how to master any language

7/27/2019 How to Master Any Language

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This book is a brief summary of experience that I have acquired from teaching languages

and from learning languages myself. As for today, I have mastered six languages up to

advanced and native levels (two of them are native, indeed) and four more languages to

intermediate level.

In my book I share with you the most successful techniques for language learning.

Theres little theoretical reasoning behind each statement. This is a practical reference

and it should be treated and used as such.

Always feel free to contact me. I love to hear from my readers. Your opinion is importantto me! And whichever language you are learning and whatever difficulty you may

have, Ill be glad to help you.

Disclaimer

The Reader assumes all responsibility for use and application of this book and waives all

claims against the author that may arise from utilization of this book or of any data

presented in this book. Further, the author or copyright holder shall in no event be liable

for any damages or losses, including without limitation, direct, indirect, consequential,

special, incidental or punitive damages resulting from or caused by this book or its

content, including without limitation from Readers use or inability to use the book, orany error or omissions in content.

You agree that using the information and techniques described in this book is solely at

your own discretion.


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How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World 3

Copyright 2012 Dmitry Slomov. All rights reserved.Dmitry Slomov is a language learning consultant, a tutor and the author of the Russian Language Course Lessons with Dmitry

Contact Dmitry at: http://www.courseofrussian.com/en/contact.html

Table of Contents

How It All Started ............................................................................................................... 5What Is Language ............................................................................................................... 8

Language and Communication ....................................................................................... 8Studying Language? Using Language! ........................................................................... 9Three Questions before You Start................................................................................... 9

General principles ............................................................................................................. 11LevelsLearn Gradually.............................................................................................. 11PracticeYou Get What You Practice ......................................................................... 11Words, Meanings, Dictionaries, Grammar ................................................................... 12MemorizingTopics, Similarities, Differences ........................................................... 13Word ImportanceMeanings Frequency ................................................................... 14Everyday CultureRelated to Language ..................................................................... 15

What to Learn, and How ................................................................................................... 16Beginners Level ............................................................................................................ 16

Main Targets for This Level ..................................................................................... 16WordsFrom Life Situations ................................................................................... 17GrammarComplex Is Best, Drilling Makes Easy ................................................. 18Speaking and Listening DrillsWardrobe, Re-Hearing, Fetching .......................... 19AccentHow Do You Master It .............................................................................. 21Reading and WritingDont Dig Too Deep............................................................ 22Non-Verbal Communication and CultureLets Play............................................. 23

Intermediate level.......................................................................................................... 23Main Targets for This Level ..................................................................................... 24Words and GrammarBuild Up Your Vocabulary, Use a Dictionary .................... 24More on Meanings .................................................................................................... 27Topics List for Your Vocabulary .............................................................................. 28AccentEven More Important ................................................................................. 33

CultureYou Are No More a Guest .................................................................... 35

Advanced level.............................................................................................................. 36Main Targets for This Level ..................................................................................... 36Words and GrammarStep Forward ....................................................................... 36Oral CommunicationDiscussions and Emotions .................................................. 38


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Written CommunicationRead and Clarify, Write and Get Corrected ................... 39CultureBecome One of Them ............................................................................... 40Translating and Interpreting ...................................................................................... 40

The Native Level Dream ................................................................................................... 41Building up Native Speakers Vocabulary ................................................................... 42

Mass Media ............................................................................................................... 42Literature ................................................................................................................... 42Official ...................................................................................................................... 43Spoken....................................................................................................................... 44

More Tips on Language Learning..................................................................................... 46Words ListsDos and Dont ...................................................................................... 46This Can Stop Your Language Learning ...................................................................... 47Change Your Learning Activities ................................................................................. 48First Time Language Use .............................................................................................. 48

How to Choose a Language Course .................................................................................. 50Beginners ...................................................................................................................... 50

Requirements for a Self-Study Course ..................................................................... 50How to Use a Self-study Course ............................................................................... 51Requirements for a Teacher-Lead Course ................................................................ 52And YetIf No Course ............................................................................................ 53

Intermediates ................................................................................................................. 53Requirements for a Self-Study Course ..................................................................... 54Requirements for a Teacher-Lead Course ................................................................ 54

Advanced ...................................................................................................................... 55Just Guidelines for Learning ..................................................................................... 56

GoodbyeBut Not to the Language ................................................................................ 56


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How It All Started

If somebody told me a dozen of years ago, that one day I would speak ten languages and

teach four, I would probably consider that a mean joke. Well, speaking many languages

has been my childhood dream. But TEN languages that would be TOO much. I could

not imagine myself being THAT smart or having THAT much time for learning finally,

I had my life to live, my job to work at, my family and friends. After all, one has to be a

genius or an academician to learn even one language perfectly, and Im not like that

Well, I always had that approach: If anyone on Earth has done it, then there is no reason

that I cant do it, too. There are people, who have mastered perfect French. Or German.

Or Chinese. There are people, who have mastered a few languages. These people may be

few, but they exist. And if THEY could, so I can. After all, I have two hands, two legs

and one head, just like they do! Well, they may KNOW something that I dont know yet.

So, I should better learn their experience, and then Ill do it even faster.Nearly a decade ago I could not call myself a multilingual. But something had happened

to me then. It was none of those dramatic life-changing events. My family remained in

good health, I wasnt dismissed and I didnt leave my engineering job. These were

personal considerations and decisions. So, I started a new way as a language learner, and,

finally, as a tutor.

I wanted to know MANY languages. I wanted to be able to speak to ANY person on this

planet. Well, learning ALL the languages of the world would be unreal. On the other

hand, knowing just a couple of world languages would be too little. So I have carefully

selected a few languages that I wanted to know at the native speaker level, then a few

languages that were of somewhat lesser importance to me, and so on. I have finally

selected six certain languages to learn up to the native speaker level, and at least ten more

just to be able to hold a good conversation, express myself and understand the other, but

not much more than that.

I knew English from school, so the first language I started to learn myself was German.

Actually, German was the first language I wanted to learn since I was a child. I remember

myself, an 11-year-old boyit was a Russian winter night, I was with my mom and my

grandfather at a railway station in Moscow. We were waiting for a train that would take

us to our hometown in Belarus, then a Soviet republic, located to the west of Russia.

Suddenly they announced another train, that was departing from Moscow and headed toBerlin. They had already made different announcements before, but this Moscow-Berlin

train drew my attention. That train was going abroad! From Russia, through Belarus, then

it was supposed to cross the border to Poland and finally it would arrive to Germany.

ABROAD! In the Soviet Union abroad stood next to paradise absolutely unreal,

fascinating, interesting, somewhat scary all at once. I imagined myself, grown up,

getting on that train to Berlin Probably I had to be a translator or an interpreter. Or,

maybe a diplomat!.. I decided I definitely wanted to speak German.


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A couple of years later, in summer, my family and I went to a recreation site in Belarus.

