Improve Your Vocabulary with Accelerated Word-Infusion Techniques

By Don Woodruf, Director of the Professional Vocabulary Institute

If you are looking to rapidly improve your vocabulary, there is good news and bad news. Let's examine the bad news. The part of our brain that made language acquisition so easy for us when we were young children started to rapidly diminish by the time we turned 5 years of age.

Now, as adults, new words have become somewhat harder to integrate into our day-to-day conversations. That's the bad news. Now, here is the good news: By using accelerated word-infusion techniques, we can easily learn and retain new terms by associating them with the part of the brain that never forgets. These techniques include: simplification, personalization, repetition, and helper-words.

Accelerated Word-Infusion Techniques:

Step One: Simplification
Too simplify a word, look at its origin--when a word was first used. The origin of the word is usually related to something that could be easily understood by most people. Example: the word "abstract" literally means "away from the structure."

Step Two: Personalization
Relating the word to personal experiences. If you have ever observed an abstract painting, you will better understand the concept of being abstract. Part of this step is to vocalize sentences reflecting personal life experiences.

Step Three: Repetition
What you repeat over and over will become part of you. This step includes observing more and more personal examples and creating multiple, personal sentences that reflect the experiences.

Step Four: Look for Helper Words
To make it easy to place a new word into a sentence, use a common "helping word" or phrase. For our example word "abstract" the helper word is concept. The word "concept" often appears with the word "abstract." Try using the helper-word "concept" in a sentence. "I hope you understand this abstract concept."

To learn more about Don's four techniques for Accelerated Word Infusion, Visit Don's site at www.kangaroomethod.com.

About the Author
Don Woodruff is the director of the Professional Vocabulary Institute and author of the audio programs, The Kangaroo Method: Shortcut to Accelerated Learning and Master the 40 Words Successful People Use. See www.kangaroomethod.com. Don also teaches a 12 hour intensive vocabulary training course. You can register for this course online or call 895-3394. For more information e-mail michelle.baker@unlv.edu or call 895-3254.