Using the Dictionary for Expanded Vocabulary
Learning Language and New Words
Dec 20, 2008 Nicholas Klacsanzky
The power of language is difficult to express fully without an expansive vocabulary. There are handbooks and exercises that aid students of language, but there is a simple method that ensures your progress in understanding and acquiring new words: making the dictionary your best friend. Any poet, writer or author will tell you that they use the dictionary frequently, and hold dear its knowledge. You too can establish a momentum of learning through a residual effort with your dictionary, checking and researching whenever a question arises.
Place Around the House
In the most conspicuous places in your residence, set your dictionary. This way you can never bypass it, unlike the normal behavior of sliding it in a storage cabinet, or hidden shelf. Lounge areas, kitchens, door way entrances (where you place your keys, mail, etc.) and bedrooms (preferably on a table near your bed) are all locations that are used frequently. After a while, having a dictionary in these habitual places will make glancing at your favorite reference material a regular occurrence.
Whenever You Hear or Find a New Word
Do not delay in knowing the meaning or spelling of a word you want to research. If you leave it to another time, you will forget the word, and once again be confused (or even worse, learn a bad habit). With vocabulary knowledge, the time is always now.
Look Up a New Word Every Day
Schedule yourself every day to learn one new word. It could be before you go to sleep, or when you wake up, or when you have a break from work. Be sure to read all the meanings and etymology carefully. See each word as a new world, having a life of its own.
At Home, and Abroad
The dictionary you place around your residence is more interesting if it is unabridged. The larger and more imposing a dictionary is, the more epic and exciting it is to look up a word. A huge dictionary can seem like a tome of knowledge, a special book. Whereas when you travel out of your home, carry a pocket dictionary wherever you go. These little dictionaries won’t provide every obscure and odd word you want to find, but they will have most of the language you need in writing in essay or giving a speech. It is fun to peek in your pocket dictionary when traversing on the bus, or waiting on a bench, or sitting in a restaurant.
Making Games
Those who think they are ‘walking dictionaries,’ test out their skills by randomly turning to any page, and choosing an opaque word for them to figure out the meaning. Also, a game by the name of Balderdash, using unheard of words and making up meanings for them, while seeing if they are real, is a popular game among dictionary enthusiasts. In addition, writing a page in words starting all with one chosen letter is an entertaining exercise (then, your dictionary will definitely become your best friend).
A dictionary does not have to be a dry slab of papers. It can be a portal to understanding how language works, how one can speak more proficiently, and how to express oneself to a greater extent in creativity. A dictionary can reveal a whole realm of literature that once you could not fathom, or allow a speech or an essay to flow with eloquence. On making the dictionary your best friend, the heights of writing, reading and speaking are unlimited.
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