A great vocabulary can not just help you express yourself better, it can also pitch in the right impression. Whether it be during job interviews or the first day of the office where you go about introducing yourself or every day in the office where every email counts, a great English vocabulary can turn things in your favour.
With English being the second language for a huge number of people, it can be quite a task to master it. However, there are certain effective tips that can help you on and guide you to the staircase of building an enviable English vocabulary.
Bring out the books
Reading is a great way to build your English vocabulary. Reading can open the treasure to an endless vocabulary and has hundreds of other benefits. You can sharpen your mind, keep up to date with exciting things around the world, expand your knowledge all while working on your English vocabulary.
While reading you can learn so many new words, understand their usage and get the meaning from the context itself. Thus improving your chances of retaining the word easily.
Look up new words
Came across a new word while reading the newspaper? Then don’t let it go and look it up in the dictionary or the internet. Instead of just taking in the meaning of the word, do some research on it. Read it in context to other words and sentences.
The human brain tends to remember things when it has a context attached to highlight it.
Keep your ears and mind open
You can listen to other people, how they use different words and pronounce it to not only improve your English vocabulary but to learn how to communicate those words you have accumulated in your personal dictionary.
Sit with people who you think are smarter and more knowledgeable than you. People who can challenge you intellectually and teach you new things. Surround yourself with people who will help you improve on a personal and professional level and you will soon begin to notice the difference in your way of interacting and thinking.
Keep a pen and paper handy
A good way to improve your vocabulary is to push yourself to learn a new word every other day. However, don’t push yourself and care to start small and slow. Make a note of any new word you read and hear. Write down its meaning and context and try to use the word as much as possible in your conversations. This will make your brain take up the word more easily and fix it as a part of your everyday vocabulary.
Revisit those words over and over again and once you are more confident improve the number of words you learn in a day. However, don’t try to learn a new word every day or it might be too much for you to take.
Read the dictionary and thesaurus
You might wonder how can one read a dictionary or thesaurus? What is there to read on it except words and their meanings or synonyms? However, reading a dictionary or thesaurus can drastically improve your English vocabulary. And, you might actually come to enjoy the whole process of it as you make new improvements and learn new words that are fun to explore.
Just write
Make sure that you write for at least half an hour every day. Keeping a journal can be a great habit and can help you improve your writing skills and vocabulary. Your written communication skills are as important as your verbal skills and you cannot skip it, especially if you are sincere about building a great vocabulary.
Take on more writing responsibilities at work or college and make sure you give your best. Try to use the new words you have learnt during the course of writing.
Challenge yourself
Your biggest critic and your biggest challenger should be you. Challenge yourself and test your verbal and oral communication skills and how far your vocabulary has come by taking online tests.
Know where you stand and how you can work more and more specifically which areas should you target. Make use of the tips and materials you receive at the end of the test and follow them through to get the best results and when you are surer of your abilities, take the test again.
These were our top seven success tips on how to improve your English vocabulary. And before we end the article, here is a surprise eighth tip for you to follow through and watch as your English vocabulary improves by leaps and bounds.
Bring out the newspaper and play word games
Bring out that odd, old section of the newspaper you have been skipping for so long. Spend an hour or so solving the word puzzles there. You might not make a lot of improvement, especially in the start but you will soon learn your skills are improving and you are getting better at guessing the words.
Or you can download any similar game and make use of your smartphone to build a smarter English vocabulary.
