By Tamara Mafilika 
Jul 6, 2021
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Speaking English allows you to broaden your world, from job opportunities to the ability to relate to people from every country.
It is spoken and taught in more than 118 countries and is commonly used around the world as a trade or diplomatic language. Learning the English language doesn’t mean sitting in the classroom and studying tricky grammar. Most English language educators encourage you to do plenty of extra learning outside of school. There are fun and creative ways to improve your vocabulary and your understanding of the language. Expanding your vocabulary should not be tough or painful.
Here are some tips on how to improve your vocabulary:
1. Read. Reading allows you to learn and to reinforce vocabulary. You learn the vocabulary in its context, together with other relevant vocabulary, and you also get the most frequently used and useful words.
2. Lookup new words. You should look for the new words daily and try to use them in a sentence.
3. Keep a journal. Whatever new words you learned today, jot them down. Keep revising them so that you don’t forget.
4. When conversing, try and use good vocabulary in your conversation. This is good practice, especially if you are sitting down for an interview.
5. Get a good bilingual dictionary. Using the dictionary or thesaurus will assist in explaining words you come across in your daily life.
6. Play games. It’s not necessary to learn with books only. You can also learn while playing games, such as board games, scrabble and different kinds of puzzles.
7. Read idioms and phrases. Idioms are particularly important since they allow you to express yourself differently. For example: “It’s a piece of cake” instead of “It’s easy“. Idioms also allow you to express yourself authentically while also showcasing your personality and sense of humour.
8. Learn synonyms as well as antonyms. Finding words with similar meanings that you can substitute for a commonly used word might provide you more options for expressing yourself.