That being said there are truly many words out there that you can't connect to a physical entity. Although it's pretty easy to connect most words to something that happens, exists, sounds similar...etc (ie: running, a ball, [vs the German word: Der Ball] a turtle...etc) there are some times, especially when learning new languages, that it is just a good option or you are unwilling to watch childrens shows from *insert random country here.*
When you decide to study using flash cards what do you do? Do you wait until you absolutely need them? Do you go through the cards as a full stack for the vocabulary? Do you ever shuffle the cards? What I figured out for the simplest and quickest way to learn vocab using the dreaded flash cards is as follows.
First the mechanics of the cards themselves:
Create your flash cards very methodically. I like to write two words on each flash card and cut them in half, and have something that you can carry them without them getting destroyed, I like to punch a hole in the corner and stick them on one of those rings that you can open and close. This allows you to always know where your cards are, and not struggle with having all the cards facing the correct direction (this can be crucial when learning one of the Japanese alphabet for example)
Now for the studying of the cards:
It's really easy to learn the cards when you test the top card, then put it at the back of the pile right? I don't personally think so. What if you have a pile of 100 cards? not so easy now right? Most of my language classes (especially in college) expect me to learn upwards of 20 to 30 words in less than a week. Supposedly the average human can only learn and retain I believe somewhere around 9 words a week (if anybody knows the correct number and stuff please correct me ^^) After some of my psychology classes and just personal experience I know that you forget the words in the middle of the list a lot faster than those at the beginning and end of the list. Now that you're thinking about it you are either going "already knew that" or "oh yeah!" So what I like to do is study my cards in sets of 10. I pull 10 cards off of my little ring, and instead of always sticking the card I just tested myself on at the back of the pile, I base where the card goes on how well I know the card. So if I know the card, it goes to the back of the pile. If I don't know the card, it gets shoved somewhere in the middle/near the front. This serves two purposes. Firstly it allows you to test yourself more often on the cards you don't know while still being able to review cards you are pretty sure you know, and secondly it forces you to learn the word or phrase rather than just remember "oh it comes after this word" because the order of the cards is ever changing. Once you've learned those ten words you don't put down that stack of 10. Instead you add a new stack of 5 on top. Continue in this manner until you are somewhere around 30-40 cards or until you are bored of practicing your cards. Whenever you reach this point or pick up your cards again, go through them one last time. Every time you come across a card that you are absolutely certain you know, put it aside rather than at the back of the pile. This new pile goes onto a different ring thingy. Remember though, just because you're sure that you absolutely know that word you should still randomly go back and test yourself on this second ring.
At the same time though, I would hope that, if you really are learning like you should be, you would never need to go back to that second ring again because you'll be using your new vocab in class or conversation...etc.
So to recap: Flash cards suck! but if you must use them. Try the method (is kinda hard to recap the method >_>) or come up with your own!
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