The site was one of the best in the republic, so many foreign students, who were studying

in universities in Belarus, were invited by the Soviet government to spend some time

there. There were lots of students from Vietnam, from Arab countries, from Central

America, India, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Africa. They all could speak Russian, but

each community had its own language and its own culture. They were so different! Andthat was so interesting!

At that time, for the first time in my life I had got acquainted with a multilingual. A new

teacher had come to our school. His name was Igor V. Serov. They said he spoke six

languages. Igor taught us technical translation from English into Russian. His English had

some unusual accent. Well, it was unusual for a Soviet school. It just turned out to be

British. Igor knew English, like none of our teachers did. Once I had got an assignment to

find 10 military words in English. I came up to Igor and he just dictated them to me,

one by one. I remember his slight grin. Like an old man can grin, when he sees how

serious a child can get in his childish games. There were some words that my English

teacher didnt know

It seemed rather obvious, that I would become a translator myself. There was a Foreign

Language College in a city 70 kilometers from my hometown and I wanted to enter it just

after graduating from school. I wanted to become a translator and an interpreter. At

school I was good in languages, so I didnt think there would be any difficulties. So nave

I was! Well, the Soviet government had nothing to do with getting me down to Earth. The

blow came from my parents. They did not like the idea. In their opinion, a professional

translator in the Soviet Union had only one job opportunity to be a language teacher at

school. And not only did they dislike it, they even found it dangerous. The verdict was:

Ifneither a doctor nor a lawyer then at least (weep) an engineer. And finally theymanaged to persuade me, that a translator is not a good thing for a guy, that being a good

engineer is much more serious and respected, and that an engineer who knows languages

oh, that would be so marvelous! So, after school I studied Electronics Engineering, got

a B.Sc. and started to work as an electronics engineer.

But a decade ago I re-decided to learn languages. And I still wanted to know many

languages. And I didnt have much time. After all, I have already spent a few years

studying Electronics and working as an engineer. I was not very young. And I had to

work and to support my family in the first place. That left me rather little time for

learning! And I didnt want to drag out my learning till the end of my life. Whats the use

if I only manage to learn my 16 languages when Im old? That did not seem an attractiveidea. So I had to find some extremely efficient techniques, to learn fast. I desperately had

no time to waste. I HAD to be effective! So, learning languages became an exploration,

too.

I started with German. Mastering German to an acceptable (advanced) level took 3 years.

Then came Italian. Indeed, when I was a child, Italian pop-singers were extremely

popular in the Soviet Union. The language seemed very beautiful. But I never believed


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Ill be smart enough to learn it. After all, I had to learn German first! Anyway, while

learning German I had already tried a few audio courses, so I knew how to choose a

better one for my future Italian studies. And of course, while learning German I had tried

many learning techniques. So mastering Italian to nearly the same level as German took a

year and a half. Then I learnt French, Chinese and Indonesian, each of them to

intermediate level. I havent encountered good intermediate courses of Indonesian, sohere I had to start inventing them myself. The most recent, Spanish, took only three

months to upper intermediate level. Well, I knew how to find a really good audio course

and a good grammar book. Besides, I was learning for two hours each day. I had really no

timeI was supposed to go on a business trip to Mexico, and I knew it wasnt a good

idea to speak English or Italian there.

While learning languages I encountered dozens of methods and dozens of courses. I tried

everything Ive heard of. Some things proved to be effective. Others were just scams.

Some methods were effective at some point of language learning but not at the other.

I must confess, Ive probably made all the possible mistakes. Sometimes I was spendingdays after days learning and then I discovered I actually did not progress. Sometimes I

had headaches. Sometimes I just got that disappointed, I didnt want to learn any more!

At least not that language. But I never gave up. I just went on and on. Took my books

again, turned on my radio programs, opened my mouth and started talking.

In the beginning of my self-study, I often had to admit I had wasted a few days or even

weeks. I didnt learn much of a language, so I wasted them as a language learner. But I

had learnt a lesson in language learning. I knew something had gone wrong and THAT

was NOT a good way to learn a language. And that was even more important. After all,

getting to know that some method doesnt work will save me time in future! I still have

other languages to learn, and Ill never waste my time like that any more!

After having learnt enough myself, I started with mutual tutoring. I found people, who

wanted to know languages I already spoke perfectly. I was tutoring them, and in return

they helped me with their languages. That was fun! I never knew that teaching languages

may be such a fun! And so I understood that my learning tools were good not just for me

my friends progressed much better, when they learnt correctly.

You, my friend, my fellow language learner, you dont need to make the mistakes Ive

made. I have done a lot of investigating, and I have found the best tools, the best methods

for language learning. I use them in my tutoring. I have used them for writing my

language courses. I use them to raise my daughter trilingual (yes, she has three nativelanguages). And I describe them in this book.

Read my book, use my methods and make your language learning dreams come true.

Andmost importanthave fun!


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What Is Language

[Language is] a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of

conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings.

Merriam-Webster

The purposes of language:

1. Assistance (!) in conveying ideas or feelings2. Making you accepted in a group (society, nation etc.)

Conveying (getting and receiving) ideas (information, orders, information requests) and

feelings (physical, emotional or other) should be done in a way, acceptable between two

or more persons. One single person generally does not need a language.

Language and Communicat ion

Communication using a language is subdivided into 4 parts:

Speaking

Listening

Writing

Reading

Speaking and listening are referred to as oral communication, while writing and reading

are written communication. These two types usually differ in words and in grammar.

They may differ slightly or significantly. Naturally, people (as they are still children)

learn oral communication before they start to learn the written. There is a plenty of

people (even of pre-school age) who use oral communication perfectly, and do not know

to read and to write at all. In the earlier times there were even more such people.

However, there are relatively very few people who know reading and writing, but cannot

speak a language.

Speaking and writing will be referred to as outgoing communication, while listening and

reading are incoming communication. Outgoing communication may require more skills

to be mastered, compared to incoming. Yet once outgoing communication is mastered,incoming communication gets in very quickly, too.

Non-verbal communication is a type of communication by itself. However, Im going to

deal with it inasmuch as it relates to using a language, and no more.


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Studying Langu age? Using Language!

Why should you study a language?

For no reason!

Language is not a science; it is rather an art (or a craft). Studying a language may only

serve that university professor, who accepts grants for writing books and forcing his

students to study them.

On the other hand, using a language allows you to communicate freely and to be

accepted in a society. Various languages are used by people of Earth exactly as a means

of communication. Generally, people who are around you are more eager to accept you,

if your speech is similar to theirs. You may not notice it in your native surroundings, but

imagine a punk arriving to a big bosses meeting. Even if the punk wears fancy clothes,

his manner of speaking may disclose him. Im going to stress the importance of non-

verbal communication, too. It is a way of communication, too, because it assists inconveying ideas and creating opinions.

You may want to learn to use a language in order to communicate with a specific group

of people. Therefore, your goal would be better stated as learning that groups

communication means.

