Scribd
Upload
109 views8 pages

Vocabulary Building Techniques: A Guide To Learn The Words That Only Natives Use

The document provides techniques for building vocabulary as a non-native English speaker. It recommends creating a vocabulary bank or list to actively learn new words. This helps consolidate learning and forces concentration on individual word meanings and aspects. The techniques rely on categorizing new words and phrases in a database. One basic technique is creating lists with translations, such as pairs of family member terms and their Spanish equivalents. While simple, this approach shows early results and motivation to continue learning vocabulary.

Uploaded by

Max Ahumada
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
109 views8 pages

Vocabulary Building Techniques: A Guide To Learn The Words That Only Natives Use

The document provides techniques for building vocabulary as a non-native English speaker. It recommends creating a vocabulary bank or list to actively learn new words. This helps consolidate learning and forces concentration on individual word meanings and aspects. The techniques rely on categorizing new words and phrases in a database. One basic technique is creating lists with translations, such as pairs of family member terms and their Spanish equivalents. While simple, this approach shows early results and motivation to continue learning vocabulary.

Uploaded by

Max Ahumada
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 8

max english.

tips

VOCABULARY BUILDING
TECHNIQUES
A guide to learn the words that only natives use

max english

INTRODUCTION
Broadly speaking, vocabulary is one of the three pillars of any spoken language. We assign words to specific objects
or concepts. Then, with grammar, we organize these words in a way that makes sense. And last, pronunciation is
how we turn these ordered sequence (grammar) of words (vocabulary) into sounds that can be understood by the
listener. Thats how we speak.

vocabulary + grammar + pronunciation

language we can hear and speak


One thing is the vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation you naturally and progressively learn from the day your
brain starts to absorb language. But one very different thing is the language you start to learn as a human being
who is past his or her childhood. This is when the following questions start to puzzle millions of people around the
world who have the desire to speak a second language:
1- How do I learn new words and not forget them?
2- How do I learn all these grammatical structures to speak perfectly?
3- How do I speak fast like natives and lose my accent?
2

max english

In this guide, Im going to walk you through three vocabulary learning techniques to tackle the first question: How
do I learn new words and not forget them?
This works for learninig the most essential pieces of vocabulary in English, like animal names or days of the
week, but its specially useful for acquiring advanced vocabulary; more precisely native speakers vocabulary,
which is the vocabulary that very few non-native English speakers actually use.

max english

VOCABULARY BANK
Keeping a vocabulary bank or vocabulary list is critical for a number of reasons; three of the most important ones being:
We can use it for reference in the future.
We can use it for reviewing, which will further
help us consolidate the learned vocabulary.
and most importantly, building a vocabulary
bank will force us to concentrate in each individual piece of vocabulary, because we will actively
explore their key aspects of meaning. And this
leads to an enhanced memory.
The three vocabulary learning techniques I will
teach to you in this guide rely on vocabulary banks.
We want these new phrases and words -or at least
a portion of them- to exist somewhere in the form
of a database (i.e. in a text file in your computer).
4

max english

ACTIVE VOCABULARY VS PASSIVE VOCABULARY


Your active vocabulary is the body of vocabulary that you can
use spontaneously at any moment. Im sure you can say I
love reading books without even thinking because all those
four words are in the core of your active vocabulary. But,
when you want to say something that requires the use of
more advanced vocabulary or when you are talking about a
topic youre not very familiar with, you will most likely struggle to remember the words that you want to say. You will stop
and go uhmmmm more often that other times. You might
even admit it and say what is this word Im looking for? or
even I dont know how to say this in English. And then if
someone guesses the words youre trying to say you will say
oh, yes, that one! and youll feel a great relief.

passive
vocabulary

active
vocabulary
This image represents active
vocabulary as being -metaphorically- at the front of the brain,
meaning easily available. Passive vocabulary is at the back,
and therefore requires greater
memory effort to use.

max english

When you interrupt your flow of speech to retrieve these elusive words from
your memory, youre trying to bring vocabulary from your passive vocabulary to your active vocabulary. Your passive vocabulary is comprised of all the
words and phrases that you can understand, but hardly ever use.
When non-native English speakers go from hardly ever using their English to
using it with great frequency, their speaking skills will quickly improve because
they will have the opportunity to engage a big chunk of vocabulary they otherwise would have had the chance to use.
This means that their progress isnt just marked by how many new words they
learn; a big part of the reason their speaking skills are improved is because
their active vocabulary has inflated with formerly passive vocabulary words.
However, if they suddenly stop using the language, their active vocabulary will
gradually deflate and the opposite effect will take place: some of the active vocabulary will become passive vocabulary.

max english

METHOD #1
This is the simplest and less novel of the 3 vocabulary building techniques

cousin: primo

Im teaching in this guide, and for this reason its also the most widely

aunt: tia

used. Its generally used at the beginning stage of the learning process,

uncle: tio

therefore its almost always done by with translation. The list to the right

nephew/niece: sobrino/a

is what it looks like (This is exemplified with Spanish equivalents).

grandmother: abuela

A beginning English student will see result from doing this activity almost immediately, and this encourages them to
keep learning vocabulary.
Although its not essential that you do this, a lot people like arranging words by semantic groups, like this:
Farm animals

Farm animals

Farm animals

cow: vaca

cow: vaca

cow: vaca

horse: caballo

horse: caballo

horse: caballo

pig: puerco

pig: puerco

pig: puerco

goat: cabra

goat: cabra

goat: cabra

roast: gallo

roast: gallo

roast: gallo

max english

You might also like