VOCABULARY - Where from, and how?

For the most part, I'm learning vocabulary in context, from reading articles, listening to the radio (which is getting easier) and so far one film on DVD.

I'm a big fan of 'memory hooks', or 'the keyword method', an example of which is outlined in the introduction of this article. When I find a new word (for example, fofo, which means 'podgy/flabby'), I picture in my mind something that sounds like the new word (I'm thinking of 'foe, foe', like two enemies side by side), and to link that picture of the sound to a picture of the meaning, those two foes standing side by side will, in the funny picture in my mind, be decidedly podgy. The more I do this, the easier it becomes, I find.

There's no translation here. It's a direct link from the new word to its meaning (similar to the visual dictionary I saw last Sunday). And in my experience, after using the word itself regularly for a while, I don't need the memory hook any longer, it fades away and I can readily call up the word itself.

I use this selectively, of course.