Children learn their native language in order to be able to communicate with people

around them, in their society. Besides learning a language, children also learn all the

objects, used in this society, their qualities, actions performed, behaviors, situations that

may occur, ways and manners. Children need to get aware of their personal wishes and

feelings, too. This is how they grow up to be members of a society. With a rare

exception, every person on this planet succeeds to do it.

Your task is however, much simpler: you have already got acquainted with most of the

objects, qualities etc. Especially with those mentioned in lower learning levels. Yet, there

would be much to learn from a childs ways of mastering a language.

Three Questions befo re You Start

Before you start to learn a language I want to ask you three questions. I hope they will

help you to better understand what you actually expect of a language and what you really

need. My questions should help you to define your final destination. And when you

know, where are you heading to, the chances of your success will be higher, they will!

First, why do you need to KNOW this language? For your career? For your passion to

the culture of this society? Are you planning a trip to that country? Relocation?


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Would you want to make friends with people, who speak this language? Or, would you

want to find your spouse? Maybe, you are just a language freak?

Probably, the worst reason to learn a language is I must. Or I have to take a language

course to obtain my B.A. in Chemistry. I am really sorry for people who are made to

learn languages they dont need. What a waste of time!

Now, the second question. How are you going to USE the language you have learnt?

How are your language skills supposed to help you in life? Will you just read classical

literature books? Or just chat in Facebook? Or, will you translate your favorite song?

Indeed, your answers will help you to choose a better way to learn the language. Or, to be

more precise, that will help you to better define language skills you need in the first

place.

Be sincere. I dont want you to reveal your answers to me or to anyone. I want you tounderstand foryourself, what are the most important skills for you to acquire. And how

deep and in which direction you should better dig. So that learning doesnt become a

waste of time and efforts. Indeed the whole purpose of my book is to help you to SAVE

your time and efforts and to make your learning effective and fun.

And the last one. Imagine you already know the language perfectly. You have learnt the

language. What happens next? What are you going to do next? Are you NOW going to

take a book and start reading it? Will you NOW go on a business trip? Imagine yourself

having learnt the language. How will it look like? How will you look like?

Sometimes, you dont need to wait, until youve learnt the language perfectly. You maygo on a trip and get around pretty good after youve just completed your Beginners

course. The same about making friends. Chatting may require Intermediate level and a

few specific words, which are usually used in online chats. And if you just want to sign

business contracts, you dont need to learn reading classical literature. (But you STILL

need to understand what stands in your contracts!) And maybe, sometimes it is easier for

you just to hire a translator or an interpreter!

I know this can sound weird for a language teacher to say things like that. That might kill

my income! But it doesnt. A true headache for me is a student who starts learning a

language without having a slightest idea, why is he doing it. This one wont get good

results, if any. And I dont want you tobe that unlucky.

Learn language only if you need it. Learn what you need. And have fun!


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General principlesThere are many techniques that help you to learn a language. And those that fit best for

one communication type will not necessarily be the best for another. However, there are

some general principles to be observed:

Levels Practice Words and Grammar Memorizing Words Importance Culture

Lets see exactly what I mean by each of them and how it helps you to learn a language.

Levels Learn Gradually

It is more than important to learn a language gradually. It will be more than difficult for a

beginner to try to learn with materials and techniques for advanced level. On the other

hand, if you are an intermediate learner and you still continue to use Beginners materials

and techniques, you will never complete your intermediate level and may even get

discouraged at all.

There are various frameworks which divide language proficiency and skills into levels. I

rely on Common European Framework (CEF or CEFR), recommended by the Council ofEurope. It has been developed to serve many languages in various fields, and it is referred

to by language testers throughout Europe (few dozens of languages). The Association of

Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) uses it to develop language tests. CEFR popularity

is growing among language testers in Asia, too. Further, language proficiency and

learning techniques will be presented according to CEFR levels.

Practice You Get What You Pract ice

As I mentioned above, language is not a science. It is a skill. To be more precise, it is a

set of skills. And like any other skill, to be developed, it should be practiced. You canunderstand science. Understanding language rules and words meanings is crucial, too.

But afterwards, you must practice or drill their use. Mere understanding will not turn

you into a successful user. The written words will seem familiar, but forgotten and

spoken language will be hardly understood. Speaking and writing will stumble, at best.

An English proverb says: Practice makes perfect. Theres nothing more to add. Practice

and only practice brings good results. More practice brings perfect results.


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You get what you practice.

If you practice oral communication, then your oral communication will become perfect.

Practicing writing makes your writing perfect fluent and correct. And so on. You get

what you practice. Practice up to acceptable and your skill will be acceptable not

perfect. Practicing to perfect will make it perfect. Techniques that I present here must

be practicedor you never get good results.

Words, Meanings , Dictionaries, Grammar

As I wrote above, communication consists of swapping ideas. A complete idea unit is

expressed by a sentence. A sentence consists of words. In a sentence each word has a

definite meaning.

Most words have a few meanings. Any meaning may relate to a person, an object, a

situation, an action, a process, a quality, an idea, a wish, or it may point at a relationship

between those (i.e. who is the doer and who is the receiver of action, etc). A word may

have a few exact meanings. And only one will fit the context. If you want to understand a

text or some speech, it is vital for you to know the exact, intended meaning of each word

in it. Unfamiliar or unknown words should be looked up in a dictionary immediately.

But it can happen that you come across a word, which is already familiar to you. And still

the phrase seems odd or far-fetched. This is a sure sign, that the word has been

misunderstood, or in other words, the meaning you already know does not fit this context.

Or, you maybe already know a few meanings of the word, but none of them fits thecontext. The word has even more meanings, and one of them might apply to the context.

Dont hesitate and look it up in your dictionary again. Find the meaning that fits the

context exactly, the meaning that does not make the context to seem odd or far-fetched.

Its quite all right to look up one word for a few times. Our purpose is to understand the

meanings of the word. Not just to make the word familiaror to memorize the word.

It can happen that your dictionary has no meaning that seems to fit. There may be two

reasons for that. One your dictionary is too small. It just doesnt have that specific

meaning. Usually, small pocket dictionaries are not enough for any learning beyond the

Beginners level. Even for the Intermediate you need a bigger dictionary. The second

reason is that there has been another word in the text, which you havent understood

properly. Or, that youve got a wrong meaning of it. Find that word and clarify it. If you

dont find the proper meaning, a misunderstood word will cause a gap or loss in

communication and the whole idea will be received incorrectly.

Some dictionaries provide just synonyms, and not explanations. Thats a mean con.

Synonym has ITS meaning, which is always a bit different.


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A good dictionary should have clear explanation of various meanings of each and every

word. The more precise and clear are the explanations, the better is the dictionary. And of

course, a good dictionary needs to have enough examples, how the word is used in

various contexts in various meanings. Fixed phrases with their meanings (idioms) should

be included, too.

Dictionaries are used to clarify the words meanings. Some of them contain more

meanings, others less. Some of them are written in plain language, others are not. You

purpose is to find the exact meaning that fits the exact context without getting lost. Find a

dictionary that fits best. There is a plenty of dictionaries in the Internet, too.

