You don’t know many of the words that are in the English language. Large, complete dictionaries contain over 400,000 words. It is estimated that the English language contains between 800,000 to 1 million words.
It has been said that an average college student knows less than 10% of the language. That is they have a vocabulary of between 20,000 to 35,000 words.
If you had a larger vocabulary you would be able to clearly express what you are talking about. This would mean that your feelings and your opinions would not be misunderstood.
It isn’t easy to learn new words. This is especially true if you don’t hear or see them on a regular basis. You can however increase your vocabulary if you choose to.
You can start by trying these techniques.
Find the correct word lists for you. Since there are over 900,000 words that you don’t know, how do you determine which ones you need to learn? Why learn words that no one else knows and understands, because when you use them, no one will understand you. You could try:
- Standardized test word lists such as ACT, SAT and GRE
- Frequent use word lists. This list is made up of words in the frequency that they are used. You start at the top of the list and scan down until you come to a word that you are not familiar with.
Read more. Reading more is a great way to increase your vocabulary. The books and articles you read have to be at the correct level for you.
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When you find a word that you don’t understand, write it down and look up the meaning.
Try to learn 25 words a week. You don’t want to try learning too many words all at once. You may have a long list of words you want to learn, but you should limit yourself to only 25 words per week. If that is too many, just reduce the number to something that works for you.
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While 25 words a week may not sound like much, it is over 1200 words a year.
Write the words and say them. After you have written the words and definitions into your list, make sure that you are not just reading them. When you speak and write the words, you will learn them quicker and more completely. Use the words in sentences and start to use them in your everyday conversations.
Use technology when possible. Many programs are available online that can help you. There are flash card programs that expose you to words at a regular frequency. There are many programs that are free and can be great tools for learning vocabulary.
The key is repetition. To learn and remembering your new words, the key is repetition. Go back over the new words you have learned periodically to review the word. Words won’t stay in your memory if you don’t use them.
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Carry you word list with you and go over it when you have a few spare moments during your day.
Make it a habit to learn new words. Learning new words is not a once-a-week activity. You need to set aside time each day to either learn new words or to review the recently learned words.
You will be able to communicate much more effectively and access more challenging reading material by increasing your vocabulary.
Finding a native speaker to work with will help you to become a better speaker. You can contact me at michael@languagewings.com and we can discuss how we can work together to help you improve your English language speaking ability.
To your language success
Michael W
P.S. To learn more about working with me, you can visit the “Work with us” page by clicking on the button below.
If you want to have a 30-minute “get to know you” call to discuss how we can work together, just click on the blue button below.
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