Vocabulary Booster

Have you ever tried to count how many new words you tend to remember during, let’s say, ten days? Unless you are horribly meticulous, you probably don’t count the number of newly-acquired and yet awkwardly-used lexical units.

Frankly speaking, you don’t need this. First of all, it’s pointless. Even if you have learnt all the words they have in Muller’s dictionary, it doesn’t mean that they have become your active vocabulary. Second of all, you don’t need to do this with Muller’s dictionary…do it with your own! Create it using this resource, for example. It allows you to make your own dictionaries and study the words YOU like and YOU need. The tests provided will give you control over what you have remembered well and what requires more drilling.

Memorizing and Activating

Nothing is easy. Memorizing the words is no exception. It does require some work. Even if you are lucky enough to have fantastic memory, you might remember the meaning of the word but you might never “activate” it. Memorizing should not be just about the meaning, it’s more about remembering and understanding of how to use the word. So, the first step on the way to enhance the vocabulary is to understand the meaning, the second is to remember the context in which the word can be used and the third is to apply the newly acquired word to life!

Memorizing
I. Flip cards
Write the word on one side and the meaning/translation/collocation with this word on the other. Use the cards each day for several days to firmly learn the words. Don’t overload yourself with too long a word list!

II. Pictures
Draw small pictures that show the meaning of the word if you can. Make a funny picture – it will help the brains to memorize the word easier. We tend to retain more “unusual” pieces of information than the “usual” ones.

III. Opposites
Learn words with opposite meanings (antonyms) and words with similar meanings (synonyms) together. For instance, learn thick/thin (antonyms) and thick/fat (synonyms) at the same time. It will be easier to remember similar and opposite things because they “stick together” in our minds.

IV. Running list
Note down all the new words while you read, do a listening exercise, watch a video etc. Later on define all the words and write down the definition in front of each of them. When the list is ready, you can use it as a kind of flash card. Fold it and check if you remember the definitions. Fold it the other way and see if you remember the words.