Improve your English vocabulary: Tips and techniques

The mongoose in the zoo would have died, and the zoo warden is obviously distraught.  He wants to get a replacement mongoose so that the visitors to the zoo are not disappointed.  The zoo warden reckons that he would not want to put himself in this sort of a situation again by having only one mongoose in the zoo.  So he takes a purchase order application and starts writing: "I am hereby placing an order for two mongooses."  And he then he starts thinking: "Oh, no, the plural of mongoose is not mongooses."  So he tears up the first purchase order and starts writing a new purchase order: "I am hereby placing an order for two mongeese."  And then he once again starts doubting his own grammar.  Being unsure whether the plural of mongoose is mongooses or mongeese, the zoo warden searches for the dictionary but he cannot find it.  He then thinks about it for a few moments, figures out what to write, and comes up with a new purchase order: "I hereby place an order for a mongoose.  Actually it would be better if you could procure two of them."

While the zoo warden's predicament comes across as funny and humorous we need to give him due credit for coming up with a work around so that he is able to convey the right message to his authorities without exposing his ignorance about the matter in question.  Doesn't this scenario look familiar to us ?  We have all been there, before.  We have been in situations where we wish to say something but we know, deep in our heart that speaking it out is only going to make it worse, not any better, and we look for ways to evade the issue.  Now, don't you think we would serve ourselves better if we learnt to say the right words at the right place at the right time in the right way to convey the right meanings ?  Dwelling on this topic reminds me of Sridevi's efforts to do everything humanly possible to learn English and get over the social ostracism with the society, in the movie English Vinglish; we learn a lot from her determination to break the language barrier and do whatever it takes for her to come to terms with speaking in English. 

The twin kids Rahul and Rohan return to class after a week long vacation, and the teacher asks every student in the class what they did during their holidays.  Rahul says: "Last week we had been to the place where the Battle of Panipat was fought."  Rohan says: "We had been to the place where the Battle of Panipat was fought last week."   Can you figure out who was right, who was wrong, what was wrong, and what was wrong in the manner in which he put the words, and what was the inaccurate interpretation derived by juxtaposing the words ?

We learn the vast majority of words when we understand them in some context.  Remember that all aspects of learning, recalling and retention are enhanced when you make sense of them in practical situations.  Essentially, you should not try to learn vocabulary from an isolated collection of words without connecting the dots to form a complete picture.  In this context, words are like puzzle pieces.  When you see the puzzle pieces scattered all over the place they carry no relevance.  However, once you start putting the puzzle pieces together you derive something meaningful and the end result no longer appears to be incomprehensible.

Regular reading exposes you to the same words used with slightly different meanings, thereby reinforcing the words and how you could use them in the future.  When you are reading,  pay close attention to words that you are coming across for the first time but there is no need to look up the dictionary for every word.  Instead, try to decipher and appreciate the narrative and try to figure out the meaning from how it is being used in the story.  Note and be aware that material on different subjects can be pretty complex, and the language used can vary a lot depending on whether you are reading a sports report, a fiction or a description of a real life crime scene.

Use every opportunity to learn new words and improve your conversations.  We have these frequent encounters in our everyday lives, be it in an elevator, in the public transport bus, watching a movie or a television serial or a political debate.  We often read debates and endless arguments going on in social media sites about various happenings in our lives and in our surroundings and in our home country but very often let go of the opportunity to add our inputs to it, thereby letting go of an informal way to improve our communication and vocabulary skills.  For example, the celebrity actress Sridevi died yesterday but all that I see on Facebook is repeated occurrences of those three meaningless letters "RIP" instead of people taking time to write what they are going to remember Sridevi for, in the coming years. 

When you learn a new word latch on to it.  If you come across a new word and do not use it again you will forget it within a week or so because it is in your short time memory now.  Anytime you learn a new word try to use it repeatedly until the word moves from your short time memory to your long time memory, and make it a habit to use until it becomes exactly that --- a habit.  Once it gets ingrained into your long term memory, using that particular word becomes as easy and as frequent as ABC.  

Speaking about reading, you tend to learn many words when you see them in a sentence, which is why improving your vocabulary while reading sentences is much more effective than looking up words in a dictionary where the meanings may not always be obvious.  Wasn't this what your parents and teachers advised you all those years ago when they kept encouraging you to go to the library and read all those Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and other stories in the Arabian Nights books ?

A very critical method of improving one's vocabulary, communication, choice of words and general flow of language is through writing blogs on technical and non-technical topics.  I do it all the time, and it's fair to say that writing blogs on varied topics has helped me a lot over the years.  When you write a blog you just cannot get away with some sloppy language and usage of words, and need to put in lot of effort into making the material presentable to a worldwide audience, for you never know who are the people who are going to read your blogs.   You can take your game to the next level by presenting videos on various subjects by doing some, formatting them for quality and uploading them on YouTube for anybody from Australia to the US to watch and benefit from your experiences.  On a similar note, never lose an opportunity to indulge in public speaking.  While it is not always possible to get an audience, you could always call up your local radio station or make friends with the local radio RJ and present programs that you are passionate about and that could appeal to the wider community.   Having done many radio presentations myself I can vouch for this.

It's amazing the human mind can remember whatever happened to you, say in an accident, every minute detail about it while it's pretty difficult for you to remember all the details of an accident that involved someone else and where you were not present but only heard about it from the person who experienced it.  You see that we tend to remember everything that happened to us because there is a personal, emotional attachment to our own experience which is why you can recall an incident or an accident months or years later.  You could use this psychological aspect of the human brain to your advantage.  For example, when you attend a social event, instead of reading someone else's feedback, write one of your own, how you felt about the program or what you got out of it, and you tend to come up with a better vocabulary than if you try to learn how to write by reading what someone else wrote.

Most importantly, use every opportunity to express your thoughts and feelings, without going overboard of course, and make the most of every situation you come across.  Social media is one place where you have tremendous freedom of expression, and you can come up with your opinions without the fear of offending somebody or having to worry about who is going to form a picture about you.  And writing in the Public comments section in various online newspapers is another sure-fire way of putting your grammar and vocabulary to practical use for your own benefit.  Do these, and stand to do yourself a big favor.  And when you find yourself in a crunch situation and are required to come up with the appropriate words you don't have to run around looking for the dictionary which our dear friend the zoo warden had to do while trying to figure out the plural of mongoose.