To form a sentence, words are ordered (and sometimes changed) according to certain

rules. So they convey some definite, intended meaning. These rules are called grammar.

Words and sentences that violate grammar rules will cause misunderstanding. Books ongrammar describe grammar rules, namely how you codify an idea (forming a sentence),

out of mere meanings (words).

Memoriz ing Topic s, Similari t ies, Differences

In order to facilitate memorizing and further usage of a word, a phrase or a grammar

structure, you should understand its similarities to and differences from another word or

structure that you already know. It is easier to learn languages which are similar to your

native one or to a language that you know well. Similarities are primary to differences.

First find identities and similarities to already known words or sounds or constructions. Inyour memory the new word will get attached to a certain meaning (or meanings), evoked

by a familiar word. Then come the differences. Find the differences between the new

word and to some similar word, that you have found before. The two words may be

different in how they sound, but they may have exactly the same meanings. Or, one word

may be used when talking to friends, and anotherwhen writing to officials.

This approach is valid forwords meanings. It is valid for how a word sounds, too. It is

valid for phrases (groups of words having some specific meaning) and for grammar rules.

First find identity or similarity to something familiar, then the find the differences.

When you start to learn a completely new language, the words sound totally unfamiliar to

you. So, you may need to invent audible similarities. You find some similarly

pronounced words from your native language, which have different meaning, just sound

similarly. And then you link them to the target word, by means of inventing some

situation. This is mnemonic. For example, you may memorize a word stol, which

means table in Russian, and sounds like stall in English. So, you can imagine a table


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standing in a stall. Or a Russian word stakan, a (drinking) glass, may be re -made up as

stuck cun(ning). But mnemonic has its drawback. When using it too much, you may

start getting lost in all those images. And you cannot speak swiftly. So, use mnemonics

only in the beginning and only with words that seem to be too difficult to memorize them

otherwise. And once you can do without mnemonic, do without it.

Objects, situations, qualities or any other meanings never come alone. Thinking of a

swimming pool nearly always includes thinking also of water, humidity, people dressed

in bathing suits, swimming, jumping, sounds of splashes and other things which appear

most commonly in a swimming pool and which it is generally associated with. In order to

be memorized easier, new words should be related to one another, too. This is the issue of

topics. Words introduced during some certain unit of learning should be related in their

meanings as closely as possible to one specific situation or issue.

This does not mean in any way, that words introduced should be somehow relatedgrammatically! Introducing NEW words according to their grammatical features will

confuse you and will cause you unnecessary hardships. Classifying a word according to

its grammatical features should be done only afterthe words meaning is learnt and the

word is properly practiced and memorized. This is good for grammar learning not for

words learning. You would rarely think of a goose in association with a tooth. Yet, after

both words are memorized and attached each one to its proper situations, they may and

should be grouped grammatically: goosegeese, toothteeth.

This is true about word formation, too. You should never introduce new words related

only by their word formation similarities. Meanings of those simple words which are apart of a complex one will most probably be unrelated. So they should be well known

before. Example: You already know the words education, population, illumination,

invention. THEN you may learn at once the words educate, invent, populate, and

illuminate.

This is true about learning words by the ABC. Many people get that weird idea, that once

youve learnt the dictionary by heart, you might know all the language. That is false. A

dictionary is the most useful tool, when you want to clarify a meaning of a word. But you

should never try to learn dictionary pages by heart. For one single and sufficient reason:

Words grouped by alphabet are mostly unrelated in their meanings.

Word Imp ortanceMeanings Frequency

Data in this section relate closely to Levels, but due to its importance by itself, Ill

describe it separately.


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Importance in this case will be defined as how frequently a word or its specific

meaning is used in common situations and how essential that word/meaning is, when

you need to form phrases in those situations. In other words, how often do you come

across that specific word, used in that specific meaning. This applies to words as well as

to grammar structures. Importance is tightly related to situations. Situations are related to

life and to learners level. Life situations which occur more frequently to a beginning

learner, like sightseeing, are not necessarily more common to an advanced learner.

Beginners will rarely need to discuss peculiarities of local politics or the latest film with

their local friends in much detail. More examples: There is a series of words important

for operating machinery at a factory. The situation (operating machinery at that specific

factory) is common only if a learner works at that factory. Then, these words should be

learnt at thebeginners level. Else they should not be learned up to native level and even

that may be unnecessary. Beginners are expected to be more often involved in eating out

situations than in activities related to cooking gourmet dishes. For an intermediate learner

these two activities may be of the same importance.

It is because of this importance principle, that learning the words according to some

grammatical or dictionary lists usually fails. Dictionary is a reference tool, not a textbook,

and it should be used as such. You may memorize many words, learning by heart the

whole pages from a dictionary, but you will hardly use them. Each word, each meaning

has different importance. Moreover, thinking up each time a different situations for

unrelated words is more difficult, than just taking one situation and learning all the words

that you may come across in THAT situation. Overlooking the importance principle

will unnecessarily complicate language learning and may stop it at all.

Everyday Culture Related to Langu age

One of Merriam-Webster definitions for culture says: the characteristic features of

everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time

Merriam-Webster

Each language reflects everyday culture of its society. Each object used within the

society, each more or less popular idea, each situation which commonly occurs they all

need to get a name or a description. So, the language immediately follows any changes of

societys rites, ways, technology or ideas.

For some societies the most common water sources will be a spring or a well. And you

will need to learn these words as quickly as possible. In other societies, faucet or tap will

be more common. In some languages you will not need the words like beer or wine

you just dont get any spirits around. For some languages you may not need words for

maize or bread, but you will immediately need a few words for different sorts of rice.


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Moreover, each society has its ways of courtesy. Although grammatically correct, some

expressions and phrases will be just considered impolite or rude. So the phrases

should be learnt exactly as they are used in the language BY native language users.

Or thats the way we use to say it. Many jokes about foreigners are based on cultural

differences and the manner of expressing the same things. Two persons of different

cultures may say exactly the same words, but the meaning will be just the opposite. Just

an example: You guess that your Russian pal has borrowed your pen, without you letting

him do that. The Russian may say I needed your pen! or something like Very much I

needed your pen! And he intends: I DIDNT need your pen AT ALL! And stop

bothering me on that! Just the opposite! And to understand correctly you should not just

listen to the music of language, but you must know that specific cultural point.

A good textbook will teach you the main cultural aspects of the target language society.There are many books on different cultures, too. The last resort may be a local, who will

be tolerant enough to understand you are not brutally rude, but just a learner.

What to Learn, and HowAs promised above, in this section I order the techniques according to the levels at which

they are used.

Beginners L evelThis is the level, where you set your basics. This is where you learn to express your

wishes and observations in the target language, although in the most primitive way. It is

extremely important to start speaking with proper accent from the very beginning. Most

common cultural issues and non-verbal communication are studied here, too.

Main Targets for This Level

The Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) defines Beginners language

skills as follows:

A2:

Speaking/Listening: CAN express simple opinions or requirements in a familiar context.

