Being able to say a word in another language and knowing its meaning in a person's mother tongue doesn't mean you can use the words. If you want to be able apply a word in real communication, there is a lot of work to do. I have some personal suggestions based on my own experience in learning foreign languages (English and Japanese) and knowledge of teaching foreign languages. The following practice is what I also do with the whole class at school.
1. Read aloud. As many times as you can until you remember the sounds. Listen to what yourself says is important. (It's almost impossible to learn a language with one's ears and mouth closed.)
2. Be very familiar with the meanings. (There are meanings on the back of our flashcards.)
3. Use your own words to explain the meanings in the target language. (We do it several times when we start a new lesson. I demonstrate first and then they try.) Just pick a word from our flashcards and see if you can recognize it, pronounce it and show how to do it or tell yourself and others what it means especially when it's a verb or an adjective. If it's a noun, ask yourself if you can show it, point at it, imitate it, describe it or draw it. These oral or kinetic activities help you to plant the word in your long term memory.
4. Use the newly learned words to make as many sentences you can. Fun sentences are also encouraged.
There may be other more effective ways to different people and mine may not work the best to everyone. But please realized there is really no short cuts to succeed in learning a language unless you try every possibility to find a way that works for you and stick to it until you internalize it.
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