How To Master Vocabularies

Vocabulary mastery is considered to be one of the ultimate skills to be mastered in a language. The more vocabularies that a person has, the better capability in speaking a language that a person owns.

Actually, mastering vocabularies is a very difficult thing to do. You don’t have to memorize the whole words in dictionaries, just remember that learning by doing is one of the best ways in learning about anything.

To help you learning the vocabularies, below are some of the very useful tips I have quoted from sheppardsoftware.com:     

Tip One: Read, Read, Read! Most vocabulary words are learned from context. The more words you're exposed to, the better vocabulary you will have. While you read, pay close attention to words you don't know. First, try to figure out their meanings from context. Then look the words up. Read and listen to challenging material so that you'll be exposed to many new words.

Tip Two: Improve your context skills. Research shows that the vast majority of words are learned from context. To improve your context skills pay close attention to how words are used.

Tip Three: Practice, practice, practice. Learning a word won't help very much if you promptly forget it. Research shows that it takes from 10 to 20 repetitions to really make a word part of your vocabulary. It helps to write the word - both the definition and a sentence you make up using the word - perhaps on an index card that can later be reviewed. As soon as you learn a new word, start using it. Review your index cards periodically to see if you have forgotten any of your new words.

Tip Four: Make up as many associations and connections as possible. Say the word aloud to activate your auditory memory. Relate the word to words you already know. For example, the word GARGANTUAN (very large) has a similar meaning to the words gigantic, huge, large, etc. You could make a sequence: small, medium, large, very large, GARGANTUAN. List as many things as you can that could be considered GARGANTUAN: Godzilla, the circus fat lady, the zit on your nose, etc. Create pictures of the word's meaning that involve strong emotions. Think "the GARGANTUAN creature was going to rip me apart and then eat me!"

Tip Five: Use mnemonics ( memory tricks). For example, consider the word EGREGIOUS (extremely bad). Think EGG REACH US - imagine we've made a mistake so bad that they are throwing eggs at us and a rotten EGG REACHes US. Such funny little word pictures will help you remember what words mean, AND they are fun to make up. Also, find out which learning style suits you best. Everyone learns differently!

Tip Six: Get in the habit of looking up words you don't know. If you have a dictionary program on your computer, keep it open and handy. America Online and other internet services have dictionaries and thesauruses on their tool bars. Find them and look up any word you are not absolutely sure of. Use a thesaurus when you write to find the word that fits best.

Tip Seven: Play with words. Play Scrabble, Boggle, and do crossword puzzles. These and other word games are available for the computer, so you are not dependent on a partner to play.

Tip Eight: Use vocabulary lists. For the serious vocabulary student, there are many books that focus on the words most commonly found in standardized tests. There are also many interesting word sites on the Internet, many of which will send you a word a day by email.

Tip Nine: Take vocabulary tests. Playing games, such as the ones on this site, that test your knowledge will help you learn new words and also let you know how much progress you're making.

Tip Ten: Get excited about words! Come to appreciate the sometimes-subtle differences between them. Do you know the difference between something that denotes something else and something that connotes something else? If not, go look it up. Learn to say what you really mean and discover the joys of being able to express yourself in writing.

Other simple tips that you can try are buying a dictionary that mostly attract you, whether you are attracted to its pictures or its way of describing the words you are unfamiliar with. Another way is, as you read, underline the unfamiliar words that you don’t know, find out the meanings, then write down the meaning under the underlined words. It really helps to you remember the unfamiliar words directly.  Besides that, you can also circle, highlight, or underline the unfamiliar words, then write down the word and its definition in a notebook by hand. You can always look up your notes at all times whenever you find those words again. Last but not least, never be satisfied with your vocabulary riches, you must always add it more and more each day and always try to use the words as often as possible.

References:

Anonymous, 2014. The Ten Best Vocabulary Learning Tips. Available at: www.sheppardsoftware.com. Downloaded on January 20th, 2014.