Tips to Improve your Vocabulary

HOW TO ENRICH YOUR VOCABULARY  

Words, written or spoken, are thoughts. You need vocabulary to express your thoughts or to understand those of others. You can express your thoughts without grammar but you cannot do so without words. Even illiterate persons appreciate the importance of vocabulary though their concept of vocabulary may not be so “rich” as the literate persons perceive it.

When you speak or write, the listener/reader is impressed by the richness and skilful use of your vocabulary and knowingly or unknowingly judges your capabilities. The other way, rich vocabulary helps you to effortlessly comprehend the thoughts expressed no sooner they strike to the mind. Rich vocabulary is very important “to understand” or “to be understood”. Given the equal professional knowledge amongst the peers, a better vocabulary stand an individual in good stead. These few words should be enough to change the perception of the persons who underestimate the importance of a rich vocabulary. Needless to state that a rich vocabulary is a valuable asset for success.

It cannot be gainsaid that formal education, one’s mother tongue, medium of instructions in school and college education plays vital role in building up vocabulary but these do not guarantee a good vocabulary. What guarantees a good vocabulary is one’s consistent effort irrespective of the factors mentioned before. Nobody has missed the bus. Building up a rich vocabulary is a quest, full of consistent efforts. Not only that, lexical wealth of complacent persons would diminish with passage of time if they do not nurture it.

Tips to enrich the vocabulary:

(1) BUY A GOOD DICTIONARY:

Computer and Mobile have wonderful lexical capabilities with lots of convenience. However, they cannot substitute a good dictionary for an avid “pupil” of vocabulary. Buy a good dictionary published by a reputed publisher and use it.

(2) READ:

Research has proved that reading, with an eye on improving vocabulary, is an important tool to enrich word power. This equally applies for mother tongue or “second language”.  For all round development of vocabulary, read on variety of subjects from various sources e.g. news papers, magazines, fictions, non-fictions, etc.

(3) JOT DOWN IN A DIARY:

As soon as you come across an unknown word, try to infer the meaning of the word from the context in which it is used and then refer to the dictionary and jot down the word with its meaning in a diary.  Prepare the diary with a separate page for each alphabetic letter – like a telephone diary. This helps avoid duplication and easy reference in future.

(4) LOOK INTO ETYMOLOGY:

While looking for the meaning (definition) of an unknown word in the dictionary look into the etymology of the word. Good dictionaries narrate how the word is originated with its root, suffix, prefix, plural, verb forms, etc after giving the meaning of the word. This helps to relate the unknown word with the cognate words and memorize them. The etymology of most of the words have interesting tale-tell story reinforcing the meaning in your memory.

(5) USE OF A NEW WORD LEARNT:

Find out how you can use the new word learnt in place of the words you are presently using. Whenever, possible use the new words and see yourself how they make your expression more effective.

(6) DEVISE MNEMONICS:

Mnemonics are tricks to help remember the word, particularly when it is ticklish or confusing with its cognates. These tricks serve the purposes best when they are self-devised. Many nouns have irregular plural e.g. goose, plural geese and many such others. When singular and plural are confusing (e.g. foot - feet, goose – geese) a simple mnemonics to member which is singular and which is plural is: one has an o in its spelling so the noun with an o is singular because number one has an o. Depending upon your resourcefulness, you can devise mnemonics based on rhyme, logic, spelling, pronunciation, relation, events, celebrities, etc.

(7) BUY A THESAURAS:

If you love dictionary, you would also love thesaurus. Unlike dictionaries, they provide synonyms, antonyms, etc. While a dictionary defines a word, a thesaurus gives a choice of words for each entry. A thesaurus is helpful for selection of exact words that convey the message in a better way. This helps  appreciate and differentiate  “subtle shades” of meaning of different words apparently conveying similar message e.g. the verbs to kill, to murder, to assassinate, to execute, etc suggest that one person causes death of an another one but each verb has specific meaning and context.

(8) BUY BOOKS ON VOCABULARY / WORD POWER:

Such books are also helpful in enriching your vocabulary. In some such books, the words are listed with its meaning. Remembering them and using them in right context makes it bit difficult as they are in a listing format, not used in a contextual text. While in some books, the words are grouped “concept wise” and used in text (some time in an amusing anecdote) explaining the meaning.  Such a presentation is very helpful in sustaining our interest in reading such books.

(9) USE ELECTRONIC SERVICES: TV, INTERNET, EMAIL AND SOCIAL MEDIA:

Information Technology has made ocean of knowledge available with just few clicks away. Sign up “A Word a day in your inbox” email, Play Word Games and Quizzes, Get Lost in Crossword puzzles. Challenge yourself with vocabulary test and evaluate how much your efforts have paid. Watching TV programmes (news, fictions, movies etc) with subtitles of the audio is also useful for developing the vocabulary. While watching, jot down the difficult words and explore them after the programme is over.

(10) STUDY ROOTS, PREFIXES, SUFFIXES:

Learn roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Many words in the English language are derived from Latin or Greek roots. Many words are derived from the same root. Concomitantly, if you know the root, you can easily understand and remember the meaning of the word derived from that root. Greek root hydro (water) has given: Hydrogen, Hydrophobia, hydroponic, hydrotherapy, hydraulics, hydroplane, dehydrate, hydrosphere, etc. Knowledge of roots coupled with the knowledge of suffixes and prefixes are crucial for building up a rich vocabulary. Scientific and technological words are mainly coined from Greek or Latin roots with suggestive suffixes or prefixes.

