Learning a new language can be very overwhelming in the beginning when your vocabulary is quite limited.  However, the excitement builds as you learn more and more words and can start to use them yourself.

Some quick and easy suggestions on how to improve you vocabulary on a daily basis includes:

Reading – Read anything that you can get your hands on; it doesn’t have to be a book. Magazines and graphic novels with lots of pictures can be really useful. You may not understand the word but will get a feeling for it through the pictures.

Writing – Write a simple story with the words that you already know and add pictures to help you associate the two. It doesn’t matter if the story is silly but it is fun to have a go and will definitely help you remember new words.

Listening – Try listening to the radio in the language of your choice (eg. BBC World Service), watch a movie or something fun like YouTube that can be spontaneous and harder to understand than a usual language learning CD.

Speaking – Practise your new vocabulary out loud by making up simple sentences and phrases with the words you have learnt. It doesn’t matter if the cat is the only one listening!

Remember, if you make it fun then you don’t feel like you are working so hard at studying.

By Vicky