5 Effective Ways Of Expanding Your Vocabulary

Words are building blocks of any language and vocabulary is the collection of words!
For personal and professional growth, a large vocabulary is key and anyone can expand theirs.
A large vocabulary is important to communicate clearly and convey your message to the audience effectively! Having a large vocabulary helps people to understand you better and you appear to be an intelligent person.
This article will serve you with the 5 effective ways of expanding your vocabulary.

(1) Read

• If you want to learn new words, the most effective way is to read. The more you read, the more words you’ll be exposed to.
• Many of these words will be new to you giving you an opportunity of enhancing your vocabulary.
• When you come across a new word, look up its meaning in a dictionary and learn how to use it in sentences. This will give you an idea of when to use a word as a word can have different meanings as per the context.
• Now, you will be asking, “What shall I read?” Well, the answer to that question is – “Anything you are interested in and enjoy!”
• Let’s face it, wordy content is boring and not only you’ll lose interest, you will also get exhausted. Hence, read text that you love! It could be a fashion magazine, a sports article, your favorite comic book, etc.
• This way learning becomes fun and you will learn new words quicker.

(2) Watch and Listen

• It is possible that many of you might not like reading or, perhaps, you don’t have time to read. But, all of us love to watch our favorite movie, soap opera or that new web series.
• Switch on the TV or laptop or pick up your cell phone and watch the movie or soap opera with subtitles!
• By the virtue of subtitles, you could come across a word that you don’t know the meaning of!
• When you encounter such a word, find what it means and how to use it in a sentence. Not only you will enjoy you favorite movie, you will also improve your vocabulary.
• Another great source of learning new words is to watch the interviews of your favorite celebrity. While watching the interview, you may hear a new word. Another opportunity to learn! This trick has effectively helped me to learn many new words! I hope this will be helpful to you, as well!

(3) Note Down The Words

• You might forget the meaning of the words you learnt yesterday, so, what can you do to master them?
• Some people like to keep a journal, in which they note down all the new words they learn everyday with their meanings and usage in sentences.
• Others prefer to make flashcards. A flashcard is a card on which you write a new word on one side and its meaning and example sentence(s) on the other. Like a game of cards, you shuffle all the flashcards, pull out a card and review it. This is an effective way of mastering words.
• Make it a habit to review your notes frequently so you don’t forget the meaning of words and their usage.
• If you find this laborious, you can install a word editor in your cell phone and jot down words in them to review later.

(4) How Many Words Should You Learn?

• Now that you know how to add words into the treasure trove of your vocabulary, how many of them should you learn everyday? Well, the answer is – “As many as you can until you don’t get overwhelmed.”
• When I say as many as you can, I say that with a caveat! Don’t overwhelm yourself by learning a dozen or more words everyday. You must understand that building vocabulary is like building a muscle – it’s a gradual process and takes time.
• I would recommend that you should be aiming to learn 3 to 5 new words everyday. This might sound too less, but, imagine a wider picture! After 3 months, you’d have added a staggering 90 to 150 words into your collection of words! Learning 3 words everyday doesn’t take much time and you will have a lot of time to practice them.

(5) Practice

• “Use it or lose it!” This is true for building vocabulary!
• When you learn new words, practice them while having conversations. Doing this regularly will cement the words in your brain and you will become better quicker. This will help you gain confidence.
• Practice with friends who have the same goal or with someone you are comfortable with and you are sure they won’t make fun of you when you make mistakes!
• “Mistakes are a proof that you are trying!” Whenever you err, keep them in mind, work to fix them and you will improve.
• You will get frustrated when you make mistakes, but, be patient! You will make mistake today, tomorrow and maybe even after that. But, slowly, you will get better.
• Practice for at least 30 to 40 minutes and for as long as you want! Doing this regularly will gradually enhance your vocabulary and you sound better and confident.
• If you are someone who loves to be organized and technical, this post will be helpful to you.

Attention readers!!!
Did you notice that I have highlighted a few words? Do you know the meaning of them? If no, congratulations! You have come across new words! Find their meanings, usage in sentences and use them while having conversations!

As an add on, please watch this effective video to learn incredible words which you can use everyday.

Conclusion

In this post, I have shared the 5 most effective ways of improving your vocabulary:

1. Read: Read content you love and are interested in – books, magazines, comics, etc.
2. Watch and Listen: Watch your favorite movie, soap opera, web series with subtitles or watch the interviews of your favorite celebrity.
3. Note down the words: Note down all the new words that you have learnt in a journal or make flashcards. Review them to master the new words.
4. How many words should you learn? You can learn as many words as you can, but, 3 to 5 new words everyday is ideal as you don’t feel overwhelmed by learning and remembering more than a dozen words.
5. Practice: Practice newly learnt words by using them in everyday conversations. Practice with your friends or someone you are comfortable with for at least 30 to 40 minutes.

Happy learning!!!