It is found that most of the persons are facing embarrassing situations during each stage of life for want of a sufficient vocabulary. Rather than equipping ourselves, we find out some soft option – consult a friend or colleague, refer to dictionary, surf the internet, knowingly tolerate the linguistic errors, etc. Now stop it. It is never late to mend.

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IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Language is the most important means of communication. Amongst various languages a person learns during life time, mother tongue is rightfully credited as a repository of culture. Common mother tongue conjures up intuitive feeling of fraternity, nationalism, affection, and sense of belonging. However, with increasing globalization, international trade, computerization and particularly, with the increasing trend of “looking west” amongst young generation in our country, English language has assumed a great importance. Some of us might label English language as vestige of British Empire but it is a fact that it spreading its tentacles too far, too deep, too fast in all walks of life. 

Whatever tag we attach to English, it is a stark reality that “average” educated Indians are bothered with their poor knowledge of English though their poor knowledge of mother tongue itself might not be bothering that much. This trend is seen in most of the countries, particularly, in all developing countries.

Why English is so important?

1. Numbers of speaker and Nos of countries:

One can observe from the table given below that amongst the top most spoken languages in the world, English ranks at 2^nd Number but when its geographical spread is factored in, it is merits the top notch. 

Rank	Language	Speakers (in Millions)		Total Speakers	Nos of Countries where English is spoken (as native or second language)
		Native	as Second Language
1	Chinese	897	193	1090	4
2	English	371	611	983	90
3	Hindi	329	215	544	4
4	Spanish	436	91	527	25
5	Arabic	290	132	422	29

Though, English ranks 2^nd in terms of speakers and Chinese language is gaining importance on international arena, English is and will be the “lingua franca” of the world. If you are looking beyond your country, you have to be proficient in English. There are about 196 countries in the world. Of these, 90 countries use English as their native or second language and 53 countries as their Official Language. 

2. Universal Acceptability:

English Language is the commonly used language for International Trade, Politics, Travels, Sports, Scientific Research and Education. The countries where English is even not the second language offers university education in English to attract international students.

3. Better Prospects for job in own country:

A person with better fluency in English has better opportunities for job in home country, particularly where English is a second language. Besides, research has proved that better English also fattens the pay packet. In all the countries, where English is the language of commerce and administration, person with fluent English are sought after. 

4. Overseas Education and job:

For migration to developed English speaking countries, for education or job, proficiency in English is more important than the applicant’s performance in his college education. In fact, at times poor knowledge of English becomes obstacle for otherwise a brilliant youth to migrate. Some countries where English is even not a second language, offers degree courses in English. This vouches for the importance of English in international arena. 

5. Store House and Engine of Knowledge:

English Language is the Store House of literature and scientific knowledge and engine that carries the latest research across the countries. Maximum books, magazines, journals, research papers, news papers, etc are published in English. International TV Channels relay their progarmmes mostly in English.

6.  Cobweb of Digital World:

Given above are the traditional reasons which you will find quite convincing but the latest entrant in the subject matter deserves more consideration than all others put together: Our omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent friend called Information Technology. Of all the content hosted on internet, 52.00% content is hosted in English language. Mr Runner Up, the Russian language content, is only 6.60%, very very far behind without any hope to come up in vicinity in the ladder. English language is dominating the digital field without any apparent challenge in near future, though other languages are popping up on the net. As such, English will rule the roost forever as it has no challenge even from the most spoken Chinese language which represents only 2% web content. World has witnessed unimaginable capabilities of Information Technology and yet more to come. These all will be delivered through various software, apps, tools, programmes, Internet of Things, Social Media Channels, Artificial Intelligence (and Terms yet to be coined) mainly in English. 

7. Easy to learn:

Easiness of learning any foreign language depends upon how closely the mother tongue of the learner is related with the language to be learnt. This closeness is derived from the origin of both these languages from the same language family. English language and all the Indian languages originate from Indo-European Language Family. As a result, for an Indian, learning English is easy. Belonging to this family, there are 430 languages spoken in most of the developed countries. Besides, a person who knows English can easily learn other European languages easily.

8. Dynamic and Progressive:

English language is flexible in its approach to adopt and assimilate new words and styles from other languages. This character of the language makes it richer and more adaptable to new words, technical jargons and terminology. In each new edition of the Oxford Dictionary, more than 1000 new and approved words are added in it. Burgeoning channels for communication through various platforms of internet and telephony, young generation is exploiting this flexibility of English language to the extent possible. 

9. Role of English in our freedom struggle:

Our great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallbhbhai Patel, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Subhash Chandra Bose were never hesitant to use English though they all loved and respected vernacular languages. By the 1920s, English language became language of resurgence of nationalism, and political awakening amongst the educated Indians. The great social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy suggested that English education would propagate liberal thinking. English was planted during colonial era of Britishers. Our great leaders made them quit our mother land but their legacy of English language is flourishing, and it is not without reasons. 

10. Propagation of our scriptures and heritage:

The objective of this write-up is to highlight the importance of English language in a multilinguistic county like ours and not to glorify English language. It is important to note that English language helped our gifted orators and authors to make our scriptures and heritage known beyond the shores of India, in the land “Seven Seas Away”.

11. In search of a National Language:

There are 22 recognized official languages in India. Efforts for giving Hindi (written in Devnagari script) the status of National language have not materialsed. It is difficult to summarize the Official Act here. In brief, English Language enjoys the same status for all the official purposes of the Central Government. More importantly, looking to the aversion of some States towards Hindi, the status of English language is not going to diminish, at least in the current century.

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