Learning vocabulary is crucial to speak a new language, you don’t need to learn thousands of words before your first attempt to speak.
Actually, you can communicate in the early stages of your learning language journey if you are learning from the right teachers.
Having said that, you also need to work on a regular basis to grow your vocabulary size.
You don’t need to take lots of time to learn new words if you have the right mindset.
Regardless of the plan that you have, apps will make a great contribution to your learning.
You don’t need to study like this was in the 80s, you just need to have a passion for learning and take full advantage of the technology we have in our hands to improve your English vocabulary.
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10 Ways to Improve your English Vocabulary
Sometimes it is hard to remember how not knowing many words in English feels but one thing that I do remember is that the more words that I knew, the more I could understand spoken English.
That thought made me do a lot of things to learn new words.
These are some of the best recommendations to Improve your English Vocabulary:
Keep a Vocabulary Notebook
It is impossible to remember all new words that you read or hear, so try to record all the new vocabulary.
If you are old school like me, you could write new words in a notebook but if you live in 2018, you might find these 5 applications useful for keeping a word journal.
Which Words Should I learn?
If you start watching films, listening to music, or reading books, you will find lots of new words and you might try to figure out which ones might be useful and which might not.
If you want an easy way out of such a problem, check the New General Service List, a document in which words are ranked by frequency. I wish somebody had told me that when I was a beginner.
Have fun While You Seek
I still don’t know how people find studying English boring, If you really like English, you just have to start listening to or reading about your topic of interest.
I bet it is not that difficult to stay motivated if you follow this recommendation.
successful Repetition
The best way to remember new words is by continuing to read and listening to whatever you are reading and listening to now.
You need to see a word plenty of times so that words move from short-term memory to your long-term memory. If you come across a word several times in written or spoken English, you will learn that such a word is useful.
Set Goals
You need to become an active learner and write the number of words you want to work on in a day. If you learned five words a day, how many words would you learn by the end of the week, month and year? Do the math, that’s a lot of words.
Visual Association
I bet that you have heard that phrase that says that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Pictures can help greatly, Try to keep some pictures in your phone that help you remember new words.
If you have a picture of a park, you might remember words like tree, lake, birds, and picnic among many others.
Use Mobile Apps
Now there are more resources to learn new vocabulary, try some mobile that will drastically grow and improve your vocabulary.
Memrise, Duolingo, and Quizlet can help you with that.
Build upon the Knowledge that You already Have
If you already know the word mother, you should try learning the words such as father, uncle, cousin, aunt, and the rest of the words to talk about family relationships
Be Curious
I simply don’t understand when people see a new word and they don’t really what it means. There are other people who see a song title and they want to know what it means.
If scenario number #2 represents you, you will succeed eventually.
Never Give Up
There is no perfect plan to help you grow and improve your vocabulary, regardless of which one of these recommendations you are following, don’t stop learning.
17 Apps for Learning English
There are a surprising number of apps to help people learn English. You probably already have used them or continue using them.
Google Play Books
If you study English, I bet that you must be enrolled in a reading skills or literature class, if that’s so, you need to start using Google Play books which is pre-installed in most android devices.
One of the greatest advantages of using Google Play Books is the free books that you can find in Google Playstore, another advantage is that you can read books in EPUB format which makes reading on your smartphone a delightful experience.
Finally, make sure to stop by Feedbooks to get hundreds of free books.
MusixMatch
It is time to make learning fun, I bet that you like, so start checking the lyrics of your favorite songs.
Listening to songs in English will improve your listening skills greatly and it is learning while you do what you love.
Busuu
Don’t just learn languages, fall in love with them! Language learning couldn’t be more fun and easy than with busuu.
Learn English with the help of over 70 million international native speakers who are learning, practicing and teaching at busuu.
Babbel
Learn English with Babbel, the app that’s helped millions speak with confidence.
Developed by a team of Europe’s best language experts, Babbel makes language lessons CLICK with you and STICK with you.
