Learn vocabulary like children


Your neighbor has been telling you that she thinks her 7-year-old child must be a prodigy of some sort because he can learn and retain more than 50 new words a week. You are, of course, impressed, and you wonder how the child does it.

Not to burst your neighbor's bubble, but her child is just like any average child. In fact, an average 8-year-old child can learn as many as 3600 words in a year. Don’t be so shocked. You were also a child once, and you did go through that fast pace of learning although you probably don’t remember how you did it.

Is it possible to relearn the child's way?


New vocabulary software programs can teach you ways to make it possible. Of course, you will not go back to learning 3600 words a year, but you can learn faster than the average adult's measly rate of 20 words a year.

Re-learning the child's way

Spend about an hour watching children at play. You will see how open they are to new experiences, new ideas, or new words. Because of their open minds, learning comes very naturally to them.

When children encounter a new word, they may ask an adult what it means but most of the time they are able to learn the word's meaning by themselves. They just observe how a word is used and within a few minutes, they will be using the word in their own sentences.

Open your mind and broaden your vocabulary

When your mind is open, you will be able to learn more words, more quickly, just like a child. Our favorite vocabulary software program, Ultimate Vocabulary, gives you different strategies to open your mind to learn new words. Here are some of those strategies:

Be on the lookout for new words wherever you go. There are words you can learn everywhere. Whether you're watching a movie, waiting in line at the grocery store, or riding on the bus, there are words around you.

Looking up a word in the dictionary is a surefire way of learning what a word means, but before you do this, first try to figure out a word's meaning from its context.

If you don’t have access to a dictionary or vocabulary software program, ask someone. Whether you're at home or in the office, never be too shy to ask.