Karolina wrote:
“I know many words. I just don’t use them in conversation.”
I know.
That’s normal.
Think about your closet.
You probably have a lot of clothes in there.
But do you wear them all?
Or what about your refrigerator?
Do you eat all the food inside?
How many channels are there on your TV? (Or shows available on Netflix? Videos on YouTube?)
You don’t watch them all.
But here’s the important rule to remember: the more we have, the more we use.
The more food in your refrigerator, the more you’ll eat.
The more channels on your TV, the more you’ll watch.
The more clothes in your closet, the more outfits your colleagues will see you wearing.
But you’ll never eat ALL the food, or watch ALL the chanels, or wear ALL the clothes.
And it’s the same with your vocabulary.
Students, native speakers, everyone uses only 33% of the words they know.*
This is the difference between passive and active vocabulary.
That means if you know 1,000 words, you’ll use 333 in conversation.
If you know 2,000 words, you’ll use 666 words in conversation.
So do you want to speak faster? Sound smarter? Explain ideas easily?
Then increase the number of passive words you know and the number of active words you use will increases with it.
See how that works?
