How to expand the active vocabulary when learning foreign languages

A rich vocabulary is determined not only the ability to recognize words in their environment, but also the ability to extract them from memory when necessary, which is usually more difficult. Expand vocabulary when learning a foreign language can help the development of productive skills.

Think how much easier it is typically answer questions multiple choice. But the task where you want to insert the missing word, always given harder. In the latter case, you need a productive skills: do not just pick the right word (which you You might not even know, but determined by circumstantial evidence), and select it from memory suitable for this situation. For the same reason, even if you are easy to read foreign articles or watching movies without translation, keep the conversation will be much harder.

To improve conversational skills, it is useless to try to expand the vocabulary of traditional methods, cramming does not help here. More offers effective exercise instructor engVid Rebecca (Rebecca). On paper or in your head, create the following table:

• Vertical words are grouped by areas of life, such as education, religion, business, and medicine.
• Horizontal words are grouped into categories, such as people, places, activities, quality.
• The cells are filled with the resulting table being studied words.

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Expand this table can be infinite - include more areas and add new categories. You can improve their productive skills, adding an element of games and competitions, for example, filling each cell the maximum number of words for a limited time.

Such a creative approach to memorizing foreign words It will form the active vocabulary required to live conversation and in writing.