging, if I’m being honest. It is for a more advanced learner of levels B2+, but if you could give it a try as early in your learning journey as possible, it is such a powerful method to finetune your vocabulary pool and sharpen them.
I have noticed significant improvements in my level of the German language understanding, when I started using this technique to fast-track to B2 level. You memorize a short passage of text, repeat it out loud and then rewrite it from memory.
This helps you learn vocabulary and sentence structure at the same time. As you learn to memorize and then dictate the text to yourself, you learn the vocabulary and the grammar rules to help you understand the sentence. This enables fast and effective memorization.
Why this helps
👉 You learn vocabulary in real context
👉 You train sentence formation naturally
👉 You understand how words work together
How you can start doing it
1️⃣Choose a short text (5–10 sentences). An audio script would work well too.
2️⃣Read the text a few times, or better yet, say it out loud, while memorizing it sentence by sentence.
3️⃣Rewrite the text from memory
TIP: In your a language journal, leave a left margin to note:
- new words
- meanings
- useful sentence patterns
Start small. One short paragraph is enough.
This is not easy, especially for beginners of a new language, but it is highly rewarding.
Vocabulary learning is a super important part in boosting your language comprehension and fluency. The more words you know and and can skillfully use, obviously the more you can comfortably and effectively communicate.
Vocabulary learning doesn’t have to be hard, boring, or time-consuming. With the right activities or a mix of them, which fit into your real life, your progress becomes easier and more enjoyable.
Pick one or two activities, stay consistent, and let your language learning flourish with successful vocabulary learning 🌱 You’ll be impressed with yourself in no time!
If you have any other fun and effective ideas to learn vocabulary, don’t hesitate to share with me and other readers in the comment.
For now, happy language learning!
Warmly yours,
Suani 💕
