Increase your vocabulary level and speak more advanced English

- Hi there, I'm your English coach, Christina,

and welcome to "Speak English with Christina",

where you'll learn about American culture,

and business know-how to become confident in English.

We've talked about the notorious P-word

in previous episodes.

That P-word of course is plateau.

(thunder rumbling)

if you've hit the plateau, you would know.

The symptoms include,

feeling like you're no longer making progress,

no matter how hard you study,

difficulty remembering new words,

feeling like you can't express yourself

as well as you should.

The good news, this challenging period is temporary,

and one simple way to push through it

is to expand your vocabulary.

In this episode, we'll discuss some tips

to learn more words faster,

and start seeing your language proficiency

in English accelerate.

The lesson is particularly useful

for intermediate English learners

ready to move to an advanced level.

Let's go.

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One reason that we experience the language-learning plateau

is because we were in the beginner stages

of learning a language, our learning is rapid,

it's easy to mark how much we're learning

in large part because everything is new,

however once you reach the intermediate stage,

it can be difficult to notice your progress,

especially as you transition from early-intermediate

to advanced-intermediate, and then finally,

to the advanced level.

Vocabulary is a key component to moving from beginner

to intermediate and advanced levels of language proficiency.

Sometimes, when students reach a certain level in English,

they can communicate with other English speakers,

they might use simple vocabulary words to get by,

and this is understandable, I mean after all,

if you can express yourself, and feel understood,

then you may not make much effort to expand your vocabulary

beyond the core words that you already know and that works,

however to see progress in your language learning,

it's important to expand your vocabulary,

as well as include more colloquial words,

idioms, and phrases, in your English repertoire.

The plateau is actually an exciting time,

because now you can develop a new strategy

to get more proficient in English,

based on your personal interests and needs.

For example, you might consider focusing

on learning new vocabulary words

that are specific to your job, your industry,

or your studies.

Let's chug, chug, chug through that plateau

to our next peak of achievement with these five tips.

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it's easier to recall a list of words

that are grouped or organized in a meaningful way.

Create a list of words to study

that are focused on a particular subject,

and you're more likely to remember them.

For example, if you love music,

you might focus your attention on creating a vocabulary list

with music as the theme.

You might learn the names of musical instruments,

musical terms, and so on.

As you learn these new vocabulary words,

you can draw linkages between the words,

which help you to remember those words easier.

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do you feel like you learn a new word only to forget it

the next day?

The key to remembering new words is repetition.

The more frequently you encounter a word,

the more likely you will remember it.

Did you know that you're already a master language learner?

When you were a child you learned your native language

through lots of listening and repetition,

as you picked up new words,

repeat them several times throughout the day

just as a child would.

Adapting the language learning techniques

we used as children can help us tremendously as adults,

even if adults and children do learn differently.

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Another way to bulk up your vocabulary

is to recognize how modifiers, or affixes,

change the meaning of root words.

Understanding affixes can help you interpret the meaning

of hundreds of words that you may not know.

And the first affix I'd like to talk about are prefixes.

Prefixes are letters used at the beginning of a word

to change its meaning.

For example, a common prefix in English is re,

and when re is used, it means again, or back.

Rethink,

redo,

and repay.

Each word has re at the beginning.

Another prefix is un.

Un can mean not,

remove, or opposite.

Adding un to the word rest,

gives you the word, unrest,

which means not restful, or chaos.

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Similarly suffixes can help you determine

a word you don't know,

and help you accelerate your vocabulary learning.

A suffix is a letter or group of letters

added to the end of the word.

For example, er at the end of a word

often suggests a comparison.

We find er at the end adjectives and adverbs.

Er suffixes are good at making a comparison,

because they compare two things,

and show that one is more than the other,

such as faster or stronger.

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This sounds fancy, but it's a simple idea,

a collocation is when two words or more

are often seen together,

for example, blonde hair is a collocation.

In English, we use the word blonde,

it's most likely an adjective used to describe hair,

we wouldn't say a blonde car, or blonde house.

Here's another example,

the word, heavy, has many different meanings

depending on the word it's associated with.

You can have heavy rain, a heavy meal,

heavy traffic, a heavy smoker,

and in each instance the word, heavy,

changes its meaning.

Memorizing common collocation

will make a noticeable difference

in your level of proficiency.

By noticing the subtleties of English,

you'll sound more fluent using these words

in the right context,

avoiding some of the most common mistakes

that less experienced English learners make.

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It's worth nothing that, according to research,

3,000 words is a good target

to achieve lower intermediate level.

One of the big reasons why intermediate learners

hit that plateau is because they no longer actively

expand their vocabulary knowledge.

By expanding your knowledge according to your interest,

and needs, recognizing prefixes and suffixes

that modify words, repetition of words,

and memorizing collocations,

you'll be well on your way to pushing through the plateau,

and reaching an advanced level in your English studies.

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Now, what about you?

Do you have any tips on how to learn vocabulary words?

Or ways that you've elevated your level?

Share them in the comments below.

And if you would like to become more fluent,

more confident, and work with one of my expert teachers,

check out my new program, "Speak English Confidently",

it combines private training sessions

with regular conversation practice,

so that you speak more correct English more fluidly,

details are below the video.

All right, thanks so much for improving your English

with me, and I'll see you next time.