A really common question I get all the time is
"How do I learn new vocabulary?"
But more importantly
"How do I remember it?"
"What should I do?"
Well, if you ask any English teacher
they will happily tell you this
Vocabulary. It's quite easy:
watch movies in English, read books in English and listen to the radio in English
Done. Leave me alone.
Ok, that advice is fine, but, really, we all knew that
And maybe you already do those things
So, what is real advice?
Well, today I'm going to show you five real ways to improve your vocabulary
but most importantly
Remember it
Number one
We have to make the vocabulary relevant
Make a list of your aims, your goals
Why are you learning English?
What do you want to achieve with it ?
Do you want vocabulary for a holiday?
Do you want to learn job interview vocabulary so you can succeed in a job interview
It's not worth learning tons of new vocabulary
about a wide variety of topics
if actually you only talk about this one small thing
or these couple small things
For example, if your goal is to be able to talk about football in English
It's really not going to help you, if you start learning business vocabulary
because you might not use it
Think about how you'll use this new vocabulary
and find material specific to your aims
If you're trying to learn English for your job in fashion, for example
Start following fashion youtubers
People who talk about fashion, fashion magazines, follow fashion websites
Again, you have to make the vocabulary relevant to your goals
Also, that new vocabulary that you are learning, make a list of it
We'll talk about that later
Number two: listen to the Radio
Listening to the Radio in English is great
It's great for your listening and also for your speaking
Those two skills really complement each other well
But,
Here's how to make the most out of listening to the Radio
Have it playing in the background when you're walking,
when you're at the gym
when you're not really focusing on the Radio itself
You shouldn't be trying to understand 100% of the conversation, 100% of the time
That won't work
And that is fine that you don't understand everything
The focus shouldn't be on what they're saying on the Radio
The focus should be on how they are saying it
Think about the style of speech, the intonation
You're listening and like "Oh, that's how you pronounce this word"
That's how babies learn pronunciation
That's how you should learn
Like a baby.
That's the benefit that you'll get from listening to the Radio
Also, if want a recommendation of a Radio station
The one I listen to is LBC
It's a London-based Radio station
They talk about news and current events
a variety of opinions and a variety of accents
I like it
And it's all talking
so you can really practice your listening with a variety of British accents