Expanding one's vocabulary

Hi,

Do you have any good tips when it comes to how to enhance one’s vocabulary? Do you think that wordlists are good, or would you rather learn new words in context? How many times do you need to encounter a word before you learn it? Last but not least, how often do you come across new words?

Hi Englishuser,

It’s probably best to learn new words in context. How do children learn new vocabulary? Only when they are very little they learn separate syllables and then separate words. As soon as they have acquired a basic number of vocabulary words their parents start communicating with them using phrases rather than separated words. This makes perfect sense because you need the language to express thoughts and you usually can achieve this purpose through a combination of words rather than single words.

You can pick up new words everywhere – when you are reading a book, when you are listening to the radio, when you are speaking to somebody. I often listen to audio books when I’m driving. For example I have a program called Executive Vocabulary which contains word explanations, sample sentences and comprehension tests.

What about you? How have you been expanding your vocabulary?[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC short conversations: Discussing work schedules[YSaerTTEW443543]

Hi Torsten,

I also think that it’s much better to learn new words in context. I often learn new words when I’m reading novels, newspaper articles, webpages, etc. And, like you, I find it important to listen to English radio and to talk to English speaking people (although it’s hard to find them in my country unless you pay for expensive lessons with Berlitz or another language school, of course). The drawback with learning new words while reading is that you might not learn how to pronounce the word correctly. That’s why I use my pronunciation dictionary quite often.

Do you study medical, legal and technical English? Do you think that it’s important to study language used in specialist publications targeted for e.g. medical doctors and lawyers? And, of course, computer English is very important, too: I should study it much more intensively than I do.

Emotions like:, love , hate , sudden surprise ,seduce by picture or sound,shocked or stoned by meaning(lack of any meaning) and you would get it,you would surely learn it just like this,
Kids don’t learn in context ,they rather encounter words in context,
but they learn when they are deeply touched or intrigued by meaning of a word, or by meaning of a situation created with these words .
Arguing or laughing, suffering, fighting etc…
Oh come on all of you were some days the kids before? Already forgotten??
French is certainly one of the most difficult languages ,but is sexy and people, teenagers try to imitate this stubbornly.
(Well,now may be not so much anymore but in big time of French culture it was quite obvious why they were studing this tongue.)

If you want just to study fine, but if you want to know it perfect then better find some diamond among the roses and concentrate just on this(orginally was among ashes,I mean diamond).
Our entire word is developing only due to demand for a new source of pleasure for the woman (and a little really very little for a man).
All what is not exciting ,would be abandoned or booted out sooner or later.
Regards
Philosoper Jan
I don’t believe in this,just to stir some dust.

Hi Englishuser,

Yes listening to English audio resources is absolutely essential if you want to improve your English language skills. That’s why you have agreed to manage our 30/30 Challenge. Only if we can get our users to create an environment that is dominated by the English language they will be able to achieve the level of success they want.

That’s why, as the project manager of our 30/30 Challenge, you should lead the field by posting a summary of your listening experiences every single day. For example, earlier today on the BBC I heard that “… wordwide air travel will triple within the next 30 years.” I also listened to a programme about brainwashing which contained a lot of information about the techniques of intelligence services. There was something about the fact that LSD was invented by the CIA in order to keep up with the Russians who abandoned torture as a means of influencing dissidents.

There are plenty of recorded audio files at BBC Radio that our users should listen to. Again, your job is to make sure that those who have enrolled in the 30/30 Challenge understand what they have to do. Based on my experience we usually spend more time talking about something than on doing it.

Let me know if we are on the same page.
Regards,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC short conversations: Inter-office assistance[YSaerTTEW443543]

I totally agree with you! It’s time for action! And when the 30/30 day challenge ends, there are other things that we could do here that would help people improve their English. What about reading a novel together and discuss it chapter by chapter? This way people would improve their English skills not only by reading a novel, but also by talking about it here in the forums. Perhaps our users could write some kind of (short) book reviews. And, what is more, we’d learn something about a different culture. Let me know what you think.

Yes Englishuser, we run several projects at the same time, it’s all a question of organization.

Regarding the 30/30 Challenge, there is a lot of potential here because it will serve as the prototype of a new learning system that eventually will include book reviews, speaking sessions, group discussions and more.

For the time being however, we have to decide who is going to mark and amend the summaries posted by our users. Do you want to take on this task too? You can take a look at how Amy amended Heike’s (Lissy’s) post yesterday and tell me if you want to amend the summary Dark Magician posted today.

Also, somebody will have to interact with those users on the challenge to keep them active and motivated.

Now you can talk to Amy and let her know if you want her to amend the 30/30 summaries. She will be more than happy to help…

Thanks for your support,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC short conversations: Requisition request[YSaerTTEW443543]

Hi Torsten,

I like your suggestion. I’m already into it. I’ll start amending summaries right away.