- Aldous Huxley
In our present day education system, little stress
is laid on honing language skills. As English is the link language in higher
education in a country like India which is a mosaic of diverse cultures, we
must strive hard to build up vocabulary
as a never-ending process beyond academic life.
Nobody can master the vocabulary overnight. Like
Rome was not built in a day, building up vocabulary is an arduous process and
there is no short cut for it.
Some people may take a lame excuse that in routine
life we need not use more high standard words and that’s why there is no need
to refer dictionary. Their contention is that mediocrity meets the job. For
those lethargic souls, this is not the place to go further. But the credence of
vocabulary is realized by people who are avid readers. To write, you need to be
armed with befitting words to express different hues of emotions for different
occasions.
English is the world’s most liberal language and it
adds any local words to its cobweb to become holistic. Personality development
guru Tony Robbins says that ‘with words, we can make our noblest intentions
felt and our deepest desires known.’ Those who are sleepy to get on without
expanding their vocabulary must read these inspiring lines of Robbins “People
with an impoverished vocabulary live an impoverished emotional life; people
with rich vocabularies have a multi-hued palette of colours with which
they paint their experience, not only
for others, but for themselves as well’.
English contains more than a million words. As per
estimate by Global Language Monitor on January 1, 2020, the number of words in
the English language is : 1,057,379.6. Currently
there is a new word created every 98 minutes or about 14.7 words per day.
Experts say that the average person’s working vocabulary consists of only
between 2000 and 10000 words.
We must cultivate the habit of referring dictionary
daily like brushing teeth. It should be one of the non-negotiable activities of
the day. Once this habit sinks into your system, it will enrich your speaking
and writing abilities.
In computers, tablet computers and smartphones,
dictionary apps are replacing the physical voluminous dictionaries. Though this
digital substitute is doing wonders, the flavour of finding a new word in
physical dictionary is enticing for which we must have a reliable dictionary.
Finding difficult words and getting their meanings known should be a daily
ritual. The best way to remember the meaning for new word is to add some
emotional string to that word so that it would embed in permanent memory.
Keeping a notepad exclusively for this purpose would keep not only a
record for the new words we gather but facilitate to come back and forth to use
those learned words in our daily usage. Rich vocabulary is like party
wear which is a visual feast to the
onlooker!
One of the secrets to influence others is through
word-power and once you succeed in this art, the world would lay a red
carpet for you !
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