[Vocabulary] My vocabulary is limited :((

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aboeljude

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Joined
Aug 27, 2013
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Arabic
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Australia
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Australia
Hello everyone,

I'm new here,I hope to get some serious advice on how to expand my vocabulary. My English is great and I have a good Aussie accent, but my limited vocabulary is putting me down.I feel frustrated that I can't express my self enough. :cry::cry::cry:

Please someone help me. :up:


Thank you in advance.
 

emsr2d2

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Member Type
English Teacher
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British English
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UK
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Welcome to the forum. Firstly, please check that your member profile is correct. You say your native language is Amara, that your home country is the Antilles and that your current location is in American Samoa. Your IP address shows that you are in the USA, and Amara is not a native language of the Antilles. It is important that you give us accurate information so before continuing, please update your member information.

In answer to your question, my advice is read, read, then read some more! Expand your reading matter to include types of magazines, books and articles that you haven't read previously. Have a good dictionary on hand to check every new word. When you find a new word, search for it on the net to see it used in another million ways. Then write five or ten sentences of your own using it. Find one really memorable sentences containing the word and memorise it so that you always remember how it's used.

Being surrounded by spoken English all the time will help too. When you are at home, have an English-speaking radio station playing in the background, preferably one that doesn't play a lot of music. Don't actively listen to it but you will find that, if your comprehension is already very good, any new words will stand out. You might not catch them in time to look them up in a dictionary but it doesn't matter.

Find a native English speaker to have a conversation exchange with a couple of times a week and make sure they explain all new vocabulary to you.
 
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aboeljude

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Arabic
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Welcome to the forum. Firstly, please check that your member profile is correct. You say your native language is Amara, that your home country is the Antilles and that your current location is in American Samoa. Your IP address shows that you are in the USA, and Amara is not a native language of the Antilles. It is important that you give us accurate information so before continuing, please update your member information.

In answer to your question, my advice is read, read, then read some more! Expand your reading matter to include types of magazines, books and articles that you haven't read previously. Have a good dictionary on hand to check every new word. When you find a new word, search for it on the net to see it used in another million ways. Then write five or ten sentences of your own using it. Find one really memorable sentences containing the word and memorise it so that you always remember how it's used.

Being surrounded by spoken English all the time will help too. When you are at home, have an English-speaking radio station playing in the background, preferably one that doesn't play a lot of music. Don't actively listen to it but you will find that, if your comprehension is already very good, any new words will stand out. You might not catch them in time to look them up in a dictionary but it doesn't matter.

Find a native English speaker to have a conversation exchange with a couple of times a week and make sure they explain all new vocabulary to you.

Thank you. Yes, I just did update my information lol. My IP address is lying, I am actually in Australia, trust me on that.

I love reading but it's just that I don't like interrupting my reading to go and search for word meanings. My colleagues at work are all English speakers but not many use words that grab my attention. Thanks heaps to your great tips, hopefully I will start applying them soon. But tell me, when I am writing an article,how do come up with more sophisticated language. Do I follow the same steps you've just mentioned?
Again, thank you for your help.

Cheers,
 

5jj

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Joined
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English Teacher
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British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
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Czech Republic
I love reading but it's just that I don't like interrupting my reading to go and search for word meanings. ,
Even though I am native speaker with a fairly large vocabulary, I still encounter new words quite often. If context does not enable me to guess a reasonable meaning then I look up the word.

If I guess, but come across the word again, then I look it up to check that my guess was right.

You can't learn new words without a bit of effort.
 

aboeljude

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Arabic
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
emsr2d2, I tried to pm you about changing my email address because when I tried to change it it tells me "The email address you entered is already in use. If you have forgotten your password, please click".


Thank you.
 

aboeljude

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Arabic
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Yup, I guess you are right. I need to do my search otherwise I'm not going anywhere with my little language. Thanks.
 

emsr2d2

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Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
emsr2d2, I tried to pm you about changing my email address because when I tried to change it it tells me "The email address you entered is already in use. If you have forgotten your password, please click".


Thank you.

You can't use the Private Message facility until you have made ten public posts. Even then, I can't do anything about editing your email address. If you can't do it yourself by editing your user profile, post a message in the Support Forum so that an Administrator can take a look at it.
 
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