How to learn 5 words from 1 (and remember vocabulary faster)

You already know more words than you think

Look at the English word “information”. In Spanish it is “información”, in Portuguese “informação”, in Dutch “informatie”. The ending changes; the word does not. The same goes for “nation”, “situation” and hundreds of other words ending in -tion: Spanish swaps the ending for -ción, Portuguese for -ção, Dutch for -tie. That is not one word learned. That is a whole shelf of them.

It works especially well for longer, more formal words, because so many of them come from Latin and travelled into several languages at once. “System”, “problem” and “university” look almost the same in Dutch, English, Spanish and Portuguese. Every time you meet one, you get a free word.

Words travel, and some came from your language

Languages lend each other words all the time, usually because of trade, travel or a good idea. In 1697 the Russian tsar Peter the Great came to the Netherlands to learn how to build ships. He took the sea vocabulary home with him, which is why a Dutch speaker learning Russian finds words like “matros” (matroos, sailor) and “shtorm” (storm) waiting for them.

You can play the same game with any pair of languages. English took “cookie” from Dutch “koekje”, “boss” from “baas” and “yacht” from “jacht”. It took “mosquito”, “patio” and “tornado” from Spanish, and “marmalade” from Portuguese “marmelada”. The other way round, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese speakers say “weekend”, “marketing” and “online” every day. Before you learn a single new word, list the ones that already crossed the border.

Take long words apart: front, middle and end

Long words look scary until you cut them into pieces. Most are built from three parts: a front that changes the meaning, a middle that carries it, and an end that tells you what kind of word it is.

Take “decompose”. The middle, “pose”, means to put or place; Spanish has the same root in “poner” and Portuguese in “pôr”. Add “com-”, meaning together, and “compose” is to put together, like composing a song. Add “de-”, which undoes things, and “decompose” is to take apart again. Three small pieces, and each one comes back in other words: propose, suppose, expose. In Spanish: componer, proponer, suponer, exponer. In Portuguese: compor, propor, supor, expor.

Every language builds words this way. English “unforgettable” is un + forget + able. Spanish makes “inolvidable” with the same three moves, Portuguese makes “inesquecível”, and Dutch makes “onvergetelijk”. Different bricks, same building plan. Once you see the plan, a long word stops being a wall and becomes a puzzle you can solve.

How to learn 5 words from 1

This is where it gets fun. In my lessons you will not only use the language you already speak to make sense of new words. You will also learn to pull a whole family out of every single word, so you get five for the price of one.

Take the Portuguese word “canal”. It looks like English “channel” (and “canal”), so you already understand it. Now look at what grows around it. “Canais” is the plural: channels. “Canalizar” is the verb: to channel, or to pipe water somewhere. That gives you “canalizador”, the person who does it: a plumber (in Brazil you will hear “encanador”). And “canalização” is the plumbing itself. One word you recognised, five words you can use.

The endings repeat, too. Once you know that Portuguese “-ador” often means the person who does something, and “-ção” turns an action into a thing, you start spotting families everywhere. That is how your vocabulary grows five times faster without five times the effort.

• Look for the version of the word you already know from your own language or from English.
• Cut long words into front, middle and end before you try to memorise them.
• For every new word, ask: what is the plural, the verb, the person and the thing?
• Say the new words out loud in a sentence about your own life.

Watch out for fake twins

Not every lookalike tells the truth. Dutch “gift” means poison, not a present. Spanish “embarazada” means pregnant, not embarrassed. Portuguese “puxar” means pull, not push, as you will find out at the first café door. Laugh about them, make a sentence with them, and they turn into the words you never forget.

Try it this week

Pick one word you keep forgetting. Find its lookalike in a language you already speak, cut it into pieces, then build its family: plural, verb, person, thing. Write the five words down and say one sentence with each. If a word refuses to cooperate, bring it to the next lesson. Stubborn words are my favourite kind.