Woordenschat vergroten: hoe doe je dat?

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Een veelgehoorde vraag van deelnemers aan onze taaltrainingen: hoe zorg je er nu voor dat je tijdens en na de training je woordenschat vergroot en blijft vergroten? En waar vind je de woordenschat die voor jou/voor jouw vakgebied relevant is? Een gevarieerde woordenschat die groot genoeg is om je in specifieke situaties effectief uit te drukken, is onmisbaar in zakelijk en sociaal verkeer.

Iedereen leert anders, dus er is niet één antwoord te geven op deze vraag. Daarom hebben we aan al onze trainers hun beste tips gevraagd. Om het overzichtelijk te houden geven we je in de komende nieuwsbrieven steeds onze top-tips per taal en per leerstijl.

Engels

Voor mensen die graag al lezend nieuwe Engelse woorden (vocabulary) leren: read articles, newspapers, magazines relevant to the vocabulary you want to expand:

http://uk.businessinsider.com/?IR=C – for general business articles
https://www.investopedia.com – for finance and banking
https://www.hrzone.com/ – for HR related topics
http://www.dutchnews.nl – Dutch news in English (app available)
https://culips.com/ – for everyday use
LinkedIn is a great resource … join groups and the conversation
Look at competitors’ websites in English, see how they describe their product/service/results/news etc.
Google examples of product sheets, emails, annual reports etc.

Which words to learn?

learn the words that are important for your job
learn the words that you read or hear again and again
learn the words that you know you will often want to use yourself
do not learn words that are rare or not useful

How to learn words

Once you have chosen which words to learn, you next have to decide how you are going to learn them. Here are a few ideas:

write the words in a notebook, in a computer file (with their translations or definitions) or use apps like Quizlet and Memrise or websites like StudyGo!
write the words and definitions on small cards
put the words into different groups e.g. words related to taxation

In all of the above ways, you are doing something with the words. Learning that to apologize means to say sorry is a good start, but it’s much better to learn a whole expression containing the word, e.g. He apologized for being late. Not only is this often easier to remember, but you are also learning some important information on how the word is used.

Things to know about the words you learn

how it is spelled / how it is pronounced / how it is inflected (i.e. how it changes if it is a verb, noun or adjective)
how it collocates (i.e. what other words are often used with it)
if it has a particular style or register e.g. formal or informal
the context in which it is most likely to be used