Reading: CAN understand straightforward information within a known area, such as on

products and signs and simple textbooks or reports on familiar matters.

Writing CAN complete forms and write short simple letters or postcards related to

personal information.


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A1:

Speaking/Listening: CAN understand basic instructions or take part in a basic factual

conversation on a predictable topic.

Reading: CAN understand basic notices, instructions or information.

Writing: CAN complete basic forms, and write notes including times, dates and places.

It is extremely important to start speaking with proper accent from the very beginning.

Most common cultural issues and non-verbal communication should be studied here, too.

Words From Life Situations

As a rule of thumb, 150-300 for A1 level, 300-900 for A2

Trying to set an exact number of words for any level is rather difficult and useless. In

order to acquire the same skills, some languages will require more words than others

just because of their grammar or the quantity of meanings their words usually have.

At this level you better learn words as a part of fixed phrases and sentences. At this level

you generally have very little (if any) experience with how the language sounds which

sounds often come together, and which dont. So, you may use mnemonics, especially at

A1 level. Use only bilingual dictionaries. If you still want to use a monolingual

dictionary, it should have VERY many pictures. But even that may be not enough for

explaining abstract meanings or situations. All the explanations, therefore, should be

done in your native language, or at least in another language, that you know well.

There are theories that say you should hear only target language around, and all theexplanation should be done in it. Like native language toddlers. But, what these theories

DONT say is that toddlers usually have a few years just to learn the language, and even

after that they go to school and learn the language for even longer. Do you have, lets say

at least four spare years just to learn to speak like a 6-year old? And at least 8 years more

to learn to speak like an educated adult?

Toddlers should not just learn the words and how to build up sentences; they are learning

objects, situations etc, too. As a second language learner, you usually know the names of

most of the objects in your native language, so why should the task be additionally

complicated? You usually dont have that much time as toddlers have (a few years for

learning a language). Showing a table or a window and naming them in the target

language is very good. Walking a few steps and saying go in the target language only

would be fun. But it will be a waste of time, if your teacher spends an hour, trying to

mimic meanings like but or how. Instead of just spending a couple of minutes and

explaining them in your native language. And some grammar constructions will take


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even more time. So, the most effective solution for this level will be explanation in your

native language. And then drill the phrase in the target language!

The best way to learn words is to take part in (or create together with the teacher) exact

life situations. You may take your teacher to a restaurant or rent a room together. You

may play some movement games, but make sure you properly understand each word

FIRST. Words will be learnt easier if summarized (orally or written down in a copy

book) according to their topics.

Never let yourself guess about the meaning of a word. Look it up in a dictionary and

choose the meaning that fits best to the context. Some words are slightly more difficult to

memorize or to understand, and you may discover, you need to look them up again and

again. Theres nothing strange about it (or about your language abilities). However, if

you seem to always forget the same meaning of a specific word, look it up in another

dictionary. Maybe you will find a better explanation there.

Grammar Complex Is Best, Drilling Makes Easy

You should learn to build up complex sentences at this level. You should know how the

words change, when connected to other words. That means you should learn at least 95%

of grammar structures used in spoken language on day-to-day basis.

From the very beginning, sentences should NOT be simple! Complex sentences (those

consisting of two or more simple ones clauses), are more meaningful, thus more

interesting. You should make them up from the very beginning. Simple sentences dont

provide logical reasons and consequences. They are usually less interesting. Actually,sentences structures (syntax) should be presented as quickly as possible. Dont be afraid

of conjunctions, BUT they should be classified and explained properly (i.e.: because:

after this word stands the reason for what was said before it; but: is used to imply that

what goes after it is somewhat unexpected; etc). The same with word changes within a

sentence (morphology). Pronouns require more practice to be grasped, so more

explanation and more drilling should be done to the sentences containing pronouns.

Various aspects of words use, multiple meanings of a word, pronouns that should be

explained with many examples; demonstrations with objects or within real life situations

will be best.

A teacher or a textbook will be crucial for grammar learning at this stage.

And a lot of drilling.


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Speaking and Listening Drills Wardrobe, Re-Hearing, Fetching

At this level, oral communication is the best way of passing information. It is more

important than reading or writing at this stage. In a native way, toddlers usually hear their

native language and start to speak much earlier than they start to learn reading.

Listening and speaking practice will be best done in the following way: The teacher

explains a sentence, word by word, sound by sound, slowly, providing some mnemonics

if needed, or providing similarities to an already known language. Simulating the

situations, performing related activities, pointing to the objects will be best. But

clarifications should be done in your native language. The words meanings should be

clarified (most common and general at this level; special meanings only if explicitly

needed). Grammar structures should be clarified, too. Repeat each word slowly, carefully

pronounce each sound. Then say the whole sentence to another learner. If you are drilling

on your own, you may drill with any big object, big enough. It can be a cabinet, or a desk,

a closet, or even a wall. The object must be 1) big enough, 2) it should be at your eyesheight, 3) it shouldnt move, and 4) it shouldnt have anything written or printed on it.

Thats why the computer display or a TV-set may only do if they are turned off. A book

will not do. It is small and it has printed words. Lets say, you are drilling with a

wardrobe. Repeat the sentence to the wardrobe again and again until it goes without

hesitation, stumbling or any other difficulty. If you feel it is difficult to pronounce the

whole sentence, drill parts of it first. Than reconnect the parts and drill the whole

sentence.

Then you start to drill listening. The teacher says the sentence faster, changes intonations,

reduces sounds the way native speakers use to say it fast. Sounding different voices

would be best (in a prepared course). You should be able to say this sentence to your

partner (or to the wardrobe) without doubt and at any pace. You may also learn to

properly reduce the sounds as native speakers do. The purpose is to learn to hear the

words said in different ways by different speakers / voices and to say them like a native

speaker. Common native speakers mistakes may be explained, but the correct standard

form is more important. Drill with your partner or against the wardrobe to perfection.

Generally, the perfection level that you obtain with this drilling, determines your

future speaking fluency. The better you drill now, the better and swifter you can a

sentence to your pal or to the wardrobe, the better you will speak the language in future.It will be just much easier for you to speak ever since. Its like yourtongue will learn to

speak correctly, on its own. And YOU dont need to think HOW to say, you will be free

to think WHAT to say. You dont think HOW to pronounce something in your native

language, do you? You rarely need to stop and think about a word in most day-to-day

situations. You just speak your native language. You have drilled these sentences through

your life. You have said them in various ways since you were a child. And now your


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tongue speaks perfectly. The same thing about the language you are learning. You need

to drill it enough. And this drilling brings you to perfection.

After drilling a few sentences (a short dialog or so), you may make up your own similar

sentences, or recite the dialog or the story in your own words.

If no teacher is available, but theres an audio file with its transcript (written text) instead,

listen to the audio file and follow the text, phrase by phrase, until you hear properly and

understand each word in this phrase, even if it is reduced, or said quickly or pronounced

improperly. If you havent understood exactly what has been said, just stop your

recording and look it up in your transcript. Then return a couple of seconds back and

listen again.

