Read effectively, expand vocabulary
What’s a simple yet effective way to grow one’s foreign language vocabulary? Many, including ourselves, will answer with the tried and tested method of reading, and so we’ve drawn up a few suggestions in this blog that could help streamline that activity a little bit.
Read what you want
You might be inclined to think that you should only read from professional and reputable sources, like editorial columns or well-respected literary books. While that perception isn’t wrong, a perspective often ignored in this line of reasoning is the fact that unless you have a legitimate interest in those subjects, forcing yourself to read them would turn what could have been an enjoyable, light-hearted activity into an arduous chore.
Instead, how about this alternative — selectively reading only the subjects you are interested in? You’ll still get to encounter a variety of new, topic-specific lexicon. Memorizing the meanings to new terms and phrases will be far easier, as you’re likely to see them repeated often within the same genre of writing. Most importantly, reading about things you like will ensure that the activity remains pleasant enough to you, as well as keep the likelihood of procrastination down on the low.
Interested in Western superheroes? Pick up a copy of DC’s Batman or Marvel’s Iron Man and learn the nuances of conversational American English, with an added dose of fictional science and technological jargon. For extended reading, follow any number of digital entertainment websites that report frequently on news related to the franchise, like new comic issues, movie adaptations, merchandise lines and more. On top of getting familiar with the lingo, you’ll also get a working knowledge of the interrelated American pop culture industries.
Read and review
No matter what background you hail from or what foreign language you’re trying to learn, the tools you use to aid your process of language acquisition would most definitely consist of the following:
- A bilingual dictionary, serving as a translation tool, allowing you to grasp foreign language terms and concepts in your mother tongue
- A search engine, giving you the context and additional information that a dictionary isn’t able to provide
Depending on your literacy level and the difficulty of the text, you might find that you have to pause your reading on every few words or so just to look something up. A good habit to get into would be to make a note of all the difficult words as they come, alongside their pronunciations and meanings — even though this makes the overall process slower. But not only does physically writing something down help your brain better retain the information, you won’t have to look up the same thing a second time when you see it again. What’s more, you’re sure to find less and less use of this activity as you continue to progress in your foreign language acquisition.
When you’re done with the text, you should take a moment to process what you’d just read by recalling its important points, key arguments, and newly discovered words and phrases, before proceeding on to another one. Again, this helps to reinforce your memory, and ensures that all the fresh information will be able to stick around for a longer time in your head.
Read with us, FluentUp
While the points in this blog article were more or less about an independent learning activity, it’s never too late or too soon to consider picking up an online foreign language course. Our native-speaking teachers’ expertise means that they’ll certainly be able to make the best reading resource recommendations to you. Check our website here for an inkling of the sort of language courses we have on offer!