THE NORTH SEA – Lucky me.
I got a free vacation this week.
No, I didn’t win a hot dog eating contest. My dad asked my to join him on a cruise around the British Isles. (for some reason in English, we say “the Caribbean Islands” and “the Fijian Islands” …but it”s “the British Isles.” Don’t ask me why.)
He’s here to talk with a client and do business; I’m here to eat and look at the waves.
Anyway….
While I was packing for this trip I actually had to make room for my suit. Evidently, there’s a tradition on some cruise ships to dress nicely for dinner.
I don’t know about you, but I rarely wear my formal clothes.
However, my Levi 527 jeans, which also went in the suitcase, I wear all the time.
Kind of like the words we use….
For example, I just read the news and saw the word “burgeoning.”
It’s a good word.
But I rarely use it.
It’s like my suit.
And did you know most of the English language is like my suit?
Although there are 171,476 words in the Oxford English Dictionary, native speakers rarely, or never, uses most of them.
But there are 7,000 words which are 98% of every conversation.
And that’s one of the strategies you should have for mastering English conversation.
Master the important, useful words first.
Buy some jeans before you invest in a tuxedo.
Ok, but how do you know which words are jeans and which are suits?
You could buy a frequency dictionary and do the hard work of memorizing…
Or you could read a short story and learn and remember one new, and useful, word naturally every day.
I call them “Sticky Stories” and they’re just one of the tools to help you master English which you’ll get when you join Vig U.
Want to join us?