Passive vocabulary includes words. What are active and passive vocabulary and how to increase them significantly
Plan
Introduction
1. The concept of active and passive language reserve
2. Russian vocabulary from the point of view of active and passive stock
2.1 Active dictionary
2.2 Passive dictionary
Conclusion
References
Introduction
active passive vocabulary speech
1. The concept of active and passive language reserve
The statement that obsolete vocabulary belongs to the passive stock of the language is generally accepted. Many people have written about this. As far as we know, no one argued with this. However, as an analysis of lexicographic theory and practice shows, there are significant “distortions” in the understanding of the relationship between the concepts of “obsolete vocabulary” and “passive vocabulary of a language” (or, in other words, “the periphery of a language”). But before we talk about them, let us recall what content is traditionally put by linguists into the concept of “passive stock of language”, “periphery of language” and “outdated vocabulary”.
As is known, the concept of active and passive language stock was introduced into lexicographic theory and practice by L.V. Shcherba (in the work "An Experience in the General Theory of Lexicography"). Shcherba classified the passive vocabulary as words that have become less common and the range of use of which has narrowed. In modern linguistics, there are several points of view on the passive vocabulary of a language. In one case, linguists include in the passive dictionary of a language “a part of the vocabulary of the language, consisting of lexical units, the use of which is limited by the characteristics of the phenomena they signify (names of rare realities, historicisms, terms, proper names) or lexical units known only to a part of native speakers (archaisms , neologisms) used only in certain functional varieties of language (book, colloquial and other stylistically colored vocabulary)." This understanding of passive vocabulary is reflected in the “Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary” and is shared by B.P. Barannikova and A.A. Reformatsky, D.E. Rosenthal and M.A. Telenkova and other researchers. Proponents of another point of view argue that a passive dictionary is “a part of the vocabulary of a language, understandable to all speakers of a given language, but little used in live everyday communication; a passive dictionary consists of obsolete or obsolete words, but which have not fallen out of the vocabulary of the language, many neologisms, which have not yet entered into common usage." This understanding of the passive vocabulary of a language is reflected in the Russian Language encyclopedia and is supported by N.M. Shansky, M.I. Fomina, F.P. Sorokoletov and others. This point of view on the passive dictionary is more “narrow”, because includes only part of the outdated (obsolete) vocabulary and part of neologisms. Both are marked by the presence of a temporary component in the characteristic, low frequency of use and, as a consequence, a peripheral position in the dictionary. Another opinion on this matter is based on the distinction between the concepts of language and speech: “the concepts of “active” and “passive” dictionary relate primarily not to language, but to speech, i.e., to the linguistic activity of individual individuals, therefore active and passive dictionaries different people belonging to different social groups, professions, and different localities may not coincide.” N.M. Shansky warns that the passive vocabulary of a language should not be confused with the passive vocabulary of a particular native speaker, which depends on his profession, education, daily work, etc. ". As Z.F. Belyanskaya notes, "the unclear delimitation of the phenomena of language and speech affected the attribution of L.A. Bulakhovsky to the passive vocabulary of the language of words of special use, archaisms, neologisms, dialectisms and many borrowings, and A.A. Reformed also expressive expressions." Some scientists abandoned the term "passive dictionary." Thus, P.Ya. Chernykh believes that "it would be more correct to talk about different degrees of activity of words" and "the periphery of the active dictionary", i.e. about words , “which speakers use in conversations about objects of thought that are foreign and alien to their everyday life.” P.N. Denisov, describing the lexical system in terms of field structure, includes obsolete vocabulary in the peripheral zone. Traditionally, the term obsolete vocabulary is used as a generalizing concept in relation to the terms historicism and archaism. In this case, historicisms are understood as obsolete words that have fallen out of use due to the disappearance of the realities that they called. Archaisms include lexemes that name existing realities, but have been displaced from use by synonymous units for linguistic or extralinguistic reasons. , historicisms have no parallels in modern language, archaisms, on the contrary, have synonyms in modern language. Linguists do not have a common opinion on whether historicisms should be considered facts of the modern language located on its periphery, or facts that have gone beyond the boundaries of the language and, therefore, fallen out of its lexical system.
2. Vocabulary of the Russian language from the point of view of active and passive stock
Vocabulary composition is the most mobile language level. Changing and improving vocabulary is directly related to human production activity, to the economic, social, and political life of the people. The vocabulary reflects all processes of the historical development of society. With the advent of new objects and phenomena, new concepts arise, and with them, words for naming these concepts. With the death of certain phenomena, the words that name them go out of use or change their sound appearance and meaning. Taking all this into account, the vocabulary of the national language can be divided into two large groups: an active dictionary and a passive dictionary. The active vocabulary includes those everyday words whose meaning is clear to speakers of a given language. The words of this group are devoid of any shades of obsolescence.
