I have a lot of "associations" called mnemonics. I have a few for the words ending with lich (pronounce something like lick) such as lächerlich (ridiculous), licking words are ridiculous, aren't they?

I know it's not a reliable method but while I was learning English I used to say the things out loud and if they didn't sound logic enough then I'd check out the right way to say them and memorize it. I also tend to associate words with specific moments or phrases.

I can't actually remember any now, but yes! My mind make any sort of weird associations and learning a new word is never that hard. Oh yeah! I tried german once and there was kleider for clothes, and i have a friend whose name is actually Kelider hahahaha! Oh, and small in dutch is kleine : D

I took a year of German at university about 20 years ago. I remember discussing how langweilig the movie Titanic was. Whenever I use that word I'm reminded of that crap movie. Similarly whenever it comes on cable I think Wie langweilig!

My newest is the Russian word for "clear": ясно, which sounds a lot like "yes-no." What could be clearer?

Well, I use these so called Eselsbrücken all the time. I find it helpful to have some association with each word, even if it doesn't really make sense. Over time you stop thinking about it and it just comes naturally.

An example from when I was still learning English in school, is the word "to mention" which was hard for me to remember. My association was that it sounds a lot like "Menschen" - "humans", and since it's only human to be honest with your friends, you should remember to mention things that are important.

Except for learning Japanese letters never felt the need to.