how to build vocabulary?

[david11]

Hello teachers,

How can I develop my vocabulary?


some suggest to read books but I think reading books will help developing reading skill but not building vocabulary because I cannot see meaning for every unknown words to me in the dictionary. if I do then I can not read anything.

some people suggest to read a word and see that word in thesaurus and learn all the words.

one man said that he tried in that way and used to learn 80 to 100 words per day.

But I don't think that if I read that much word then I won't be able to use those in my sentence because I may know the meaning of that particular word but not the context in which that is used.

and in thesaurus there will be some words which we do not use in our normal life. so, it will be the waste of time to read those words instead of reading important words.




and how much words should a student read per day to make his vocabulary good in two or three years.

[SoothingDave]

You can start by capitalizing the first word in each sentence that you write.

Reading is absolutely the best way to build up your vocabulary. I'd say that whether English was your first or 23rd language.

You read in order to learn words and how they are used in context. When you encounter a word, you make a note to look it up later. Often you can figure out from context what it may mean. If you can't figure it out, then look it up right away.

[birdeen's call]

I'm not a specialist and my advice is based only on my personal learning experience.

I wouldn't worry about fixing a particular number of words to learn on one day. Learning English is much easier when it's pleasant. Read something that interests you. If you can't understand what the author means, try to decide which words or phrases seem essential for your understanding and look them up. It's a natural thing to do. If you still can't understand, then perhaps you need to look up some other words. Do it and see if it helps. It almost certainly will. Now you have done two things: you have spent your time doing something interesting and you have learned some English. Also, when a word or phrase is interesting to you (not necessarily essential for understanding), look it up.

Thinking my own sentences with a word or phrase I have just learned works very well for me. I will sometimes mumble to myself while reading. This is a sign that I have encountered an expression I didn't know before. Do it while you still have the original context in front of you.

I think it's a good idea to take pride in the sentences you make up. Make them sound beautiful to you. I don't know about you but I find many English expressions beautiful. When I learned them I was very proud of the sentences in which I used them. I still am sometimes. This pride may be misguided sometimes but this is not a big problem. When you find out you've been wrong, you'll be so ashamed that you'll never make this mistake again.

[Tdol]

one man said that he tried in that way and used to learn 80 to 100 words per day.

Very few people can learn vocabulary at this rate- most will forget the words in a few days.