The passive vocabulary includes those that are either outdated or, conversely, due to their novelty, have not yet become widely known and are also not used every day. Thus, passive words are divided, in turn, into obsolete and new (neologisms). Those words that have fallen out of active use are considered obsolete. For example, words that have ceased to be used due to the disappearance of the concepts that they denoted are clearly obsolete: boyar, clerk, veche, streltsy, oprichnik, vowel (member of the city duma), mayor, etc. The words of this group are called historicisms; they are more or less known and understandable to native speakers, but are not actively used by them. In modern language, they are addressed only when it is necessary to name objects or phenomena that have fallen out of use, for example, in special scientific-historical literature, as well as in the language of works of art in order to recreate a particular historical era. If the concept of an object, phenomenon, action, quality, etc. is preserved, and the names assigned to it are replaced in the process of language development by new ones, more acceptable for one reason or another for the new generation of native speakers, then the old names also become category of passive vocabulary, into the group of so-called archaisms (Greek archaios - ancient). For example: ponezhe - therefore, vezhdy - eyelids, guest - merchant, merchant (mostly foreign), guest - trade, etc. Some of the words of this type are practically beyond the boundaries of even the passively existing lexical reserves of the modern literary language. For example: thief - thief, robber; stry - paternal uncle, stryinya - paternal uncle's wife; uy - maternal uncle; stirrup - down; sling - 1) roof and 2) vault of heaven; vezha - 1) tent, tent, 2) tower; fat - fat, lard and many others. Some of the archaisms are preserved in modern language as part of phraseological units: to get into a mess, where a mess is a spinning rope machine; you can’t see where zga (stga) is a road, path; hit with the forehead, where the forehead is the forehead; go crazy with fat, where fat is wealth; protect it like the apple of your eye, where the apple is the pupil, etc.
Active Dictionary- these are the words that a speaker of a given language not only understands, but also uses.
The words of the main vocabulary fund, of course, form the basis of an active dictionary, but not an exhaustive one, since each group of people speaking a given language also has specific words of expression that for this group are included in their active dictionary, are used daily or are used, but not necessarily as facts of an active vocabulary for other groups of people, who, in turn, have other words and expressions.
Thus, the words of the main vocabulary fund are common to the active vocabulary of the population, while the SPECIFIC words will be different for the active vocabulary of different groups of people.
Passive dictionary- these are the words that a speaker of a given language understands, but does NOT use himself. For example: special equipment, disciplines, expressive expressions. The passive dictionary also includes outdated words (archaisms, historicisms) and new words denoting new concepts (neologisms).
The concepts of active and passive vocabulary are very important when learning a foreign language.
It should be taken into account that passive vocabulary often turns into active.
Example: veto, preamble, officer
The reverse process can also occur: the transition of an asset into a liability.
Example: people's commissar, pioneer, maternity leave
Vocabulary. Ticket 16.
Types of dictionaries.
Firstly, all dictionaries can be divided into two groups: linguistic And non-linguistic. The difference is that the former collect and describe lexical units of the language from one angle or another, while in the latter, lexical units serve only as a starting point in the description of non-linguistic phenomena. For this reason, in non-linguistic, or encyclopedic, dictionaries we will not find interjections, pronouns, function words, as well as most adverbs, verbs, adjectives that are not terms.
Secondly, all dictionaries can be divided into general(for example, TSB - Great Soviet Encyclopedia) and special, covering a specific branch of science (for example, medical dictionaries).
Thirdly, there are dictionaries monolingual, bilingual And multilingual. Monolingual dictionaries are explanatory dictionaries that provide an interpretation of words (or set expressions) of a language using the means of the same language. The interpretation is given using a logical definition of the conceptual meaning (“record holder - an athlete who has set a record”), selection of synonyms (“annoying - annoying, intrusive”), in the form of providing a grammatical relationship to another word (“covering up is an action according to the meaning of the verbs to cover up and cover up "). Emotional and expressive connotations are conveyed with the help of special marks (disapproval, contempt, joke, irony). Individual meanings are illustrated with examples or quotations from works of art. Usually, explanatory dictionaries also provide a grammatical description of the word, indicating with the help of special marks the part of speech, the grammatical gender of the noun, the type of verb, etc.
Contrasted with explanatory dictionaries are translated ones, most often bilingual (say, Russian-English) and sometimes multilingual. Instead of interpreting words in the same language, they give their translations into another language. Depending on who the dictionary is intended for, it may be compiled in different ways. So, in the Russian-English dictionary for the English “right”, i.e. the English part will be less detailed, while the Russian-English dictionary for Russians will explain in detail the difference between the equivalents. In addition, grammatical and stylistic marks, stress, etc. will be given there.
TO general Dictionaries also include those that consider all layers of vocabulary, but from a specific angle.
These are, for example, frequency dictionaries. Their task is to show the degree of use of words in speech (which practically means the frequency of their use in a certain array of texts). These dictionaries allow us to draw interesting conclusions about the functioning of words and grammatical categories.
Next, we note grammatical dictionaries that provide detailed grammatical characteristics of the word; word-formation (derivative), indicating the division of words into their constituent elements; combinability dictionaries that list typical contexts of words.
