As someone who's studied multiple languages and had to learn a LOT of vocabulary words, these are my suggestions to maximum your effectiveness, minimize the time spent, and make learning new vocab easier.

1. Relate new information to material already learned. This is sometimes called “scaffolding.” There are many ways to integrate new items with familiar material. The more connections you can make, the stronger your foundation.

Create either a concept map or a table to analyze parts of characters or group similar characters together. The key is to make the clusters meaningful. Some ideas for creating clusters include
Words that fit into the same pattern
Words sharing the same root
Words sharing the same phonetic component (similar pronunciation)
Words sharing any other component
Words or characters with a shared idea (such as “places,” “colors,” “activities involved in studying,” “polite language,” etc.)
Create a top-down hierarchical chart breaking a complex words into smaller, meaningful components.
Create mnemonic devices to remember harder words.
2. Review within the first 15 minutes after learning something new. Studies have shown that students have much greater retention of learned material if they review briefly right after.

3. Read your study material out loud, rather than silently in your head. This way you can get the feel for the words on your tongue and find words you haven’t quite mastered yet.

4. Studying a little every day is more effective than studying for a long period. It’s impossible to learn a language by studying only once a week, even if the study period is very long. Studying one to two hours each day will make it easy for you to memorize more efficiently, instead of cramming hundreds of words in every day to speed through the process.

5. To learn new vocabulary, using several short sessions (a few minutes at a time) is more effective than using one long session. You can use the time while riding the bus, eating breakfast, waiting for class to begin, waiting in line at the grocery store, and even walking across campus, to review new words.

6. The only way to learn words are to memorize them. Writing will enable you to use motor memory for recall; otherwise words can be quickly forgotten. Rather than writing one word many times before doing the next one, write each word once or twice then go through the whole list again until you’ve done the required number of repetitions. This will put the new words more firmly in your memory.

7. Make vocabulary flashcards. The physical act of writing reinforces words in your memory and the cards let you test your knowledge at any time. Code cards for word class (verb, noun, etc.) and carry them with you for review during spare minutes. Play on-line games to reinforce word recognition.

8. Make a 2-column vocabulary sheet with words and their definitions. Fold the paper so only one column is showing and take practice quizzes.

9. Some find that a 5-minute review before going to sleep enhances memory. The review should be short, and not so late at night that your brain has already gone to sleep, even though your body seems to be awake.

10. Try to use whatever new words you've learned as you go about the day. Slip them into sentences as naturally as possible, that way you'll know you've got not only the definition but different uses of it down. Writing them into journal entries at the end of the day is also a good tactic--hand-eye memory is a great tool.

--- These are basic memorization techniques. The trick is to keep trying new things until you find one that works, because different people learn in different ways.

I've been studying Chinese using this method. I also have a tutor through the online language school eChineseLearning.com. If you ever get interested in adding Chinese to your skillset, I'd be happy to advise you on studying methods!’

I hope I answered your question well :)