People usually complain about the same issue: I cannot learn the English vocabulary due to its vastness. ‘I always find new words; this is a never-ending story’ said one of my students. I do not blame him for his distress. English can prove challenging for learners in terms of vocabulary memorization. English contains near 1 million words; however, you can relax, nobody (human) can learn by heart that colossal quantity of words.
In this article, I am going to show you how it is possible to learn vocabulary subconsciously and effortlessly. Yes! I am not swindling you. All you must do is to adopt the proper methodology and that is what I am going to offer you next. My methodological proposal is based on the next 5 premises:
1-Words should not be learned out of context. Thus, words should always be part of a sentence. In this way, you will unconsciously associate the word with its usage.
2-Words should constantly be used. Once you stop making use of them, they will gradually disappear. I know, that’s unfair, complain to God, not to me. Consequently, if you want to preserve Shakespeare’s language, do not stop reading the newspaper or watching series or movies in English.
3-Be in touch with English-speaking people. If you have never traveled to any English-speaking country, use social networks to make new friendships based on English as a means of communication.
4-On a daily basis, attempt to find an opening, at least 20 minutes, to review vocabulary lists.
5-Never give up on looking up in the dictionary and taking notes of the new words learned.
As you can realize, there are no magical tricks for vocabulary. Even so, if you follow my methodology, you will be doing something useful to keep your vocabulary as intact as possible. Remember by heart: WORDS ALWAYS IN CONTEXT.
Jess Kuicast, English language graduate.
