There has got to be either a traditional or proven method for going about learning new vocabulary while reading.
I’m a native English speaker with a doctorate in STEM but too often there will be more than one word I haven’t seen used in a particular context or am not entirely confident of its meaning in general.
So as not to be too disruptive or have too many words to learn, my strategy is to only look up on word per page. It can be the first word I come up to or I just skim back at the end of the page. It’s not every page this happens but around every third page. If the part is particularly interesting or I’m just not in the mood then I will also skip this process.
Also, is there a dictionary app (willing to pay if it’s not a subscription) you like for looking up these words that also has ways to save and reinforce your learning over time or do I just have to use Marriam Web and Anki apps?
by meowmeowMIXER8
6 Comments
Most words I can get the gist of from the context of the sentence, and then I just keep on reading. I usually won’t bother looking anything up unless it is some word that is used repeatedly, and not knowing it seems to really be hampering my ability to understand what is being written about.
For example, I am reading the *Kristin Lavransdatter* novels right now, and I didn’t know what a [sæter](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/saeter) is. I wasn’t sure if it was a house or farm or grain store or what, and they kept talking about the need to visit one. So I looked it up by googling it.
In general, I will just google it from my phone quickly when these instances come up. Pretty much every word’s definition can be found online quickly these days just from googling.
I almost always glean the meaning from context as best I can. I rarely ever look it up.
Context clues unless the word comes up repeatedly and I’m still unable to figure it out. This happens very rarely.
I know that it will stick better in your memory if you also look up a good 8 or 10 examples of the word used in a sentence. Say them outl oud to yourself, and your will recall will be much better.
I look up or check the wiki of things I don’t know
I used to look for every single one of them on the dictionary. Nowadays I speak English better and context suggests meaning, but I still like to make sure. I like Terry Pratchett and the man was a *fiend* with obscure words.