A Strategy for Learning English Vocabulary
Here’s a very good ways of improving your vocabulary. My students use this to understand, and remember, new words when they read:
English has borrowed many words from other languages and so has many word endings (suffixes), word beginnings (prefixes) and word roots. Studying English word roots helps students understand new words without having to always take the time to look in a dictionary. For example, if you know that the Latin root “aud” means “to hear”, then you can guess that words like “audience” or “audible” have something to do with hearing. Or if you know that “dict” means “to say”, then you can guess the meanings of words like “dictation” or “predict”.
English also has prefixes such as “mono” meaning “one”, or “anti” meaning “against”, or “multi” meaning “many”. English suffixes often come in groups, such as “-or”, “-er” and “-ard” all of which describe people, for example in “teacher”, “professor”, or “wizard”.
Students can start by studying prefixes here: http://www.teacherjoe.us/Learn_English33.html. You can find other lessons including the most common roots, prefixes and suffixes at http://www.teacherjoe.us/Learn.html. Good luck!
Dang Said,
January 4, 2009 @ 7:21 pm
Hi Joe, I am an English learner from Vietnam. I have been learning this language for some years. As some vietnamese friends of mine, I often learn so many of new words and try to use them in daily conservations but sometimes I fail because I can´t recall the wanted words. I know I have a number of new words because I can read some books in English without looking up dictionary. But I may not have enough vocabulary.
I absolutely agree with you on the very good way you have proposed above. I believe that it helps much, especially in reading skill.
I wonder if you have a very good way to activate the new words or to covert them into vocabulary?
Thank you so much, first for your very good way to improve the vocabulary, and for your possible further way to have more vocabulary in advance.
Yours: Dang
teacherjoe Said,
January 6, 2009 @ 4:41 pm
Hi Dang,
You do not always have to “activate” new vocabulary. In normal language use, we only need between 1200 and 1500 words. Using those words well is perhaps the most important skill we can learn in a new language, and we learn that by practicing - speaking and writing. These 1200 to 1500 words are our “active vocabulary”. All other words are our “passive vocabulary”. We rarely need to use them, we only need to understand them.
When you are stuck in a conversation, you should try paraphrasing. Use other words to explain your meaning, rather than use the one word that you think is good. Most good communicators, no matter their language level, use the same basic words again and again and again. Specialized knowledge does require special vocabulary, but if you use the language of your own specialty every day, you will easily learn those words without much effort. Trying to use other words, outside your “active vocabulary”, is a recipe for failure.
Dang Said,
January 7, 2009 @ 12:42 pm
hi Teacher Joe,
first, I allowed myself to wish you all the best for the new year of 2009. As for me, I wish myself to see my plan through, especially for ambition to better my speaking ability.
I have listened to advices from the book called “American Accent Training” by Anna Cook that a good accent has to contain three main components: Pitch, Word Connection and Pronunciation. I have also read one post of yours regarding the experiment, carried out by a canadian university on Chinese students, of the importance of stress in sentence. I am convinced by this and try to follow the tips in each chance of speaking the language.
However I find that, apart from the factors called above, it is also very important to have enough vocabulary available. We can speak a fluent English only if you have enough vocabulary in hand. As you said, by using the same words everyday, I can´t extend the size of vocabulary in depth and width. As a result, I always have to struggle for speaking in daily conversations, although I have been learning the language for a long time (more than five years).
I think the reason that I am not able to speak well is because of lack of learning the vocabulary by heart. From now on I will attempt to use as many as new words as possible. I hope someday I can tell jokes in English with you if I visit Beijing or vice versa you come to Hanoi where I live.
By the way, I want to tell you a new experience I underwent after having read one of your joke stories (it may help others). As you know it well, the story is about a blind man who travels to Taxas. while reading. I imagined what he looked like, which movement he made, in which room he walked and so on. You know, it is unbelievable. Fantastically, I can remember all the story, all the words you have written, and can recount the tale to my sister who is learning English, too. She said it is a magical experience. Now we both let our imaginings help us recall the words we want to remember.
Thank you so much for all that you have done, are doing and will do for us, your unknown pupils.
Yours Dang,
teacherjoe Said,
January 9, 2009 @ 2:33 pm
Hi Dang,
Your story has a very important lesson in it - learning language IN CONTEXT can be magical! I hope you continue learning in this way, and continue to share your successes here!
May I quote you in my main blog? I think more people can benefit from your success if I write a new blog post using your story as an example. Let me know if you don’t mind…
Dang Said,
January 9, 2009 @ 11:05 pm
Dear teacher Joe,
as I told to you in the previous comment two days ago, I have been learning English for more than five years. No sooner had I begun the first English lesson at a language centre next to my family in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, than my father adviced that I am supposed to regularly talk with classmates. He said: “The more knowledge man shares, the more man will gain”. I myself had realized the truth in my Dad´s saying before. Thus I don´t hesitate to introduce myself to new friends in some English clubs I often visit, I remember I used to speak an uncomprehensible English, but still continued as if I had been a veteran joiner of the clubs. Some members at that time, now some of those are my close friends, occasionally remind and laugh at this one in a friendly way. In free time at home, especially when we sit around the dinner table, I am childishly willing to retell some stories in English I have read and found interesting to the beloved ones in my family although some can´t know even an English word. Sometimes, if not always, magically, they catch on to them. They understand because perhaps they have observed the movements of my face, eyes, body, hands, and above all, the feeling I try to show. I like presenting my ideas in front of crowd in spite of not always being heard, and enjoying each challenge, each difficulty and each critical comment you face in those cases. I also love writting and reporting on the political, social, economical events that happen around me everyday. As we all know, it is not simple at all to speak a new language before some strangers and it is more difficult at the beginning. But I hardly shame myself when I slip up while speaking. I think I make mistake because I am learning. I also believe that man should not be afraid of making mistakes. Whimsically man often learns much from mistakes. However man must not make the same old mistakes. In other words I love sharing and being shared at any rate. It may make a big difference for learners. I believe so.
Hence, I am also very happy to quote good sayings from others around and to be quoted. As for imagination and its helpfulness not only in learning process but also in living, I absolutely agree with you that in order to be able to speak a good English, first man must have ability to imagine that man can do it. According to your advice in a previous post, we should spend just some minutes a day to imagine that we are speaking a good English at any place and at any time. I often try to form picture of words I intend to use in my mind while speaking. Sometimes the task is easy. I just describes what I see in my head.
Once again, I am very grateful to you for your attribution to English learners like me. It helps much, for me really much. Wish you to enjoy each moment in short life.
Yours: Dang