How to build vocabulary in foreign languages

Have you learned foreign languages before?

If you have, I am sure you struggled to memorize words in the languages.

Every languages consists of words.

The more you memorize them, your language skills will be improved. 

However sometimes we can't be sure what we should do to memorize.

I am not a specialist of languages but just a learner, so I'd introduce how I memorize vocabularies to you.

At the beginning of language learning, I try to get a very basic wordbook or two.

I read it cover to cover, over and over again.

After I have read it over ten times, I became to know most of words in the word book.

If I want more improvement on the reading, I will read the same book more often.

How can't we memorize the words of a book after we have read the book over twenty to thirty times in a short period of time?

Maybe you may be bored to read the same book over and over again. 

If so, I suggest you to read many books or articles on the internet in languages you are learning.

Read them as many as you can.

You will meet same words in different contexts and memorize them gradually.

Just to read the same book is sometimes very hard, but if you use many books or articles to learn, you can keep your motivation to reading.

I read books in both ways depending on my mood.

Please try to keep the fact that you can memorize words you have met many times in your mind.

I hope you will be fully fluent in the language soon.

How can we read books more quickly?

There are many ways of reading books.
However, it seems many people want to know how to read books as quickly as they can.
In Japan, there is the word "sokudoku" for speed reading.
So, I tell you how I read books quickly when I need to read many books in a short time.

Usually my purpose on reading is to know an outline or to get ideas from a book.
Besides that, I want to read books as many as I can within a time limit.
So I try the way of reading called "skimming".
Please try to read a book once like how I write down here.

As reading, move your eyes as fast as you can through sentences.
Don't stop your eye movement even in a moment.
Don't focus on words but read a sentence or some sentences at one time.
Also you don't need to care what each sentences are saying.
Forget about understanding and keep reading until you will finish.
If you finish to read a book quickly, you will understand easily what mostly the author of the book have tried to tell you.

Surely that is just one of ways I am doing for myself.
You can read books with each ways on your purpose.
If you want to understand the contents of books in detail, you better read books slowly.
Skimming doesn't suit for understanding or knowing every facts or details in books.
The advantage of skimming is for quickness and understanding outline of a book in a short time.
In case you want to read a book quickly or read many books in a short time, try skimming.

I am glad if skimming will help you to improve your reading speed and make your reading life happier.

Reading books aloud

Often I read books aloud.
I do it because I want to improve my speaking skill.
For reading material, I choose very easy English books, like texts for junior high school students.

Mr. Masao Kunihiro, a famous interpreter and translator, has spread the idea of reading aloud to English learners.
He claimed he read same books aloud over and over again, and it amounted to several hundred times.
His English speaking skill was splendid.

I am not sure reading aloud works for me to improve my speaking or doesn't, but I am trying it.
I hope I will be fully fluent like Mr. Masao Kunihiro near future.