8 posts tagged “vocabulary”

The fastest way to increase English vocabulary is to read. If you can then listen to what you have read, so much the better. It will reinforce your memory of what you read, and improve your reading rhythm and speed.

There are problems, however. It is not pleasant to read material with more than 5% new words. But to increase vocabulary you need to discover new words in interesting contexts. Consulting a traditional dictionary is hopeless because it is so time consuming and the words so quickly forgotten. Reading on line is better because you can consult an electronic dictionary but the words are still quickly forgotten. It is also easier to read a book than to read online.

If you are lucky you can find special graded readers with prepared word lists. Even with a prepared word list, all too often it seems that the editors of these readers deliberately provide translations of obvious words that you already know and do not provide translations of difficult new words that you do not know.

We think the The Linguist is an excellent solution since members can use the content in our library which self-grades to their invidual vocabulary level. They can also import any content they like, and build their own vocabulary databases and use our vocabulary learning methodology.

Whatever you do, you canot avoid reading a lot if you want to master lots of vocabulary.

The champion word learner at The Linguist is one of our members from Japan, Sada...  Matsu..... He has been with The Linguist since Oct 30 2005, in other words over two years. I see him on the site almost every day. In about 27 months he has saved 11,3999 words and 3882 phrases. He has studied 809 items, of which 299 are from The Linguist Library and 510 are imported from elsewhere. He listens 1-2 hours per day. ( He actually records his listening hours!) His total known words is 26,419. He never writes. He never participates on any Skype discussions. He just reads and listens, just about every day.

Ai, go for your goal of 20,000 words! But I am glad you are also going to join us on the Vox blog and hopefully join some discussions as well. 

Some thoughts on how to get a better TOEIC score. To improve in TOEIC, especially the reading section, but in fact all of TOEIC, you need to improve your reading skills. Here are some suggestions on how to do that.

Extensive reading. (to increase your reading speed)

A) Read a lot of easy content where the number of new words is not greater than 10 % of the total number of  unique words. (Note that this information is provided when you click on the title of new items in the Linguist Library).

1)      Read a new item quickly once. Then try to summarize out loud to yourself what the item was about.

2)      Listen to the item and read along at the same time. Make sure that you can read faster than the audio file you are listening to. If you cannot, read the item again and continue practicing to try to increase your reading speed. Note that most articles, including news reports are read at about 140 words per minute, whereas conversations are around 160 words per minute and Dr. Laura is closer to 200 words per minute. You will need to get your speed up to 200 words per minute or faster to really do well on TOEIC.

3)      Select a new item and do the same again. You can use imported content if (as in the case of VOA) there is a sound file provided. If there is no sound, do as in B) below.

Note that you should read these easy items at first without listening, and then read along while listening. The objective is to increase your reading speed.

B) Read newspaper articles, magazine articles, or other handy material, including web sites, on subjects of interest to you.

1)      Make sure you are interested in the content.

2)      Do not look up any words. Just read, scan and try to figure out the meaning.

3)      Do this daily and try to enjoy it. Do not look up any words in a dictionary!!

4)      Try to summarize the meaning to yourself.

The goal is to develop the ability to scan, and to guess at meaning.

Intensive reading. (to increase your vocabulary and ability to use phrases)

A)    Choose content items with more than 10% new words and up to 20% new words as a percentage of unique words. (See the Linguist Library information on each new content item.) 

1)      Read through once, saving new words.

2)      Listen and read. Save additional words and phrases that cause trouble.

3)      Listen to the text 3-5 times.

4)      Read the text 2-3 times.

5)      Review the saved words and phrases.

6)      Continue listening and reading to the item 3-5 more times.

Practice a mixture of extensive reading and intensive reading. Your reading will improve and so will your TOEIC score. But remember to stick to articles that you find interesting, as much as possible.

The podcast is here.

Words like would, could, should, might or may are called modal verbs. Knowing that term will not help you use these words properly. You need to save them in The Linguist and review them with all the examples sentences you create. Here Jill and I talk about them. Listen, then wait for the transcript and save them in your system.

Here is the podcast

We often need words to introduce an idea or to change directions in our thoughts, whether when writing or speaking. In my view these words are important. One the one hand they help to get you started, on the other hand you can change your argument. However, you cannot overdo it. Nevertheless, these words can be useful. Although...you get what I mean? Jill and I talk about these words.

What if you import lists of words into The Linguist and then find that there are no example sentences for some of these words in The Linguist Library? Well, The Linguist Library contains 22,000 unique words. If the word you are looking at is not in our Library it is probably not that common. It may still be worth learning. If you keep importing content from other sites on the Internet, example sentences for these uncomon words may eventually turn up.

Here is the podcast.

Jill and I talked about Marieanne's list which is copied below. For this to really work and help you learn English at The Linguist, make sure you listen to the podcast several times, then read it in The Linguist Library when it is added there in a week or so and save key words and phrases.

WORDS LIST

Enhanced              Your enjoyment of the language will be enhanced by a sense of achievement as you are able to accomplish important tasks in English, without feeling that it was a great effort.

Ongoing                You will find that using and improving in a new language is an ongoing adventure.

Harsh                    This is because the north of , with its harsh and sub-Arctic climates, is sparsely inhabited.

Stiff                       It is best to avoid a colloquial speaking style on the one hand and a stiff or artificial writing style on the other.

Unthinkingly         This incident has always remained with me as an example of how people can unthinkingly stick together and resist the participation of an outsider.

