Why is a human vocabulary needed? How to replenish it.

21.07.2022

A lot of articles have been written about how to increase your vocabulary. However, most of them have a noticeable drawback: they talk about enriching the vocabulary as a whole, without dividing it into active and passive vocabulary. Meanwhile, if we want to make our speech expressive and convincing, it is worth focusing on expanding only the active vocabulary and on transferring a certain layer of vocabulary from passive reserve to active use. T&P talk about how to get the job done.

A sign of education

The problem of expanding the active vocabulary arises more often when learning a foreign language than in the process of using the native one. While talking in English, Italian or Chinese, we periodically find ourselves in a situation where we don’t know a specific word, we can’t find a synonym for it, and even in a roundabout way, through descriptions, comparisons and associations, we are not able to express a thought - which means we need to grab for a dictionary. It is easier with our native language: if the desired lexical unit does not come to mind, we will always find a way to get out by choosing a more or less exact equivalent for it.

We think about increasing the vocabulary within the native language if we need to impress the audience or want to impress the interlocutor with eloquence - that is, when emotions are connected to the case. An extensive vocabulary is an indicator of education and helps to raise self-esteem, and for journalists, copywriters and translators, it is also a source of income. Strategically, mastery of the word helps us express our thoughts, emotions and attitudes to life situations as accurately as possible and build effective communication.

The traditional list of recommendations for expanding vocabulary is two or three clicks away from us and wanders from blog to blog, from year to year with minimal changes. There is some truth in this list, but some of the tips already do not correlate well with the realities of today's life and with the modern way of thinking, communicating and gaining knowledge. And others seemed suspicious from the very beginning, but nevertheless continue to be presented as effective recipes. We will criticize typical tips later, but right now we’ll talk about something relevant.

Clear the area

Remember synonyms

Make it a rule to write posts on social networks, spending 10 minutes on it three times a day. In the morning, afternoon and evening, give out a miniature study on any interesting topic, carefully thinking through each phrase and trying to screw in as many strange words as possible. The goal is for friends to suspect that your account has been hacked and that you are not writing this, because the style and style are completely unrecognizable. Regularly reread your previous posts and try to avoid repetition of both lexical units and grammatical constructions. If you're pissed off by moral exhibitionists who publicly post their breakfasts and mood swings, change your privacy settings and make these posts visible only to you. As an alternative, of course, you can get a paper notebook or a Word file and write sketches there - but we sit in social networks anyway, and you still need to find the file in the folder and open it, which will never be enough time.

Keeping a synonym book or writing down words on flashcards is one of the most popular classic vocabulary building tips. The big disadvantage of this method is that it is most effective to learn words not separately, but in context and in relation to a specific topic - it is not for nothing that in foreign language textbooks each lesson is built around a specific topic. If you like using notebooks and cards (whether paper or electronic), it will be more useful not just to memorize words one by one, but to come up with phrases with them and visualize different dialogue situations.

A bit dubious is the common advice to always keep a dictionary close at hand and look into it often. In itself, this is a wonderful idea, only now it is aimed at expanding the passive, not the active vocabulary. Having opened an arbitrary page of the explanatory dictionary, we will make sure that we have long known most of the words given there, and those whose meanings are not familiar to us, we probably simply do not need. So we keep the dictionary nearby, but we do not place special hopes on it.

How to read books

It is quite obvious that to enrich the lexicon it is useful to read a lot - just what and how exactly should one read? For our generation, the reference, most likely, will be the speech of the middle of the twentieth century, which, on the one hand, is close to modern in many ways, and on the other hand, has not yet had time to absorb the barbarisms and jargon that came in the perestroika era. Having picked up a work of art, we, as a rule, quickly get carried away by the plot, stop paying attention to vocabulary, and the linguistic richness of the novel safely passes all our radars. To avoid this, you can apply a psychological trick and read memoirs, autobiographies or any other books written in the first person. If you read them slowly and thoughtfully, and ideally also aloud, ready-made phrases will settle in your memory that we can use when talking about ourselves. True, it is necessary to retrieve these phrases from memory as soon as possible so that they do not go into the mire of a passive dictionary.

Reading and memorizing verses is doubly useful - not only vocabulary is assimilated, but also syntax. Despite the fact that in Russian the word order in a sentence is quite free, we do not like to use this freedom to the full (which is quite rational from the point of view of saving mental effort). Each of us has chosen syntactic constructions that limit our lexical range - accordingly, if we want to expand this range, we must be creative in constructing phrases. For example, if we are used to using impersonal sentences like “I want”, the synonymous series will be predictably narrow: “I dream / I want / I need / I need”. But one has only to express the same thought with the subject and verb, "I want," as the room for maneuver expands: "I demand / I desire / I insist / I need," and so on. When you write etudes, feel free to juggle the word order, reshape the syntax, insert participial and participial phrases more often - this is a good incentive to activate the passive vocabulary.

