Leaing vocabularies

How can we lea vocabularies

By yuliyaqeikhman

Find Your Leaing Style

What kind of leaer are you

Some people lea best by listening, others lea best by writing. You caot know which leaing tips and methods will work best for you until you know which kind of leaer you are

For example, if you remember words better when you write them down, you should try something fun and productive that involves writing. Try writing a blog

If you pick up a lot of new words from listening to audiobooks and podcasts, try using FluentU to lea even more

It all depends on how you lea best

Once you figure that out, you are ready to start really leaing

If you are not sure which leaing style works best for you, then you can try all of the suggested ways to lea English below. You will lea a lot about yourself and your brain by trying different methods

1. Keep a list

Words are all around us. Sitting down and looking up words in a dictionary is not the only way to find new vocabulary. You can find new words by talking with English speakers, watching shows in English, reading the news—anywhere, anytime. To keep track of new words, keep a vocabulary list

Put this list somewhere portable (easy to carry around)—a little notebook, your phone—so you can access it from anywhere

As you find words you don’t know, write them down. Make sure to keep plenty of space between words so that you can write more about the words later. When you get the chance (at the end of the day, or at the end of the week) find out what these words mean. You can write the definition however you want, translated to your native language, copied from the English dictionary or written in your own original words

However you do it, we recommend also writing down the part of speech (e.g., verb, noun, adjective), different versions of the word (for example, if you write down the word “fish” you could also write down information for fishing, fishy, fisherman, etc.), and a full sentence using the word

2. Use new words in conversations

Now that you have a list, it can be easy to forget about these words as you move on to new ones. This is especially true for common words and words that you’re not sure how to use. The more you use the words, the better you’ll remember them

Read your list at the end of each week. Try using your new words during the week as often as you can. After you have been recording lists for a while, go back and read your old lists. How well do you remember those words from the older lists? Take any words you have forgotten from your old lists and add them to your new list

3. Play games

Who said that studying can’t be all fun and games? Games like Scrabble or Vocabador offer great ways to lea new words

There are lots of games you can play to strengthen your vocabulary. In fact, you can find a list of vocabulary board games right here on FluentU

Games are a good way to lea because they make leaing fun, and they help give you context for your new words. That means you’re giving the word you lea an extra meaning. For example, you might remember the way that the word was used during the game. You might remember your friend laughing about how the word was used. You might remember that it was very hard to think of that word the first time while playing! Having a real-life memory attached to that word makes it much more memorable

4. Use FluentU

One of the best ways to lea new vocabulary words is to hear them being used. When you’re talking to an actual person, you might not have time to write down any new words or to look them up in the dictionary

That’s why videos are a great option for vocabulary leaing

Using FluentU, you can watch entertaining English videos at your leaing level and stop them at any time. The best part? You don’t even need to open the dictionary to look up new words—FluentU has interactive subtitles that show you every word’s meaning. Just click any word you don’t know, and you will see a definition, a picture, an audio pronunciation and usage examples, all so you can understand and remember that word better

Each video gives you a list of the vocabulary words found in the video before you watch it, so you can see what the words mean and then hear them used. The repetition and the different methods of leaing—reading the word then seeing and hearing the word in context—makes it much easier to lea new words

You can also create your own personalized vocabulary lists as you go. Active leaing tools will help you practice them in many different ways

It might be the most fun and effective way to lea new English vocabulary

5. Don’t try to remember words alone

As we already mentioned, it is better (and easier) to lea new vocabulary by giving them some context. One way to do this is to remember words in a sentence. This is a great option because you will not only know the word, but you will also know exactly how to use it in conversation

Another option is to remember words by groups. If you just leaed the word “humongous” (very large), you can memorize it by thinking of a group of words getting bigger and bigger—large, huge, humongous. This also gives the chance to lea even more words at the same time

For example: large, humongous, gargantuan. What do you think “gargantuan” means

6. Visit dictionary websites

Sure, you can use a dictionary to look up a word. But many dictionary websites these days have so much more to offer

Explore dictionary websites like Vocabulary.com and Dictionary.com and you’ll find lots of resources and things to do or read that can help you lea new words. Online dictionaries often have interesting word-related blogs, games you can play and “word of the day” newsletter subscriptions

