i say them regularly when talking to my family,friends and sometimes even to myself:P it works even my brother does that,he's learning japanese.^^

To memorize new words, I will write the words a few times and then I try to put the words into a sentence so that they are easy to remember. In my notebook, I only write the language I am learning. I do not write my native language. After I write something in my notebook, I read it repeatedly until I have it memorized. I have learned many new vocabulary words by listening to news broadcasts and speeches. I listen to a speech in my native language and then I try to translate it into the language that I am learning. When I come to a word that I cannot translate, I look it up in my dictionary and try to memorize it. Reading poetry is also a great way to learn new words.

If the new words is an object, I'll visualize it and check the thesaurus. The main point is like other's have said, to use it immediately however you can; by visualize it, put it into your own sentence, saying it out loud, and try to find it's relation with other words that you might already know (if there's any).

How do you, indeed?!!! I've tried so many methods and none really work for me. I've tried vocabulary notebooks (Language1 in one column and Language2 in another column). I've tried flashcards. I've tried Anki and I've tried Learning With Texts. (If you want to know more, just google these methods. Many people use them.) At the moment I'm trying several other methods, which are more lenient and relaxed, in my opinion. 1. When I take notes about grammar in a notebook and I want to know/remember a word, I write it out right there in the notebook. I don't take a separate notebook for vocabulary. I want to have the word there in the context, rather than in a column of words among pages and pages of columns. 2. I read and annotate inside the book itself. (I use a photocopy.) The same applies here. I encounter the word in a particular context and I want it to stay there, so I circle it, draw a line out to the margin and write the definition. (Also, the reading helps with grammar and all sorts of other things. It lets you acquire the language in a more natural way. And it's fun.)

i write them on small piece of papers then review them several times until i retain them in my mind.