How to Improve Vocabulary
Most learners complain that they get stuck while speaking English as they forget some words. They think that they have weak vocabulary. On the other hand, they learned thousands of vocabulary words at school but are unable to put those words into structures. Let’s understand it with an easy example: An engineer has all the elements to construct a building, but he doesn’t have a map; how would he construct the building? So, you might have observed a beginner saying, “I wish meet you Lahore*.” He probably wants to say: I wish to meet you in Lahore. That means he has the vocabulary but doesn’t know how to put the words into sequence. Most names in the English language, such as “laptop,” “mobile,” “form,” “book,” “ticket,” “bus,” etc., are known even to illiterate people, but they can’t talk in English. So, the first step you need to take is to learn the structures based on the vocabulary you learn.
Never Learn the Translation of a Single Word
Some students learn vocabulary from Urdu to English, for example, “construct” – but they are unable to use other relevant words in structures, such as “constricting,” “constructed,” “constructive,” etc. We know that each word follows a pattern. Look at the last example: an adjective and a different structure:
1) “Your role is constructive.” (Here, it’s an adjective.)
2) “Your constructive role impressed me.” (Here, it is an adjective.)
3) “You are a good constructor”. (Here, it is a noun.)
4) ” You are a good construction master.” (Here, it is a noun.)
5) “You are constructing a house.” (Here, it’s a verb.)
6) “Some constructing material was found.” (Here, it is used to make a compound noun, and may be taken as adjective as ‘swimming-suit’. The nature of suit is to have ‘swimming-related-attributes.)
We see that all structures are differently organized. My point is that we need to focus on each type of structure. This is the only way to use vocabulary. Learn relevant vocabulary.
Avoid Learning Irrelevant Vocabulary
Some people start learning words given by teachers without looking at their daily needs. They should make a list of words, events, or situations they come across every day, learn the examples, and then learn relevant words. For journalists, vocabulary collection from the field or newspaper is recommended. I recommend learning the most frequent words first and then going for specific vocabulary. The beginners can use vegetables if they do not know the meaning of potato, tomato or onion. They can simply say: “bought some vegetables”. This philosophy has been discussed by John I Saeed in his book related to Semantics studies.
Sometimes, we get blank though we know the words. That’s a psychological issue with many people that they forget even Urdu words while having a debate. Remember, peaceful mind generates more ideas and retrieve good vocabulary. In my coming article, I will be highlighting these issues. Moreover, I will talk about how to learn the most frequent words and what those words are. In short, without practice, you can’t learn anything. If you are willing to improve your structures, follow the Learning Structure series based on categories on this website.
Thank you for guidance.