Duolingo
Learning with Duolingo is fun and addictive. Earn points for correct answers, race against the clock, and level up.
Their bite-sized lessons are effective, and we have proof that it works.
Linguee
Most people like to use translators to verify meanings and translations but Linguee is a great tool because it helps you see how a word or phrase is used in several contexts by providing examples that come from all over the web
Player FM
Podcasts are a new thing but they are not that popular in many parts of the words but podcasts can help you learn more while you are on the go.
There are thousands of podcasts available and they cover almost every popular topic out there.
If you are a beginner, you should start with podcasts targeted for English Language Learners.
Quizlet
Quizlet is used for teachers around the world but learners can use it as a vocabulary notebook, you can register words that you want to learn and their meanings, you also can listen to the pronunciation of new words and play games. It is a great tool.
Youtube
You can use, YouTube to learn English if you pick the right channels because having the right channels is like having your personal tutor 24 hours and 7 days a week. Don’t you know where to start? My list of the best Youtube Channels that Every English Language Learner should suscribe to is right here
Google Translate (Offline Version)
This is probably the most used translator and it comes with an offline option to use it when you don’t have an internet connection.
You can translate text, handwriting, photos, and speech in over 100 languages with the Google Translate app.
Sounds Pronunciation App
The Pronunciation App helps you study, practise and play with pronunciation wherever you are.
Based on the best-selling book ‘Sound Foundations’ by pronunciation expert Adrian Underhill, the app features a fully-interactive Phonemic Chart for both British and American English.
Memrise
Memrise is a language and vocabulary learning platform. It is focused on the combination of memorizing techniques and entertaining materials to make language mastering easy and funny.
Some of the benefits of using memrise are:
- Responsiveness and mobile versions of the service to learn anytime and anywhere
- Competition-based learning for greater motivation and interest;
Suitable for group learning, so valued by teachers. - Learning technique is adapted to every user individually
- Possibility to act as a teacher and create your own learning materials.
Busuu
Busuu is the world’s largest community for language learning, providing courses in 12 different languages on web and mobile to more than 90 million learners worldwide.
Their language courses have been carefully crafted by in-house educational experts who work tirelessly to optimise the way languages are taught.
Busuu is available on both mobile and web so you can fit your language learning to your busy schedule.
Their app is available for iPhone, iPad and Android.
Beelingua App
Beelinguapp for iPhone and Android shows the exact same text in two languages; side by side. At the same time, it is an audiobook, and with its unique karaoke reading you follow the audio in the text on both sides.
with Karaoke Audio Reading, You can:
- Read as you listen to a native language speaker
- Follow our original audio recorded by a native language speaker to know how the words are pronounced.
Lyrics Training
LyricsTraining is an easy and fun way to learn and improve your foreign languages skills, through the music videos and the lyrics of your favorite songs.
LyricsTraining also has a special Karaoke mode that lets you sing and enjoy the full lyrics.
Learn new vocabulary and expressions and strengthen your grammar by completing lyrics. Improve your listening and comprehension skills quickly in a cool way.
Many teachers love to use it in class and recommend it to their students.
Rosetta Stone
With a variety of speaking-focused lessons and features, instantaneous pronunciation feedback with TruAccent, a track record of getting people speaking confidently and a near-five star rating in the app store, the award-winning Rosetta Stone mobile app is the best way to learn new languages.
Related Information
These are some resources that you might find interesting
- 13 Great Websites for English Language Students
- 17 Best Podcasts For Learning English
- 3 Vocabulary Profilers to Analyze Texts Effectively
- 10 Amazing Websites to Improve your Listening Skills
- 16 Awesome YouTube Channels for Learning English
- 34 Great Ways to Teach English with Technology
- 5 Great Apps to Keep a Vocabulary Notebook
- 21 Best Free Apps for Teachers
- 10 ways to Use Mobile Phones to Teach English