Craig Dodge - Blog

Vocabulary building is a life-long process. When first learning a new language, we need to pick up new words quickly to be able to communicate, so we study and memorize long lists of words. But, even advanced learners and native speakers will continue to pick up new words throughout their lifetimes.

Today, I will write a little about how to use your time more effectively when trying to build your vocabulary.

In a class this week, there was a word in the article we were reading that no one in the class had ever seen, including me: phlegmatic. Do you know what it means? Do you care? Should you? We'll come back to this in a moment.

In the high school where I used to teach, students had to memorize long lists of vocabulary words. The students worked very hard at this, took tests on those words, then promptly forgot most of them after the test. Looking over the lists, two things were obvious; many of the words were not likely to be of interest to the student, nor would they likely have any opportunity to use them.

The most effective way to learn and remember new vocabulary is for it to be about something that interests you and that you can use in your daily conversation. Memorizing lists of words that you don't care about and won't have opportunities to use is not very effective.

As an example, let me tell you another story about a former high school student. When he took his English tests, he would write his name on the top, turn the paper over and fall asleep. He found the whole experience very frustrating because the grammar and vocabulary being taught was above his ability and outside of his interest. I found out that he was very interested in basketball, so I taught him some words and expressions commonly used in basketball. Even several years later, he still remembered those words and was able to use them.

So if you want to use your valuable time to more effectively and efficiently learn vocabulary, let me make 2 suggestions:

First, read more material, or subscribe to podcasts on topics that interest you. If you like business or economics, read about those things. If you are a sports freak, read about sports. If you love computers, read about technology. If you are interested in the topic, you are more likely to remember the vocabulary.

Second, when you come across a new word, ask yourself if you think that word might be useful to you. Think about ways it might fit into your active vocabulary. If you can't see any situation where you might likely use that word, don't waste your time trying to memorize it. If you use new vocabulary in your daily conversation, you are more likely to remember the it.

This is not to say that there aren't times when we have to be more agressive about learning new words, which may require that we study from lists. Taking the TOEFL test, for example, requires a sizeable vocabulary. But, if time is limited and you need a way to efficiently build vocabulary that will be useful to you, then try those two suggestions above.

Back to phlegmatic. Here is the definition from Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary:

phleg·mat·ic - adjective

not easily upset, excited, or angered: She was phlegmatic even during the most difficult moments of the crisis.

I will leave it to you to decide if 1) you are interested in that word and 2) if you think you can add it to your daily conversation.