Finally, the most important thing. Do not treat vocabulary replenishment as a responsible multi-step task for which you should set aside time and gather your courage. This is not rhythmic gymnastics or neurosurgery, where you have to spend many years and efforts to achieve a result. The inclusion of new words in speech is an extremely natural process, starting at a very early age, continuing until the end of life and, frankly, not at all difficult.

Icons: 1) Berkay Sargın, 2) Thomas Le Bas, 3) Kelig Le Luron, 4) Iris Vidal.

Active vocabulary includes words that are used in speech and writing.

Passive Vocabulary includes words that a person recognizes by reading and listening, but does not use them himself in speaking and writing. The passive vocabulary is several times larger than the active one.

Vocabulary of the average person

Russian language

"Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language" by V. I. Dahl has about 200 thousand words. The most common words, according to the "Frequency Dictionary of the Russian Language" edited by L. N. Zasorina, are about 40 thousand words, and a little more than 9 thousand words have the highest frequency, covering more than 90% of the texts processed when compiling the dictionary. According to modern estimates, the vocabulary of a high school student is about 5,000 words. A highly educated person knows about 8,000 words. It is interesting that Pushkin's Dictionary of Language, which contains the words used by the classic, contains an unsurpassed figure so far - approximately 24 thousand words. The unpublished Dictionary of the Language of V. I. Lenin, according to some sources, was supposed to contain about 30 thousand words.

English language

According to the official data of the Oxford Dictionary, there are 250,000 words in the English language and about 615,000 word formations. But some researchers argue that when counting English words, it is necessary to take into account all neologisms, including words from Internet blogs and other unofficial resources, as well as words used only in varieties of English, for example, in China and Japan. So, the company Global Language Monitor counted 986 thousand words in English.

Japanese

The Japanese language contains about 50,000 characters. The active vocabulary of the Japanese is formed by the Ministry of Education, which recommends to its compatriots 1850 hieroglyphs for everyday use, of which 881 are studied in primary and secondary schools. The average Japanese uses 400 characters in everyday life, while newspapers and magazines use 3,000 characters.

Methods, methods and techniques for increasing vocabulary

Think about which of the banal, hackneyed, hackneyed words and expressions you are used to using on a daily basis in standard communication situations. Write them down on a piece of paper. Recorded? Now take an explanatory dictionary or dictionary of synonyms from the shelf. Find these words that are already hurting your own ears and that you are tired of hearing every day. Study the long list of alternatives and say each of these words out loud. Which one reflects your personality? Which one suits you personally? Try each one as you try on a suit and see which ones you find comfortable and cozy. Choose a few of these words and practice saying them out loud until they become a natural part of your vocabulary;
Communication is the main source of replenishment of human vocabulary. During a conversation, each participant replenishes his vocabulary from the arsenal of the interlocutor, there is a word exchange between them. Talk to your friends, acquaintances, relatives as much as possible. Use new words in your vocabulary, knowledge about a word is nothing without using it;
Read. Start with those authors who are more understandable and close to your interests. Gradually add literature harder. The text where there are interesting words and expressions that you want to remember and apply in the future, re-read aloud (reading to ourselves, we also replenish our vocabulary, but not so quickly, because in this way we only see the words, while reading aloud, we in addition to this, we also hear them and, most importantly, we pronounce them, so we remember them better);
When you spot a new word, don't just look up its definition in the dictionary. Pay attention to the turn of speech in which this word is used, try to replace it for yourself with the corresponding synonym. Try to rhyme, come up with as many suitable phrases as possible. The more you know about a word, the faster you will learn to use it without complicating your memory. This will immediately affect the beauty and personality of your speech;
Write. Rewrite other people's articles and your favorite literary works, following the example of Demosthenes, who rewrote Thucydides' History eight times in a row.
Crossword puzzles are not just entertainment, but also a way to vocabulary development. Use this opportunity on the road, on vacation. Choose crossword puzzles from well-known publications or those that have a good reputation;
For those who spend a lot of time on the road, driving or have absolutely no free time, there is a unique opportunity to use books and dictionaries. develop your speech and increase your vocabulary through audiobooks. A similar method will also be acceptable to an audience that perceives better by ear. In any case, while away the time in traffic jams reading good literature is much more useful and effective for your development.

Ways to memorize new words

Of course, this article does not contain all the methods and techniques increase and development of vocabulary. But they are quite sufficient for the appearance of new words in your vocabulary and enrichment of your vocabulary.

Are you short of words to properly express your thoughts? If you are faced with the question "?", This article will be useful to you.

