How to memorize Armenian vocabulary: 5 techniques

Why do we forget?

New information that is never reviewed is largely forgotten within a few days. That’s natural: the brain treats unused information as unimportant.

The good news: trying to recall a word just as you start to forget it makes it last longer each time.

1. Spaced repetition

Instead of repeating a word many times on the same day, review it at growing intervals: the next day, a few days later, a week later. LinguDay’s daily test follows this idea and asks about recently learned words.

2. Say it out loud

Listening to a word and saying it out loud uses both visual and auditory memory. That’s why every Armenian word has audio and a pronunciation written in letters you know.

3. Learn words in sentences

A short sentence that uses a word is easier to remember than the word alone. Example sentences and conversation lessons give each word a context.

4. Make your own links

Connect the word to a word you know, an image or a memory. The more vivid and odd the link, the better the word sticks.

5. How many words a day?

Starting with lots of words is tempting, but the review load grows fast. 10 words a day is a sustainable balance that leaves time for both new words and review.

At this pace you finish the 300-word Armenian core list in about 30 days. If you want to go faster, Premium lets you add “10 more words”.

Sample Armenian words

As a member you learn 10 new words like these every day, with pronunciation, meaning, an example sentence and audio.

Tips for learning Armenian

• Spot the cognates

  Armenian is an Indo-European language, so some basic words are distant relatives of English ones: մայր (mayr) “mother”, երեք (yerek) “three”, անուն (anun) “name”. Noticing them gives your memory something to hold on to.

• The 39-letter Armenian alphabet

  The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th century; LinguDay teaches it with 39 letters. Watch out for look-alikes: Ս looks like a Latin U but sounds “s”, while Լ really is “l”. Start with letters for familiar sounds (Ա a, Մ m, Ն n, Ս s) and you’ll read short words within days.