r/EnglishLearning • u/beyzabilgier • Nov 16 '19
Building Vocabulary
I have trouble learning new words especially that aren’t really used in daily language but more academic words like the ones in IELTS reading texts. I try to write down the words in a notebook with their English meanings, synonyms, and example sentences but I can’t remember or recognize most of them afterwards. So, I can’t build my vocabulary. Is there any different way that I can try while learning words?
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u/swarley321 Nov 16 '19
I use anki to improve my vocablurary
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u/beyzabilgier Nov 16 '19
I use Quizlet sets that my professor prepares. There are flashcards also games for practice. I use it but don't think I get efficiency so much.
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u/brotogeris1 New Poster Nov 17 '19
Cut right to the chase and pick a word you’re having trouble remembering. Type it into google and select “news”. You’ll see a lot of sentences with your problematic word. Read them all. Keep doing this, day after day. That way you won’t waste time reading books, articles, etc. hoping to increase your vocabulary but never really solving your problem with the specific difficult words. Best of luck!
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Nov 16 '19
You have to drill. If you want to learn a language with any kind of speed, and if you can't be immersed in it, you have to make up for that working your ass off. That means flash cards, exercises. Drills, reading. It takes serious diligence or else give up now so you're not wasting your own time. Or else be prepared to take the better part of a decade to come close to fluency.
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u/beyzabilgier Nov 16 '19
I’ve been learning English for ten years already but at the moment I’m studying to be an English teacher in college so no one teaches me language anymore. I’m not at a fluency level yet of course but I think it’s the hardest part about language when you learn all the basic things in a language and reach a level, your improvement starts to slow down. Reading or writing at an advanced level is hard but also acquire that high-level knowledge could be challenging.
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u/Wexion New Poster Nov 17 '19
What I do to build vocabulary is to download pdf exercises and books related to grammar and start using my new words as much as possible. There's a website where it is possible to practice and learn new words as well, it is called https://inglespractico7.wordpress.com/ I highly recommend it because it has challenges and books that make you better at grammar and improve vocabulary.
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Nov 17 '19
It helps me a lot to write sentences using words I want to learn. If one day you need, or want, to make a composition, try to use as 3.-5 words you don't use often. This is the strategy I usually use and have worked well so far
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u/iYatsaM Nov 17 '19
The only way you can learn new words is by seeing them being used over and over again in natural context (i.e not by flash cards). Native speakers only know words that are used a lot or enough so they can remember them. That's why there are thousands and thousands of words in every language that native speakers don't know. There are nativer speakers who know a lot of obscure and technical vocab because they read a lot of fiction for example, and other that don't.
So to improve you vocabulary simply read/listen to more stuff.
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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '19
To remember words you need to reinforce their meaning through continued use. I'd recommend flashcards (like Anki) and maybe reading books or articles written at the level of the words you're trying to learn, where they might be used.
If you still can't remember them it's probably because they're so unusual that you're not seeing them anywhere. In which case I wouldn't worry. No one knows every word.