How do you remember Spanish vocabulary long-term?

To remember Spanish words long-term, you need to meet them several times, spaced out over days and weeks, in different contexts, and then use them yourself. Looking at a word once and hoping it sticks doesn't work, no matter how good the flashcard is.

Why you keep forgetting

Forgetting is normal. The forgetting curve, an old finding from memory research, says that new information fades fast unless you revisit it. Each time you recall a word right before you'd forget it, the memory lasts longer.

That's the logic behind spaced repetition: review words just as they're about to slip. The gaps get bigger each time, so you spend little time on words you know and more on the ones you don't.

Context makes words stick

A word on its own has nothing to hang onto. A word in a sentence, a scene or a story has people, a place, a feeling. I think this is the biggest difference between words that stay and words that vanish.

For example, la nevera (the fridge) is a dull entry on a list. But if you hear Abre la nevera, hay leche (Open the fridge, there's milk) in a scene, you've got a little picture to attach it to. Whether to learn from context or lists is a debate I'd settle with: context first, then review.

What works in practice

• Use spaced repetition for review. Anki is the well-known option, and many apps have a built-in version.
• Save words from things you actually read or heard, not from a random list. You care about them more, and you already know how they sound.
• Add a sentence, not just a translation. Write the sentence where you met the word.
• Say it out loud. Producing the word helps more than recognizing it.
• Try to recall before you flip the card. Effort is the point. Re-reading is much weaker than trying to remember.

Use it or lose it

Passive knowledge fades faster than words you've used. Try to use a new word in your own sentence within a day or two, even if you're just talking to yourself. Hoy tuve que pedir una cita (Today I had to book an appointment) turns a flashcard word into something you did.

Also, seeing words again in new places matters. If cita shows up in a story next week, that second meeting does more than ten flashcard reviews.

Don't hoard

A common mistake is adding 50 words a day and then drowning in reviews. If your review pile is bigger than you can do, you'll quit. I'd rather see someone learn 5 words and actually keep them than 30 and keep none. The right pace is covered in how many new words per day.

A simple routine

1. Read or listen to something at your level every day.
2. Save the 3 to 8 words you actually want.
3. Review them with spaced repetition for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Say or write one sentence using a word from this week.

If you want something that does steps 1 to 3 in one place, that's the idea behind Langtok (my app, so I'm biased): you tap words in short stories to save them, then practice them with quizzes.

Do that for months and your vocabulary will stay with you.