build my vocabulary

How I did it: You can do this is by reading.  It's a lifelong endeavor, and perhaps not something you can even do consciously.

You also do this by persuing your natural interests.  Your vocabulary will naturally expand as you seek to learn more about the thing you are interested in.  Your vocabulary will grow when you aren't intentionally trying to expand it.

Talking to people will also build your vocabulary.  Consider how a baby learns words.  It seems that it doesn't matter at all whether the people you talk to are "smart" (whatever that means) or not.  They could have a very limited vocabulary (for example, if they are just learning english), but by simple virtue of the fact that they have unique life experiences, they may use new words, perhaps from another language.  They may use words you already know, but they might use them in some unexpected way.

It doesn't matter how exactly you go about expanding your vocabulary.  It's the "thrill of the chase" that will inspire you to learn more, not the specific method of learning you start out with.

Lessons & tips: 1.  When you come to a word you don't know, don't simply internally say to yourself, "don't know it... will move on."  Look it up or ask for its meaning.  Force yourself to get over the embarassment of asking.  Nobody knows everything.

2.  Discontinue television viewing.

3.  Shakespeare, Swift, Chaucer, Milton.  You may think that you "just aren't interested" in these people or their writing.  Give up on the notion that your disinterest in them was a personal choice of yours.  Acquiant yourself with the idea that beginning in childhood, you were, dare I say, brainwashed, debriefed, reprogrammed systematically and purposefully.  You were mentally reduced to a level that made you unable to concentrate very long on anything, even when you wanted to.  The knowledge contained within the works of these authors is so powerful that if the masses grasped its full gravity, all aspects of daily life would be dramatically different.  An explosive growth in vocabulary would be only the beginning.

Resources: an old english dictionary
www.m-w.com

Nov 28, 2008, 08:47PM PST | 2 comments | 2 cheers