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How to increase your vocabulary OR 如何增加你的词汇量 (谢谢sddzzqq的翻译)。
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Jeffson said: "I have been looking for a good way to remeber a lot of vocabulary, but I have not found it till now, and could you help me ?" I suggest: ". . . remember . . . , but I have not found a good method. Could you help me?" Can you see the four changes I suggest?
Here's my suggestions. Feel free to correct my abuse of the Chinese language:
1) Use many methods. 用很多办法。
2) Remember rule number 1. 办法第一程。
3) Use flashcard. 用教学用，抽人卡。
4) Read a lot. 读很多。
5) Use Dioenglish Family on QQ (104490944). 用 Dioenglish Family 在 QQ。
6) Write to me on QQ (1139510842）. 你写我在 QQ。
7) Remember rule number 1. 办法第一程。
I have intentionally made a seven errors in my use of English. Can you find them? I will list them at the end of the blog.
我不会中文很好。于是我写英语。 I don't have many specific suggestion. I would suggest you use as many methods as you can think of. Here's my method. In January 2004, I knew absolutely no Chinese words. I found I could not read Chinese characters because i did not know how to pronounce them.So, I quickly decided pronounciation was key. At first I listened to chinese language tapes. My main suggestions are the use of flashcards and doing a lot of reading. I need to use my Chinese flashcards more frequent.
I tell you a story. My mother used to read 10 to 12 books a week when she was alive. The library would not let her check out more books than that! In Franklin, North Carolina she read every book in their tiny, one room library. She had a huge vocabulary. When I graduated from high school, my vocabulary was small and my reading speed was slow. Then I went to college. My vocabulary increased. Then I taught school for five years. My vocabulary increased. Then I worked on a master's degree. My vocabulary increase. Then I worked for the US Forest Service. I took on jobs related to writing and editing. My vocabulary increased.
Why do I tell you this? Your vocabulary will only increase through use. If you do not use it, it will not increase. It increases only through effort. Is you Chinese vocabulary perfect? Probably not. Do you know all 50,000 chinese characters? Probably not. I want to read and write Chinese better than the average Chinese person. Can I do that now? Not at all. Can I do that in my lifetime? That is my goal! How dare I, a 58 year old American who can barely write any Chinese sentences say I want to do this? Because I know Americans. Most Americans cannot write English well. I suspect that most Chinese people have not mastered the Chinese language and are not writing experts. I am a writer. I continue to improve my English writing skills. I've made significant progress in the last ten years. I want to master the Chinese language. What is my point? Use your vocabulary, and it will increase. Practice you skills. That's the only method that works.
My errors: 1) Using "i" and not "I." 2) No space after a period. 3) Using "chinese" when I should have typed "Chinese." 4) Using "frequent" when I should use the adverb form "frequently." 5) The sentence "I tell you a story." should say "I will tell you a story" because it is in the future and you have not heard the story at that point. 6) I said "My vocabulary increase." when I should have said "My vocabulary increased." 7) I don't know of any other mistakes, but I probably made one! Let me know if you find one! That's the fun of writing in any language. It can always be improved. I would love to see people write several suggestions for improving this blog! It can be done. If I re-read it ONCE, I'm sure I'd make several changes. I have not edited it!
pH
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Post comment Comment (40 replies)
- Reply xubuwei
- thank you,i benefit a lot from your article,i am worring about my poor vocabulary now,seems i must read more and write more
- Reply berylyoxi
- My English is very poor.I'm afraid of writing in English.Because I always make mistakes.
- Reply C.Robert
- Interesting article!
Learing another language takes effort. I'm planning to write my master thesis in English, so i know all about that, haha.
You asked us to find any mistakes besides the ones you have already pointed out. If my interpretation is correct, i might have found one: "Here's my suggestions" (5th line), should be "Here are my suggestions".
(I have to say, I don't have much confidence, correcting a native speaker, haha.)
- Reply shimizu
- Ha,maybe I have found one too,"I don't have many specific suggestion"should be "I don't have many specific suggestions".
- Reply sddzzqq
- Use Dioenglish Family on QQ (104490944). 用 Dioenglish Family 在 QQ。/在QQ上用Dioenglish family（来交流）。
Write to me on QQ (1139510842）. 你写我在 QQ。 /用QQ给我写（一些东西）。
- Reply sddzzqq
- Thanks PH. You are strong-willed and good at self-control. But do you think of there is any difference in different areas and ages? Because my tutor（tuter） is the same with you, strong-willed and good at self-control. He always told me how hard he worked when studyinng. How many(much) books he read and how early he got up when as a student and even now. But I don't think it is the same . In our age, there are more attractions and temptations which are not good for us around, and it is harder and harder for younger kids to concentrate on one things. Of course, I admit that the excellent ones could overcome it finally. But I still feel some differences.