The following recommendations will help you to replenish the vocabulary of the Russian language:

Methods, methods and techniques for increasing vocabulary

Think about which of the banal, hackneyed, hackneyed words and expressions you are used to using on a daily basis in standard communication situations. Write them down on a piece of paper. Recorded? Now take an explanatory dictionary or dictionary of synonyms from the shelf. Find these words that are already hurting your own ears and that you are tired of hearing every day. Study the long list of alternatives and say each of these words out loud. Which one reflects your personality? Which one suits you personally? Try each one as you try on a suit and see which ones you find comfortable and cozy. Choose a few of these words and practice saying them out loud until they become a natural part of your vocabulary;
Communication is the main source of replenishment of human vocabulary.During the conversation, each participant replenishes his vocabulary from the arsenal of the interlocutor, there is a word exchange between them. Talk to your friends, acquaintances, relatives as much as possible. Use new words in your vocabulary, knowledge about a word is nothing without using it;
Read reading books is good. Start with those authors who are more understandable and close to your interests. Gradually add literature harder. The text where there are interesting words and expressions that you want to remember and apply in the future, re-read aloud (reading to ourselves, we also replenish our vocabulary, but not so quickly, because in this way we only see the words, while reading aloud, we in addition to this, we also hear them and, most importantly, we pronounce them, so we remember them better);
When you spot a new word, don't just look up its definition in the dictionary. Pay attention to the turn of speech in which this word is used, try to replace it for yourself with the corresponding synonym. Try to rhyme, come up with as many suitable phrases as possible. The more you know about a word, the faster you will learn to use it without complicating your memory. This will immediately affect the beauty and personality of your speech;
Write. Rewrite other people's articles and your favorite literary works, following the example of Demosthenes, who rewrote Thucydides' History eight times in a row.
Crossword puzzles are not just entertainment, but also a way vocabulary development. Use this opportunity on the road, on vacation. Choose crossword puzzles from well-known publications or those that have a good reputation;
For those who spend a lot of time on the road, driving or have absolutely no free time, there is a unique opportunity to use books and dictionaries. develop your speech and increase your vocabulary through audiobooks. A similar method will also be acceptable to an audience that perceives better by ear. In any case, while away the time in traffic jams reading good literature is much more useful and effective for your development.

Ways to memorize new words

The recipe, in fact, is very simple: to learn how to speak beautifully, you need to ... speak. This is true. Learn to speak face-to-face. Tell stories, plots of books or films, news or impressions. Try to use new phrases that you haven't used before. Include them in your life consciously.

Write letters

Written speech will also help to solve the problem of how to increase the number of words used. Write letters. Post on forums or social media. Try writing articles or essays. Keep a diary.

Carefully select words and phrases, look for synonyms - practice and practice is important in this matter.

Make a speech

Public speaking and responsible conversations help to enrich speech very well. Make a sketch on paper in advance. Practice, look for different options that most accurately and fully reflect your point of view. If you have to speak in front of a large audience, make your speech bright and rich, rather than dull and unemotional.

learn poetry

Learn by heart verses, retell texts. It is important not only to tell the text, but to do it as close as possible to the style of the author, paying attention to new words and phraseological units. Tell emotionally, with expression, then it will be easier to remember new phrases.

Constantly replenish your active and passive vocabulary: both are important. Listen to audiobooks, solve crossword puzzles, watch useful educational programs and communicate with educated and developed people.
To better remember a new word or turn of speech, create a vivid image, visualize it inside yourself. Words are well remembered in conjunction with others, in sentences, and not on their own.
Write down your favorite quotes and expressions. Use them in your speech. The main thing is that it should be appropriate.
Do not use slang phrases and swear words: approach the issue creatively, look for colorful bright replacements.
Don't fill short-term memory with useless information.
Learn a foreign language. Any. Oddly enough, this allows you to simultaneously replenish the active and passive vocabulary of the native language, too.

Read also: How to easily relieve stress and calm down quickly

Activate the passive set of words

Our passive vocabulary is constantly replenished. Basically, this happens in two cases: while we are listening and while we are reading. So its filling begins in childhood itself. Purposefully memorizing words does not make much sense: they will remain passive.

Choose synonyms for words

Very well helps to activate the passive stock selection of synonyms. There is a whole series of interesting games when some phenomenon or object needs to be described in phrases, excluding the use of familiar and frequently used words from the list. You can arrange such games in a friendly company or work out alone.

It is useful to make lists of synonyms. For example, a dictionary of feelings. Write down all the feelings you know in a column and try to write as many synonyms as possible for them next to each other. Of course, it is important not only to write them, but also to use them in your spoken and written speech.

Make up stories

Another useful and entertaining exercise: we compose a story using only nouns. Or verbs. Or - the most difficult - adjectives. Remember? "Night. Street. Flashlight. Pharmacy". How can you continue?

Other options are also here: compose a story where words begin with each letter of the alphabet in order. Or all words with only one letter. It is important that the story is connected.

Why is a human vocabulary needed? How to replenish it.

A sign of education

Clear the area

Remember synonyms

How to read books

Vocabulary of the average person

Russian language

English language

Japanese

see also

See what "Vocabulary" is in other dictionaries:

Books

Methods, methods and techniques for increasing vocabulary

Methods, methods and techniques for increasing vocabulary

Activate the passive set of words