Improving your vocabulary is an important part of the preparation you have to make if you want to study abroad.

If you’re looking to studying abroad, there are a number of reasons you want to work on your Vocabulary. For one thing, most standardized tests such as the GRE and SAT have a rigorous vocabulary curriculum, which means that the better your vocab already is, the easier the test becomes for you. For another, if you’re moving out of your home country, you’d need to have a wide enough Vocab for you to be able to communicate with people from other countries. Not to mention, you also have to take proficiency tests if you’re moving abroad.

How do you improve your vocabulary? Let’s look at some of the ways.

Using New Words

When you learn a new word, don’t keep it to yourself. Make a game out of using new words as soon as you learn them, and this will help you remember them longer and be able to understand the context in which to use them too. Try slipping a new word into conversations everyday as often as you can, and repeat it to yourself as well.

Practical Vocabulary

Before diving into the more Complicated words, start by learning words that you think would be more relevant to your daily life. Ultimately, what’s most important is being able to convey a message to another person, and you can’t do this naturally if you use too many clichés and jargon. Pick out words that are used most commonly for hobbies or everyday communication and start by learning those.

Don’t Skip Days!

To improve your Vocabulary faster, learn at least one new word every day, and stick to your plan. Try not to miss out days, and use the words as you learn them. You can opt for word-of-the-day mailing lists or calendars, or simply pick words out from a dictionary.

Look Up Words

We come across at least one new word we don’t know almost every day. Instead of glossing over it when this happens, look it up and see how it is used and in what context. If you don’t have time immediately, make a note and look it up later. By remembering the context in which you first Learned the Word, you’ll probably remember it better too.

Word Puzzles

Sitting and memorizing new words can be boring, so you can opt for a game instead. Look for crossword puzzles in magazines and newspapers that will help you remember words you know but don’t use often, and learn new words as well.

Often, we find that while we may be good at speaking a language, our vocabulary isn’t as diverse as we’d want it to be. By using these Techniques, not only your vocabulary grow, but you’ll also be able to use new words more naturally, and will be able to enhance your writing as well. Before long, you’ll find that your speech and writing have attained a new level of Clarity and Expression.