Creating and growing your vocabulary is probably the #1 goal many language-learners have. The word ‚create‘ and ‚grow‘ are not a coincidence. You have needed many years and a lot of practice growing a lush garden of words in your native language. You strive to have that same choice of words to be able to express yourself in exactly the same way in the second language.
Is that possible? If so, how? How can you learn enough words in the new language to be able to express yourself in exactly the same way you do in your native language? You can find quite a few reports, blogs and even books which cover this topic. There are just as many opinions about this as there are articles written.
Regardless of what you have read up to now, there is some good news and some bad news about growing your vocabulary. The good news is that there are many simple methods to do this. The bad news? YOU have to DO it. And you have to actively do it on a regular basis. It doesn’t happen on its own. There is no button to push and it happens automatically. That is just hard reality. You have to tend to your own garden if you want your vocabulary to grown. If you want to become physically fit, you can’t do that by sitting on the sofa all day. You have to get up and move. Growing a vocabulary in a new language is no different. You have to invest some effort.
More good news is you can couple these learning methods with your own personal learning style to create a great learning environment where your vocabulary can flourish and grow. You can cultivate, water and tend to your language garden growing more and more words and expressions. Let’s take a look at some of these simple methods and add a new twist to them.
The most important part of learning a language and more specifically growing vocabulary is having as much contact to the language / the words as possible. You can start with an old friend: writing words on small cards with the translation on the back and an added example sentence. This is nothing new yet when working with your learning style, this old friend can be extremely effective. The new twist would be to use all 5 of your senses when doing this. How can you see, hear, smell, taste and feel a new word? I will write about it in the next Learning Journal. Until then, brainstorm some of your own ideas about how this could be done. See you soon!