It is weird.
- Reply shimizu
- 1) Use many methods. 用很多办法。
2) Remember rule number 1. 办法第一程。——记住第一条
3) Use flashcard. 用教学用，抽人卡。——用教学用的卡片（抽人卡）
4) Read a lot. 读很多。————大量阅读
5) Use Dioenglish Family on QQ (104490944). 用 Dioenglish Family 在 QQ。 ——————用QQ群——(104490944) Dioenglish 群.
6) Write to me on QQ (1139510842）. 你写我在 QQ。——用QQ给我发消息。
7) Remember rule number 1. 办法第一程。————记住第一条。
Some suggestions ,Hope they are helpful to you more or less.
- Reply fairy0612
- Here I have a question in "Then I taught school for five years. ", why use "taught school", but not "taughe in school"? I thought that saying "teach sb" is all right, but can"teach school " okay?
And I found a mistake too, "Is you Chinese vocabulary perfect?" I think "your "should be used here, am I right?
- Reply v87zhou
- Hello, my dear friends. I found all your intentional errors except for the "No space after a period". I always pay more attention to the grammar and the vocabulary, but ignore the format. I'm very appreciate that your article "lesson" me
As to the methods how to increase our vocabulary, I'm the one on your same wavelength. In retrospect my middle school life, I remember my method. At that time the words were terrible, which I mean were difficult for me to remember. I didn't like using the irrational ways I found from other classmates. In my opinion, if you want to remember one word, you should make one sentence with this word.
In aspect of the flashcard, I prefer to the Sticky Notes because I can stick them anywhere I can see.
Do you remember your comment on my blog Lost again? You told me that Sometimes it takes something from the outside of ourselves to spur us on to action. I like it and I have told you that I will have a trip. Now I will do that in one week. Before that I didn't know how to describe my inside. Now it's just like the ruin which was devastated by the disaster. It will take a long time to recover.
I hope I can steer clear of the trouble soon.
- Reply sedgehead
- xubuwei: thank you,i benefit a lot from your article,i am worring about my poor vocabulary now,seems i must read more and write moreBetter English: Thank you, I benefited (OR I think I will benefit OR I expect to benefit OR I will benefit) a lot from your article. I am worried about my poor vocabulary. Now, it seems I must read more and write more.
I agree with you. That's how I became a writer myself, even though English is my native language.
- Reply sedgehead
- berylyoxi: My English is very poor.I'm afraid of writing in English.Because I always make mistakes.My use of Chinese is extremely poor. But I have absolutely no fear of writing poorly. That's how I will learn. Think about a child. A child has no fear of speaking even though young children make many mistakes. We all learn from our mistakes. That's whyI work hard and don't care about mistakes.
- Reply sedgehead
- I think you may have found an "extra" error! You are indeed correct. I don't think I made that mistake intentionally! The phrase "Here's my suggestions" sounds correct to me because I think of it as a single unit, a group of suggestions. But technically, "Here are" is better. If it is "one group" then "is" is fine, such has "Here is a note with my suggestions"!
- Reply sedgehead
- Excellent! You did indeed find an error I made. I would call that type of error a "typo" meaning a topographical error. That is, I typed incorrectly, even though I know the correct way to say this.
We might say "taught in" when we are about to specific a specific school or type of teaching. For example, I taught in Kentucky and Texas. I taught in church operated schools. I taught school for several years. The difference is minor and people will understand you. So I would not worry about that too much. I have a friend who teaches school. I might teach school in China. All my uses here are both truthful and good English.
- Reply sedgehead
- English: 1) tutor, 2) No space before a comma or period, 3) How many books he read.
I agree there are many differences between children and adults. I take an extreme position for a good reason. I think too many people give up on learning a language too easily. If we choose to act and think like children and think like children, I believe the differences between adults and children can be easily overcome. Some experts would take an opposite view and say it is much harder for adults. I have not been convinced of that. The best way to do something is to believe you can do it. So, I am trying to empower people and make them believe in themselves and their abilities. I believe two things: 1) we can learn a language as an adult much easier than the experts believe we can and 2) I can do it and so can you and others.