While listening to the recording, you should be able to repeat what has been said there.

Exactlythe way it has been SAID

. (And not just the way it has been WRITTEN in the

transcript!) If you cant repeat it exactly the way it has been said or if you dont

understand how those sounds correspond to what the word should be according to the

rules or to thebook, just listen to it again and again. Until you immediately understand

what has been said, and you get used to THAT way of saying it. Then, after you have

clarified the whole recording, listen to it a few more times. Dont hesitate to look up in

your transcript, any time you mis-hear anything (do not exactly understand what youve

just heard). Listening is a skill, too. And it is best drilled this way.

After youve drilled SAYING and HEARING phrases, you may need to drill to fetch

themrecall the proper phrase in the proper situation. Or reply with a proper answer to aspecific question. Your textbook glossary for the lesson youve learnt, may help you best.

A very good fetching drill is done with a recording. Record the phrases in your native

language, at random, and leave a few seconds in between. Then, while you are listening

to your recording, you will translate these phrases or reply to the questions. Make sure

that your recording prompts you to say every new phrase a few times throughout the

recording.

Example: you are learning the question How is the weather today? and the answers:

Its raining today, its cold today and the weather is fine today.

So, your recording goes like this:

(In the target language: ) How is the weather today? (Pause, to let yourself reply in the

target language)

(In your native language: ) How do you say, its cold today? - (Pause, to let yourself reply

in the target language)

(In your native language: ) Ask about the weather! - (Pause to let yourself ask about the

weather)


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(In your native language: ) Its cool. How is the weather today? (Pause to let yourself say

in the target language that it is cool today)

(In your native language: ) How do you say: It rains today? (Pause to let yourself say

in the target language that its raining)

And so on.

Accent How Do You Master It

Pay attention to the proper accent from the very beginning. It will be much more

difficult to re-learn it later.

Generally accent consists of three parts: music of the language, pace and articulation.

Music of the language consists of which sounds are pronounced stronger or weaker, and

what is the relative (audio) pitch of a sound. Do you pronounce it higher or lower than

other sounds in the phrase? Music of the language may be specially drilled with

howling teacher exaggeratedly howls the intonations and you howl them after theteacher. Sometimes a single vocal may start at relatively low pitch, then the pitch goes up

and then down. The importance of music of language is explicitly stressed in Chinese,

Vietnamese, Thai, and many African languages. These languages are considered to be

tonal. The whole meaning of a word may change due to different music of language. In

other languages it is not that crucial, but it affects the meaning anyway. Example: You

arent hungry, are you? If the pitch for are you goes up, you want to know if the

person is hungry. If the pitch forare you goes down, you suppose that the person is

NOT hungry and you just want a confirmation of it.

Some parts of a sentence, or even of a single word, are said faster than others. And

sometimes a stop should be done. Stops dont need to be only at the end of a sentence.

They may be in the middle of a word, too. Thats all about pace.

Articulation is by itself nothing but creating sounds with your vocal chords, tongue and

lips. Yet your lower jaw and your throat are related to the process, too. Generally, in

order to properly articulate words, you should master proper positioning and proper

movements of the tongue (its various parts tip, middle and back) and lips, with respect

to other parts of the mouth. Try moving your jaws, try speaking while with the tip of the

tongue is at the upper palate or at the lower palate or near the upper or lower teeth. Placethe back of the tongue properly, too. Once the native reduction of words starts to seem

most natural for that specific placement, you may be sure you are on the right way.

Mastering proper articulation, pace and music of language would be a significant step for

a learner towards being accepted as a native speaker. Rather, accepted in the native

society. Foreign accent will be excused to a beginner. But it wont be tolerated to an


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intermediate or advanced learnerthey will always sound like beginners and treated as

beginners no matter how correctly they speak. Unfortunately, it is much easier to

acquire proper accent at the Beginners level, than at any other. The importance of

mastering the proper accent is often underestimated during language courses or in

textbooks, so I want to specially stress this datum here.

Proper accent can never be explained in books. Like its practically impossible to explain

basic colors. It should be demonstrated. However, proper mouth positioning for a specific

language may be described. Probably, one day Ill do a research about accents.

In order to drill the correct accent you will need an audio recording and an audio recorder

for yourself. A transcript is highly advised, too. First, listen to the recording, phrase by

phrase, and mark the music of the language and the pace you hear. Mark the words that

are pronounced in some unexpected or wrong way. Mark exactly what you hear. Then

listen to a phrase of no longer than 1.5-2 seconds, and then say it yourself. Record

yourself saying it and listen to it immediately. Hearing yourself speaking a foreignlanguage may be fun! Or, it may be funny it differs THAT much from the original

recording! Pay attention to the music of the language and the pace. Simulate them. Play

them. Be an actor and act the character of your recording. While you are speaking, try to

change the position of your tongue or lips. Take notice, when you sound more closely to

the recording. And please, remember: Most important accent work should be done at this

level. From the very beginning! It will be much more difficult to get rid of a bad

accent, than to acquire the right one from the very beginning.

As for myself, I had learnt two languages without paying attention to the correct accent.

Indeed, I just bypassed the whole accent issue about these two. And I could never acquireproper pronunciation ever since. My grammar, vocabulary and cultural knowledge

increased, one to advanced, another to intermediate. But once I open my mouth, native

speakers hear immediately where do I come from and often treat me as a learner.

Reading and WritingDont Dig Too Deep

At this level written communication is less important than oral communication. However,

at A1 alphabet may be introduced and a few most common and important signs should be

read. Reading and writing will be somewhat more stressed at A2. Here you should know

to read and write the words and sentences that you have already learnt. However,

throughout the whole A level, words should be better presented orally. The reason is, that

the sound a in the language you are trying to learn, sounds usually NOT exactly the

same as a in your native language. The same is true about B, CH, etc. Close as it

can be, IT IS NEVER EXACTLY THE SAME! So, a written word will just confuse you.


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You better start to learn reading and writing only AFTER youve mastered proper

pronunciation. The letters will then not confuse you. Letters reflect pronunciation

approximately, they rather imply it. Moreover, pronunciation of a word may be affected

by other words around, or by the whole meaning of the sentence. The same word may be

uttered SLIGHTLY OR SIGNIFICANTLY different in various cases. Letters rarely

represent sounds to THAT extent.

Reading may be done aloud as well as silently. When you are drilling READING, you

are not drilling PRONUNCIATION. You have drilled oral communication before, now

its just about reading. Read a text again and again until you recognize and understand

immediately each one of the encountered words.

Writing may be drilled as follows: look into the textbook you have used to drill reading,

memorize a simple sentence, put the book aside and write the sentence in your copy-book

or type it (with all your fingers!) on a PC. You better drill typing up to the point whenyou are typing without hesitation, stumbling or any other difficulty. You may drill all the

sentences you come across in your textbook, but you might first drill those you need to

fulfill the requirements described in The Main Targets for This Level.