Overflowing          The most interesting lecturers, such as Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, spoke to overflowing audiences.

PHRASES LIST

Set out                          Start with an introduction where you set out the main issues you will deal with.

Carry over                     If you try to speak and write the same way, this correct usage will carry over into your speaking.

To back that up              I think that's a… you need to have some stories to back that up.

Nuts and bolts           - HOW TO LEARN LANGUAGES is about the nuts and bolts of how to learn languages.

Step out and step up   The teacher is responsive, so is a very good resource, but ultimately it’s the student’s responsibility to step out and step up. 

In a similar vein          In a similar vein, a language learner is best to stay clear of idioms, slang and swear words.

The podcast of this post is here.

We are experimenting with ways to make the REVIEW ing of words and phrases more meaningful for our members. Your advice and input is welcome!

We will do podcasts with the words and phrases you are interested in learning. These need not just be from your own REVIEW section. Any words or phrases are welcome. We will put the texts of the podcasts into the Linguist Library for you to read, to save more words and phrases, and study the new examples of these words in use.

Here are some further comments on REVIEW.

1) I recognize that the present REVIEW section functionality could be improved. We have improved the functions a lot in the new version. You will have a chance to see the Beta version of the new system as soon as it is ready. We hope that is soon. We will welcome your input.

2) Meanwhile the present system is still very useful and is an important part of your learning process.

3) Some members have complained that it is difficult to REVIEW as many as 2000 saved words or more! I agree. You should try to focus on a limited list of words at a time. I suggest you deal with lists of 10-20. You do not have to memorize them each time, just work on them You can print them, test them, and send them to me or Jill or your tutor and we will create podcasts from these lists. You can also let your tutor know that you want to talk about these words in your one to one session.

Just focus on these words or phrases for a while, then throw them back into the larger list and grab some others. You do not have to make sure you fully learn them. Learning them is part of a gradual process which you really cannot control. So do not get frustrated!

4) Selecting words and phrases from specific content items is a good thing to do  because you can then review the content item again at the same time as you review the words and phrases. But there are other ways you can select words and phrases for concentration.If you have questions please let us know.

5) The words and phrases for testing in Words&Phrase Review are selected automatically based on a number of factors and an algorithm. Unfortunately, in the present system, you cannot control this list. So please do the test anyway. In the new system you will have control over the factors that affect this list, such as your own feeling about the importance or difficulty level of the word or phrase.

6) Please send us your lists of words and phrases. These need not be limited to words and phrases from your REVIEW section. I now feel that it is best for you to send us any words or phrases you have seen or heard anywhere and want help on. Jill and I will create podcasts on these words and phrases. You can be a beginner, and intermediate or advanced learner. It does not matter.

7) All of the podcasts we create will be transcribed and the texts put in the Linguist Library. In this way everyone can study from this new content and save these words and phrases, and find more examples of these words in use.

First of all,  let me say that to learn English,or any langauge, it is important to review new words and phrases. I know it works for me. It is less fun than listening and reading, and so I always prefer to spend more time on listening and reading. I know that I cannot remember all the words and phrases when I review them. Yet reviewing and studying lists of words is, to me, a necessary part of the process of learning words and phrases, and therefore of learning the language. I find I need to focus on the individual components, the words and phrases. This makes me more observant of these and other words when I see them. I start to look for connections between different words, and that helps me guess the meaning of new words.

I know that our REVIEW section is not ideal. We will make it better in the next version. However, there is a lot of useful functionality there.

First I recommend you try to study less than 20 words at a time. You can select one content item and only review the words and phrases from that item. You can input prefixes and suffixes or roots in order to see only the words that contain them. You can input single words and only see the phrases that contain these words. You can select words or phrases and create lists.

So please try to work with smaller lists. If you learn 20 words a day, 3 times a week, you will have 3,000 new words for the year. Of course you will forget many of these, but you will also pick up some free words that are related to the words you learn.

You can copy and paste these shorter lists from the REVIEW section and post them on the blog here, and we will do some podcasts talking about these words and phrases and how to use them.

Your lists posted here will look like this.

hardware	After all, China has become the workshop of the world, recently overtaking Japan as the second largest producer of electronics and IT hardware. check for examples
patience	On the subject of China's currency, Eldon said that patience was required on behalf of the Chinese and resistance to external pressure to float their currency on the world market. check for examples
worldwide	India is known worldwide as the optimal destination for software development and service outsourcing, and Japan is experiencing a powerful economic awakening of its own. check for examples
conditions	"There are those who maintain that the right time is now," said Eldon, citing the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which presently believes conditions are "near ideal" to liberalize its currency. check for examples
world	After all, China has become the workshop of the world, recently overtaking Japan as the second largest producer of electronics and IT hardware. check for examples
float	On the subject of China's currency, Eldon said that patience was required on behalf of the Chinese and resistance to external pressure to float their currency on the world market. check for examples
pressure	On the subject of China's currency, Eldon said that patience was required on behalf of the Chinese and resistance to external pressure to float their currency on the world market. check for examples
workshop	After all, China has become the workshop of the world, recently overtaking Japan as the second largest producer of electronics and IT hardware. check for examples
outsourcing

If you do this, Jill and I will start talking about your words and phrases in a blog, to help you remember them or to learn to pronounce them better, or simply to give you a better sense of how they are used.

We will identify every podcast as  Beginner , Intermediate or Advanced. I have received one such list from Sumiko and Jill and I will start with that next week when I get back from my hockey tournament.

Please submit your lists bu copying and pasting from your REVIEW section.