Here are some of the most effective ways to improve your English vocabulary.
- Read books
- Read online.
- Watch videos.
- Try and speak with people.
- Use the dictionary.
- Set goals.
- Use vocabulary books with different topics.
- Be consistent.
1. Read Books
This is one of the best ways to improve your vocabulary and in some ways the best. However there are many different books you can read. Try and read a few pages from each of them, whether it’s a novel, a book on history, a biography etc.
If you ever read a novel from cover to cover you will have learnt lots of vocabulary including:
- adjectives, novels are rich in adjectives in order to describe things more vividly and precisely.
- verbs
- nouns
- adverbs
A novelist will try to be more specific and precise in describing things such as how actions are performed and in describing nouns. They also use more sophisticated vocabulary.
Read newspaper articles which in most languages have a different style to novels, including in English.
2. Read online
Reading online is more and more popular now and even if it is facebook or some other sort of social media it is useful especially considering that you have automatic translators which give you a general feel of the text you are reading. In fact Google translate has been praised by some for its accuracy sometimes, though other times it can make errors.
Also the type of language you may read on social media is of a different style and can be more informal, conversational and more like how real people from Britain and America speak.
3. Watch videos.
You can watch television or internet websites with videos including those with subtitles. Some websites such as Youtube allow you to slow down the speed of the video and of course you can repeat the audio again and again and at at the speed which you feel comfortable. Slowly, slowly, you can become improve your listening. Some people are auditory learners.
They are different to visual learners and they can learn more effectively by listening. From the person they are listening to especially if they are listening and looking at them at the same time, they can learn more than from a text by the mood emanating from the speaker, the intonation, the context and other things.
4. Try and speak with people.
This is not always possible because in different parts of the world there may not be many English-speakers, however if you cannot find a native English speaker try and practice with someone whose native language may not be English but where English is widely spoken such as Scandinavia, Germany or someone from any country whose level of English is quite good.
If you cannot meet someone physically you can try and do an exchange online.
There are various websites which allow you to do this.
5. Use the dictionary.
This may seem obvious, but it must be mentioned. Use the dictionary frequently. Even when you are bored or have nothing to do and are thinking in your own language, you can imagine ‘how would we say this in English (or the language you are learning). Keep your dictionary close to you whether it be an app on your phone when you go out or the dictionary in your bedroom. Make the dictionary a good companion of yours.
Using the dictionary also learn the different forms of each word including its noun form, verb form, adjective form, adverb form and the different ways you can change the word with different prefixes and suffixes as well as the various contexts it can be used by looking at example sentences in the dictionary.
6. Set goals
You must set yourself targets.
If you give yourself a target of learning 1 new word a day that is 365 in 1 year and 3,650 in 10 years. You can acquire basic conversational fluency in most languages with a few hundred words if not less.
However be more ambitious. If you are serious about learning English try and learn 5 new words a day minimum with different example sentences. In one month that would be 150 words and in 1 year 1,800.
However the more words you learn the better your vocabulary.
Do not just however try and learn any random word in a disorganised manner but try to focus on ‘quality’ and ‘priority’. Start off with the most frequently used words when you first learn a new language and then learn words related to topics of interest to you or topics it is necessary for you to be familiar with. For example, if you are an engineering student you will need to know the words related to your particular field, which is engineering.
Input = Output.
You only get what you put in.
If you have a group of friends learning English then at the end of the month you can have a little quiz to see who knows the most words. This will incentivize you and make your vocabulary learning experience more enjoyable.
7. Use vocabulary books with different topics.
There are books especially designed only for expanding your vocabulary. They have pages or units devoted to particular topics. So one page may be related to plants, another to animals. The more sophisticated versions of these type of books will have units or pages related to politics, business, law and other more advanced fields.
Use these books and they serve as a good foundation giving you the key vocabulary in a wide variety of different topics.
8. Be consistent.
Finally, whatever you do, do it consistently. Every day like clockwork and after a few weeks or months you will notice the difference. It is good to have an integrated approach to this and not just read but also watch videos. Videos preferably with different accents including British, American and Australian amongst others and also the various regional accents within those countries. Learn new words every day. Even if you just spend 20 minutes a day doing this that’s 600 minutes an hour which is 10 hours.
Enjoy your experience in learning new vocabulary and see it as an adventure.
Good luck!
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This is very helpful information for English learners.
I think reading is a very powerful and efficient way of broadening the range of vocabulary. But the student must make a habit of using a notebook and dictionary to write down new words and phrases.
Even for native English speakers, reading is good for improving vocabulary.
Not only that, but it is a great way to learn grammar and sentence structure.
Actually, reading is just an essential life skill. It has many benefits.
Thanks for sharing this article. Much appreciated.
Hi David, thanks for your comment. Yes reading in the process of vocabulary expansion needs to be accompanied by the systematic compilation and revision of new vocabulary to consolidate memorisation of these new words.