Non-Verbal Communication and Culture Lets Play

It is a good time to learn gestures and mimics accepted in the target society. Properly

using gestures makes life much easier, even without knowing a language and helps to

evade confusing situations. It would be a good relaxation pause during the lesson, too.

Actually, all important non-verbal communication should be learnt at this level.

At this level, your teacher or your course book should introduce, in your native language,

the cultural similarities and differences between your native and target cultures, on the

issues related to day-to-day life activities.

Most common filler words and exclamations should be introduced, too. Play them. Act

them. Live them through. Feel their emotions and give them back.

Word games for toddlers may be an excellent (but insufficient) tool for easier language

learning.

Intermediate level

CEFR B1-B2

This is the level, where you may (although, not advised to) start learning without a

teacher or a textbook. The guidelines provided below will make your learning easier.


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At this level you expand significantly your vocabulary, acquire reading and writing skills,

drill speaking, listening, and express yourself correctly on much more issues.

Main Targets for This Level

B2:Speaking/Listening: CAN follow or give a talk on a familiar topic or keep up a

conversation on a fairly wide range of topics.

Reading: CAN scan texts for relevant information, and understand detailed instructions or

advice.

Writing: CAN make notes while someone is talking or write a letter including non-

standard requests.

B1:

Speaking/Listening: CAN express opinions on abstract/cultural matters in a limited way

or offer advice within a known area, and understand instructions or public

announcements.

Reading: CAN understand routine information and articles, and the general meaning of

non-routine information within a familiar area.

Writing: CAN write letters or make notes on familiar or predictable matters.

Words: 1200 (i.e. Chinese)4000 (i.e. German)Depends on the language.

Grammar: Proper usage of the words, their forms and their connections with other words

Cultural: Insight into the history and geography of the target country, rituals and

important dates celebrated or observed in the society, the most popular songs and stories.

Words and Grammar Build Up Your Vocabulary, Use a Dictionary

This is the level, where the main target is expanding your vocabulary and using the words

correctly. Proper dictionary use is a must. A simple dictionary will not be enough any

longer. A bilingual dictionary is still preferable. NEVER try to guess the meaning of a

word from its context! In some RARE cases you may succeed, but in most cases you will

remain unsure about it and you will end up hardly using this word in your speech. A

much more ridiculous situation will occur, if you guess the meaning incorrectly and start

using the word that way, odd for a native speaker. This may definitely bring you into

unpleasant situations, the least of which is that you will be sneered at.

Theres no place for guesses in language learning! If in smallest doubt, look it up in

a dictionary.

What concerns the grammar, the main point at this level is to use correct words, correct

word forms and build up correct phrases with them. You have learnt to build up sentences


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in the Beginners level. Now your vocabulary expands and you should use it correctly.

Pay most attention to the way the words are connected to one another in phrases. Correct

use of prepositions and pronouns becomes more important at this level. Word formation

is important, too.

Keep your own vocabulary. Make it in the following way:

Your vocabulary will consist of four parts:1. Words part this one contains words only. It is the biggest part and it will be

described further in more detail.

2. Phrases partthis one contains idiomatic expressions, sayings and proverbs.3. Grammar part this one contains data on how you build up phrases with the

word. Which prepositions do you use to connect the word with others (workon a

project / workwith a colleague / workat a big company; dependent on him; in a

house, in a meadow, in a forest, at the seaside, at a bus stop, etc); conjunctions

use, and their effect on sentence structure, etc.4. Exceptions part this one contains morphological (word forms) exceptions or

peculiarities irregular verbs with their conjugations, irregular or non-obvious

plural forms of nouns, etc.

Building up the Words part: This is the biggest part. It contains all the words thatyou have learnt or encountered. It should be divided by topics, so that each new

word and new meaning (!) of an old word is entered according to its topic.

Topics should reflect all possible life situations and/or activities. There will be

general topics, like Activities, Society, Travel, which may include sub-

topics as Interactions between people, Social relations and positions, Landsand peoples respectively. Words in each of the described above subtopics would

be support, warn, care, friend, leader, duty, Englishman, Europe, Asian.

You will see the list of topics in the next section. Be careful: many words have

different meanings, each one applicable to a different subtopic (The Cross

religion, a crosssymbols and forms, to crossmovement, e.g. to cross a street).

This word should appear in each one of these subtopics with a meaning,

applicable for that specific subtopic.

The theoretical basis for such division is described in section Memorizing Look up in a dictionary each new word or meaning that you encounter, check

other meanings of an already familiar word, and write them down into applicable

subtopics. Idioms in which this word makes a part should be clarified as well and

written in Phrases part, aspects on the word use in alliance with others should

be written in Grammarpart and if this word has any irregular or special form, it


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(that form) would be written down in Exceptions part. Only a dictionary

providing all this data will be considered a good / appropriate one.

Other parts: After you have entered a word to the Words part, you may need toadd some grammar notes about that word in the Grammar part, or that word

may be some grammar exception. When you are entering it into Grammar or

any other part, write down at which page, or under which topic does this word or

meaning appear at the Words part. It will help you later.

Compare the word to its synonyms and antonyms that you have already in yourvocabulary. The point here is to pay attention to similarities and differences

between words with respect to their use. Pay special attention to the differences

between synonyms. Differences between ANTONYMS are more obvious, but

just differences between synonyms will help you to understand the exact idea of

the meaning for both the word and its synonym.

Make up a few sentences with the newly acquired word according to eachsubtopic it is entered into. You may imagine or remember a situation in his life, in

which this word would be applicable.

You can enrich your vocabulary by reading or by listening. However, if you are listening

to a text and you hear a word you dont know or dont quite understand how it relates to

the context, you need somebody near you, a teacher or a native speaker, who can

immediately explain, what you have misunderstood. If you are learning on your own, use

only a printed text or a transcribed recording.

I would not recommend a text that contains more than 8% of unknown or misunderstood

words. Keep in mind that a word may be already familiar to you, but in this specific

context it may have a different meaning, so you need to look it up in the dictionary. After

having clarified all the words as described above, re-read or re-hear the text, sentence by

sentence. Until you can read (or hear) and immediately understand each and every

word, everything you hear. Then drill the sentences with your pal or against a wardrobe

as described in the Beginners section. Then drill writing: read a sentence, set the text

aside and type or write the sentence yourself. Work through the whole text this way.

Afterwards, tell your own story on the same topic, using the words youve learnt from the

text. A story may consist of up to 10 sentences. A teacher or a native speaker should

correct any mistake immediately and you should immediately redo the sentence error-

free. The story should be re-told up to fluency and perfection. Then write down your

story. A teacher or a native speaker should correct any mistake immediately. Re-write the

story or certain sentences from it until they are error-free. Then, a teacher may tell you


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his own story on the same topic and then you may discuss with the teacher both stories

yours and yourteachers. Discussion-related phrases may be a separate topic by itself.

