English vocabulary - another way to learn

(Another log entry from renren, the Chinese site. I hope this helps you a bit.)

From what I hear, students who are learning English have a very tough time learning vocabulary. Vocabulary is simply the words we use and their meaning. I think most students use lists of words to do this, pages and pages of words with their meaning beside them. Is this working for you? Probably not, right? 

Pick up an easy English book, maybe even a children's book. The reason that I suggest a children's book is because they are usually simple, they use easy words and you won't get frustrated. This is only for people who are having a tough time with English, not people who regularly communicate with me in good English. Many other people on renren tell me that they suck at English and some can't communicate at all. This is for them. 

Start reading. See if you can figure out what the book is about, what the words mean and how they are used. As soon as you hit a word that doesn't make sense, that you don't know, or you don't know how it is being used, stop and look it up. Take some time for find out what 'unicorn' means, for instance.

Learning English words this way is sometimes frustrating but, believe me, you will know the words when you are done. As long as you are reading English EVERY DAY, even just a page or a paragraph, you will get better, bit by bit, word by word. 

Once you get the children's books figured out, try a teen or adolescent book. I'm thinking of Twilight or The Hunger Games, something like that. I think it's better to read a book that was written in English first, not a book that was written in Chinese and translated into English. The English that is used will be better, I think. 

OK. If  you can read this, you already know a lot about English. Maybe you could do your friends a favour by sharing this or even translating it. You can help your friends this way, I think.