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Expand Your Vocabulary
One of the fun things about learning any language is expanding the number of words with which you can express yourself! Each language has many, many words to choose from all with their own shades and nuances of meaning. Widening your vocabulary in every language that you speak is always a fantastic goal to have. If you have decided that it is time to stretch your linguistic wings a little, then this post is exactly what you need!
In this post, I suggest 10 things you can do to expand your vocabulary. I also recommend two things that I normally tell you NEVER to do!!
My Top 10 tips
Use a bilingual dictionary – Look up words you come across but don’t understand and make a note of them, or even better use them straight away! With dictionaries, let’s be honest, are you really going to carry around a big hardcover book? No? Me neither. Luckily there are so many fantastic online bilingual dictionaries now that are accessible to you on the go.- Choose one lexical set at a time – For example animals; can you, hand on heart, say that you know the English word for all the animals? Think of all those you don’t know and look them up in your own language. Do the same for other lexical sets.
- Sign up for a word of the day – A lot of them are totally free and you can learn a new word every single day! There are apps where the word will pop up on your phone every day, or you can get your word sent to your email at dictionary.com.
- Play scrabble! – What could be more fun than rounding up a bunch of friends and playing a game together while you are expanding your vocabulary? Challenge each other to play bigger and better words and don’t forget, you’re allowed to use your dictionary!
- Read and translate – Choose a short passage in your own language and translate it into good English, oh, and please use your dictionary! Try translating some lines of poetry and challenge yourself to make the translation just as poetic as the original.
- Use a thesaurus – Write down a list of words you like to use and look up 3 synonyms for each in the thesaurus.
- Do crosswords – Use a dictionary to help you or do interactive ones online.
- Listen to the radio and write down any words you don’t know – Choose a short piece, you can approximate the spelling and then look them up in your dictionary.
- Choose a short, difficult, reading passage and do the same – Make a list of the words and look them up.
- Look around where you are right now – Do you know the words for everything you can see? Make a note of the ones you don’t know in your own language and then use your dictionary to find out the English word. Do this whenever you have a few spare minutes. Too many words? Give yourself a limit of 6 or 10 etc. each time.
So, there you go! Ten super easy ways to sneak new vocabulary words into your everyday life. Give a few of these a go, and before you know it you will have a blossoming vocabulary and improved fluency!
You can achieve your IELTS goals, and we can help you do it. To find out how, check out our resources, online courses, immersion workshops, or one-on-one training programme and find your path to success!
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