Choose texts for learning from teenage or (rarely and only those simplest) women

magazines. They might include topics on Human Body and Personality, Personal Care,

House and Home, Family and Relationships, Economy and Politics (only most basic day-

to-day issues), Social Institutions and Social Issues, Vacations and Travel. These can be

modern short stories for children and teenagers. For listening practice, stories and audio

plays intended for children and (rarely and only those simplest) for teenagers may be

chosen, as audio texts are generally more difficult then written ones. Learning popular

poems and songs by heart and reciting them to yourself is very useful, as it sets many

commonly used phrases in. By the way, this tool is used by many educational systems to

improve native language skills of a student. Moreover, you will be able to understand /

quote phrases or rhymes, that only native speakers are expected to known. This brings

you much closer to the native speaker level and you will be treated as such. Proper

vocabulary work should be observed, while working with any text.

At this stage, the best way you can use a teacher or a native speakers is to ask them to

correct your mistakes immediately. As well, swap ideas or narrations with native

speakers and hold informal discussions with them.

Continue using audio recordings as I describe it in the Beginners section.

More on Meanings

At this level you expand your vocabulary significantly. You need to understand lots of

new words. It is a widely spread stereotype, that one should memorize words. Thatsfalse. It is not about wordsit is all about meanings. One word usually has a few distinct

meanings. When you hear or read a word, you must immediately fetch the meaning,

which the speaker or the writer intended. And on the opposite side, when you are the

speaker or the writer, once you think of some idea, you need to fetch correct words,

corresponding to this idea. We are not dealing with words. We are dealing with ideas

and meaningswhich are practically the same. And we usewords as substitutes for

them. We represent meanings by words. And sometimes one meaning may be

represented with a group of words.

When we speak our native language, we usually dont have any problems about fetc hingwords for our ideas or about getting the correct meaning of a word, we have just heard or

read. We have actually drilled it through the whole life.

And when we learn a new language, we still need to drill it. The first step is to

understand, which meaning will be represented by a word. Each word may represent a


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few distinct meanings. And when you are making your vocabulary, make it according to

the meanings. It will be a meanings-based-vocabulary, not words-based.

To help you to understand exactly each meaning that you see in a dictionary for that

specific word, I advise you to classify the meanings into groups.

A meaning may represent:

a) A person (or an animal): man, John, old ladyb) An object: table, car, mobile phone, a piece of writingc) A situation: representation, official (related to authorities), place, settingd) An action / activity of a person: to write, to cut out, negotiations, handle

(something)

e) A process: rain, to rain, to burn, to turn into somethingf) A quality or an ability: imagination, lively, funny,g) A thought or a belief: to think of, a wish, morality,h) A mental state or emotion: fun, exhaustedi) It may point at a relationship between those above (i.e. who is the doer and who is

the receiver of action, etc): because, in, at on, etc.

As you see, this grouping of MEANINGS is hardly related to the common grouping of

WORDS into parts of speech.

Topics List for Your Vocabulary

Below is the list of topics that your vocabulary may contain. This is an approximate list.

Although I havent thought up anything better. So, you may definitely use it. This

grouping is rather arbitrary, and some meanings (even meanings!) may belong to more

than one topic or fall somewhere in between. Anyway, this is a general pattern and you

decide where each meaning you have just learnt belongs. Here are the topics.

1. Movements/Rest: come, go, step, fall down, slip, lie (somewhere), hang (an objectis hanging), drive a car, turn around, rock (from side to side a person or an

object rocks themselves)

2. Movement of things: bring, take, send, hang (somebody hangs something), rock(something, from side to side)

3. Give and Take: get, receive, provide, need, propose (an object to somebody),hand in

4. Activities performed on objects: pour (liquid), bend, mix, close, pierce, divide(into pieces), break, responsibility, consuming, melt (you melt something), burn

(you burn something)


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5. Plans and realizations: try, succeed, make, perform (some activity), take care (ofsomething), activity, project, failure (result of some activity)

6. Objects' qualities: big, small, hot, soft, hard, liquid, dry, loose (not tight), solid7. Objects' qualities changes: burn (an object burns itself), melt (object melts itself),

stretch out, break (object breaks)

8. Qualities of activities: exact, somehow, unchanged, profoundly, this way (how issomething done)

9. Order and dependencies: reason (for something to happen), why?, depend on(something), trigger (a reaction), difference (between something and something

else), on the opposite side, relate (how 2 processes or things relate one to

another), similarity, order (everything is placed in order), except (something),

exception, lack (an objects should be somewhere, but it lacks),

10.Language, Speaking, Information: speak, joke, voice, tell (a story), story (which istold), shout, explain (some idea), express (some idea), pronunciation, consult, ask,

warn (somebody on something), news, advice, point (to something), show

(something)

11.Read and Write: read, read out, pencil, handwriting, word, note (a piece of paper),note (to write a note), book, desk

12.Opinions: agree (with somebody), explain, persuade, to my mind, sure, suppose,so-called, argument, judgment, mistake, question, critics, sincere, like (approve of

some idea or persons behavior), complicated, consider (anything to be

something), advantage, probably, surely, claim (say that anything is something),

believe (have some idea), nonsense13.Wishes and orders: claim (demand), demand, beg, forbidden, propose, succumb,beg your pardon, obey, permission

14.Time: Sunday, winter, weekly, last year, on the 2-nd of December, date, eachmorning, quarter past 5, current (happening now), past (what has already been),

go on (some period of time), start (some period of time), next (in time), later,

yesterday, first (in time), then (order according to time), always, until, as long as

15.Quantity, count, weights, comparison: group, one third, piece (of something),majority, number, digit, plus, hardly (some quantity), pair (i.e. of socks or gloves),

8, 148, measure, weight, kilogram, litre, contain (some quantity inside), weigh,

contains (of something), full, empty, most, totally, very, many, much, how much,

exactly

16.Space and forms: above, over, below, back (direction), inside, side, narrow, wide,depth, dimensions, left/right, middle (of something), height, straight (not bent),


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sharp, corner, cross (form), bow (form), flat (horizontal, without slopes), slope

(curvature), ring (a form)

17.Colours, light and sounds: dark, bright (not dark), pale, green, yellow, ring (a bellrings), harsh (sound, light), loud

18.Human Body and Anatomy: heart (an organ), lungs, face, finger, foot, breath,sweat, blood, look (when a person looks somehow), pretty (of persons body),

plump, posture (of a body), lose weight

19.Body functions and the five senses: see (only visually), hear, sleep, dream (whilesleeping), wake up (only physiologically), taste (sense), feel cold, tear (which

falls out of an eye)

20.Feelings and emotions: happy, glad, nervous, love, lust, anxious, afraid (ofsomething), fear, ashamed, pleasure

21.Intellectual faculties and activities: hope, idea, clever, experience, think, imagine,imagination, ability, decide, choose

22.Personality: moody, nosy, honest, have guts (to do something), will (ability tochoose and decide), self-discipline, determinate

23.Personal care

how to master any language

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