Merriam-Webster even has a leaer’s dictionary (with a “word of the day” option that teaches you a new English word every day) with useful words for people leaing English. Perfect

7. Write a blog

Reading blogs is a nice way to lea new words, but writing a blog is even better

You can start a free blog on many websites like WordPress and Tumblr. What you write in your blog and who sees it is all up to you. You can write about fashion or cats…or cat fashion—write about whatever interests you

As you write, you will probably need to look up words in a dictionary. As you look up words, you will start to remember many of them! Using them in your blog gives them great context which will help your memory. You will lea exactly how to use them in writing

You can go back to your notebook of new words and choose a list of words that you want to use before you write the blog. Writing with these words will help you practice and remember them

Share your blog posts with friends and native speakers. Ask them for feedback. This will help make sure you used your words correctly

8. Lea word parts

Many words can be broken down into smaller parts. For example, the word “dictionary” comes from the Latin word dictio, which means “to speak

This is called the root of the word. A root word is a base used to create many words. Now that you know the root word dictio, you might notice it in other words too, like dictate, dictator and contradict. Even if you don’t know what the words mean, you now know that they have something to do with speaking

Leaing word parts is a great idea because you don’t just lea one word, you lea other words that use these parts. You will also be better at guessing the meanings of new English words, because you will know what some parts of these words mean

There are more parts to words than roots. Along with roots, words use prefixes (word parts that come in the begiing of the word) and suffixes (word parts that come at the end of a word)

Many dictionaries break down the word into these parts and tell you where these parts are from. You can find a list of word roots on this website, and a more complete list that includes prefixes and suffixes on this one

9. Read special vocabulary books

Reading is a good way to lea new words, but what you read can also make a huge difference in how much you lea

Choose books that are a little bit challenging for you, and you will lea a lot more than if you read at your level. If you read a book at your level, you may already know all the words. If you read a challenging book, you will need to lea many new words

You can also try reading special vocabulary books. These are fiction books that include over 1,000 vocabulary words and their definitions! These books are available to buy online, and can be found here or by searching Amazon

10. Take vocabulary quizzes

Now that you’ve leaed a few new words, how well do you remember them? You can have fun leaing, but you need to make sure that you are making good progress

After using your fun leaing methods, test yourself later with a more traditional method—quizzes

Try using quizzes to make sure you still remember each word you leaed, and to remind yourself of the words you leaed a while ago. There are many vocabulary quizzes you can use to test yourself. You can find some at Vocabtest, Merriam-Webster and Vocabulary.com, among many others. Don’t forget that FluentU will always keep you practicing the vocabulary words you leaed while watching videos

11. Lea the culture

There are a number of different kinds of English around the world. British and American English might seem the same, but there are many little differences

When you are leaing new words, keep in mind which country you plan to visit, live in or work in. You should lea British English if you plan to go to England, American English if you plan to go to America, and so on

The word color, for example, is spelled as “colour” in British English. British people used the words “brilliant” and “cheers” often, but Americans prefer to say “cool” instead of “brilliant” and “see you” instead of “cheers

Keep this in mind as you lea new words, and remember to lea words from the right kind of English

12. Lea with others

Leaing is easier and more fun when you do it with others

Find a group of friends who want to lea English with you, get an online native speaking buddy or join a website with other leaers. Whatever you choose to do, you will benefit greatly from working with others

One excellent group leaing program you can join is called Toastmasters. This group has meeting spots all over the world, and it helps people lea to speak in public. This can be a huge help to you if you have trouble speaking English with others

Another great idea is to talk to other English leaers on Facebook. There are many Facebook pages for English leaers. Some are pages where English leaers have created an online community for support and friendship. Other pages have actual native speakers helping the group lea. Find one, and your studying will suddenly get much easier

13. Ask “What does that mean

Finally, never be afraid to ask questions

If someone uses words you don’t understand, ask them “what does that mean?” Many people are very patient and understanding if you tell them that you’re leaing English. In fact, many will actually enjoy helping you

Aren’t you glad there are many different ways to lea

This way you can try everything and find what works best for you

Study hard but have fun, and before you know if you’ll have a gargantuan vocabulary

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