vocabulary

[Englishlanguage]

Hello everybody!
I'd like to hear some of your ideas on how you try to increase your vocabulary.
Have you got a specific strategy?
Do you make particular associations among similar words in order to remember them? or do you just memorize them as you come across them in a book/article/etc...?

[Casiopea]

You'll love this, Learning Vocabulary.

[Englishlanguage]

Originally Posted by Casiopea

You'll love this, Learning Vocabulary.

It is interesting. There is plenty of strange methods but I think I'll go for the traditional ones such as elaborating or semantic mapping. Have you (or your students) ever tried one among those which seem more odd? Have you (or they) achieved any interesting result?
I'm curious to hear something about this.

[Englishlanguage]

I realize is not that kind to re-open a thread. There must be a reason why just a few people have answered. But I believe this would be a very interesting topic for many members, especially those who need to build up their vocabulary.
Perhaps this thread is not much in view at the moment.

Anyway, if anyone wants to write about his/her personal experience with learning vocabulary or wants to give some advice, he is welcome!

[Englishlanguage]

Thank you for replying
I believe the problem is that memorizing words is not enough. You need to learn how to use them as well.
Do you ever test your vocabulary?
How do you do it?

[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by Casiopea

You'll love this, Learning Vocabulary.

Thanks Casiopea. It is a very nice one. I wrote the following ideas as part of a blended learning program some time ago.

Everybody has got his/her personal experience. There are no right or wrong ways to learn vocabulary but it is good to know what others have got to say. Most people are visually oriented so pictures and graphs are helpful. In addition, the information is communicated at a glance and it goes deep into memory. Some memory techniques are short-term and some others are long-term. It is true most students follow traditional ways maybe because other methods are either too time consuming, boring or inconvenient. Learning with fun delivers best results. Find out which way you feel most comfortable. Write about your own way so that we can learn from you:

1. Learn in small portions on a daily basis
2. Learn by repeating (Memorizing/revision)
3. Use memory aids (mnemonic devices/ associations)
4. Use Visualisation with the help of
Bubble networks
Word trees
Pictures
diagrams (tree diagram )/graphs
Word forks
Tables
5. Write as a learning strategy
6. Group and organise your vocabulary accroding to semantic categories
7. Use monolingual and translation dictionaries. Dictionary skills
8. Learn words in context
9. Be aware of varieties of English: BE /AmE
10. Partnerships / collocations /phrasal verbs
11. Identify prefixes/suffixes and word roots and understand their meaning.
12. Words can have opposites, synonyms, multiple meanings and associations which help learning and make your language more powerful.
13. Use the right register appropriate to the social/cultural situation.
14. Always be aware of the importance of metaphor.
15. Remember words convey culture specific to a particular language.
16. Rhyming as in poetry is a traditional memory aid.
17. Try to guess meaning in context.
18. Always try to describe what you want to say or write instead of focussing on the word in your native language. Sometimes there are no equivalents in English as with Adventskranz (German) or job titles.
19. Make use of German heritage and Romance borrowings in English but be on your guard there are False Friends.
20. Make use of words in English borrowed from other languages if you already know them.

[Englishlanguage]

Originally Posted by Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim

Thanks Casiopea. It is a very nice one. I wrote the following ideas as part of a blended learning program some time ago.

Everybody has got his/her personal experience. There are no right or wrong ways to learn vocabulary but it is good to know what others have got to say. Most people are visually oriented so pictures and graphs are helpful. In addition, the information is communicated at a glance and it goes deep into memory. Some memory techniques are short-term and some others are long-term. It is true most students follow traditional ways maybe because other methods are either too time consuming, boring or inconvenient. Learning with fun delivers best results. Find out which way you feel most comfortable. Write about your own way so that we can learn from you:

1. Learn in small portions on a daily basis
2. Learn by repeating (Memorizing/revision)
3. Use memory aids (mnemonic devices/ associations)
4. Use Visualisation with the help of
Bubble networks
Word trees
Pictures
diagrams (tree diagram )/graphs
Word forks
Tables
5. Write as a learning strategy
6. Group and organise your vocabulary accroding to semantic categories
7. Use monolingual and translation dictionaries. Dictionary skills
8. Learn words in context
9. Be aware of varieties of English: BE /AmE
10. Partnerships / collocations /phrasal verbs
11. Identify prefixes/suffixes and word roots and understand their meaning.
12. Words can have opposites, synonyms, multiple meanings and associations which help learning and make your language more powerful.
13. Use the right register appropriate to the social/cultural situation.
14. Always be aware of the importance of metaphor.
15. Remember words convey culture specific to a particular language.
16. Rhyming as in poetry is a traditional memory aid.
17. Try to guess meaning in context.
18. Always try to describe what you want to say or write instead of focussing on the word in your native language. Sometimes there are no equivalents in English as with Adventskranz (German) or job titles.
19. Make use of German heritage and Romance borrowings in English but be on your guard there are False Friends.
20. Make use of words in English borrowed from other languages if you already know them.

Do you follow all these points or are they just some suggestions for learners?

[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by Englishlanguage

Do you follow all these points or are they just some suggestions for learners?

I think it is clear from what I said. They are only suggestions or my contribution to this topic. Choose the one that suits you or leave it altogether. Follow you way but let's know about it.

[Englishlanguage]

As for me, I think I have not found my method yet. I'm trying to create one.
So far, I have just been looking words up confusingly in the dictionary.
At least I have experienced that's not a good method.

[alihandra]

In my opinion The best way to learn vocabulay is to divide words into topics.

EX:

Family

English ---Francais ---spanish ---ِِArabic

Father--- Le pere ---Padre\Papa -----أب
Mother--- La mere ---Madre\Mama ---أم-

Relatives

English --Francais ----Spanish ---Arabic

Uncle ---L`oncle ----Tio ---خال\عم
Aunt ----La tante -----Tia ---خاله\عمه