Compared to Romance languages, Greek is said to have less cognates. Nevertheless I try to find a relation with something I know where possible, e.g.
- το βιβλίο -> die Bibliothek in German, la biblioteca in Spanish (the English translation library wouldn't work in this case, but there is the bible as well)
- γράφω -> calligraphy which works better for me than relating it to graphics, because I would associate drawing with the latter rather than writing
- το παιδί -> pediatrician
- κίτρινο -> in German it is easy: Zitrone is similar and represents the color well. In English and Spanish, there is at least the adjective citric and cítrico, as in citric acid and ácido cítrico
- η γυναίκα -> gynecology (I found this one right now)
- το έντομο -> entomology
This works more often than I would have thought, but there still remain lots of words I can't relate to anything.
A different strategy would be to relate words to each other, e.g. κοτόπουλο, Κότα and πουλί (not quite in the way I thought, but at least there is a relation). I still don't know if η εφιμέριδα has something to do with η μέρα, but I think there must be a link between η νύχτα and η νυχτερίδα. Another similar sound is in ανοιχτόχρωμο, but it has οι instead of υ, so I'm not sure about this. And το παγωτό is so close to ο πάγος that I must be related, maybe the same way as "el helado" (ice cream) and "el hielo" (ice) do in Spanish.
For the rest, I sometimes relate things that in reality don't have common roots, but just happen to sound similar, like maybe το αγόρι and το αγγούρι, imagining a boy eating a cucumber. Or I learn with images where possible, that makes the words stick quick well in my experience.
What are your strategies?