Etymological dictionaries contain information about the origin and original motivation of words. These dictionaries usually provide correspondences of a given word in related languages, and set out scientists’ hypotheses regarding its etymology.
A special group consists of various historical dictionaries. Some of them aim to trace the evolution of each word and its individual meanings throughout the written history of the corresponding language. Such, for example, is the German Dictionary, begun by the brothers Grimm and published for more than a hundred years (1854-1961). Another type includes dictionaries of past periods of language history, for example, Dictionary of the Russian Language of the 18th century. (published since 1984), as well as dictionaries of the language of writers, for example, Dictionary of the Pushkin Language (in 4 volumes, 1956-1961).
General dictionaries include complete dialectal dictionaries, i.e. those that, in principle, cover all the vocabulary that exists in dialect speech in the territory of one dialect (or group of dialects), both specific to a given dialect and coinciding with the vocabulary of the national language.
Also common are spelling and spelling dictionaries pursuing purely practical purposes.
Among the special linguistic dictionaries, various phraseological dictionaries (they can be translated and monolingual), dictionaries of “winged words” and dictionaries of folk proverbs and sayings are interesting.
From others special linguistic dictionaries, there are dictionaries of synonyms (monolingual and translated), dictionaries of antonyms, homonyms, dictionaries of the so-called “false friends of the translator”, i.e. words that are similar in sound and spelling in any two languages, but diverge in meaning (so, in Bulgarian "gora" means "forest", and not at all "mountain", in English "magazine", not "shop").
Special ones include differential dialect dictionaries, i.e. those that contain only dialect vocabulary that does not coincide (materially or in meaning) with the national one. Such a dialect dictionary can be either a dictionary of one dialect, or a dictionary of many or even (in principle) all territorial dialects of a language. Differential dialect dictionaries also include slang and argot dictionaries.
Mention should also be made of dictionaries of foreign words, abbreviations, various dictionaries of proper names (personal, geographical, etc.), and rhyming dictionaries.
There are also various intermediate, transitional And mixed types of dictionaries. Thus, dictionaries of terms of various sciences and branches of technology are transitional from linguistic to non-linguistic dictionaries. These dictionaries are monolingual, bilingual and multilingual. Finally, there is a type of universal dictionaries, both explanatory and encyclopedic, which also include etymological and historical references, sometimes the most important material from foreign language quotations, and, where necessary, provided with drawings.
Words in dictionaries can be arranged in different orders. Most often used alphabetical order. Sometimes “nesting” is used, i.e., combining words related by a common root within one dictionary entry, even if this violates the alphabetical sequence. In fact, in these cases there is a deviation from the alphabetical order of words towards the alphabetical order of roots.
We have a special use of the alphabetic principle in reverse(inversion) dictionaries. The words in them are arranged alphabetically not by the initial, but by the final letters of the word: a, ba, baba, toad, amoeba, etc., ending with words ending in “yaya”.
In contrast to dictionaries compiled according to the alphabetical principle, there are ideographic(thematic) dictionaries that group words either by commonality of phenomena of reality (for example, pieces of furniture); or by the commonality of concepts that form a particular area of knowledge, where, for example, the vocabulary of a certain branch of science is given, where the words are selected and arranged in accordance with the taxonomy of these scientific concepts.
IN frequency in dictionaries the words are arranged descending frequency, and sometimes according to the headings of grammatical classification (but parts of speech), but along with this, the alphabetic principle is also used.
IN hieroglyphic languages, such as Chinese and Japanese, the characters in the dictionaries are sorted by keys, or radicals, that is, according to the system of hieroglyphic elements that carry semantic meanings. Each key has its own number, and the sections of the dictionaries correspond to this numbering.
2.1. Historicisms
2.2. Archaisms
Neologisms
3.1. Linguistic neologisms and occasionalisms
3.2. Sources of neologisms
Literature
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Active and passive vocabulary
The vocabulary of the language is almost continuously updated new words, the emergence of which is associated with changes in the life of society, the development of production, science and culture.
At the same time, the reverse process occurs in the vocabulary - disappearance from its composition. outdated words and meanings.
Since the consolidation of new words and meanings in the language and especially the departure from the outdated language - gradual process And long, two layers of vocabulary always exist simultaneously in a language:
active vocabulary,
passive vocabulary.
To active vocabulary language refers to all vocabulary that is used every day in one or another area of communication.
To passive vocabulary language refers to words that are rarely used, have not yet become or have ceased to be necessary, customary in a particular area of communication, i.e.
words that leave the language ( outdated words),
words that have not yet fully entered into general literary use or have just appeared in it ( neologisms).
Border between active and passive dictionaries a) fuzzy (in synchrony) and b) mobile (in diachrony).
a) Words, active in one area of life or in one style of speech, less active or passive in other areas of life and speech styles. For example, words that are active in everyday life can be passive in scientific or business speech, and vice versa.
b) Active vocabulary units under certain conditions they can easily go into passive reserve:
drummer(socialist labor),
pager.
A liability units can easily become an asset [Girutsky, p. 147–148]:
neologisms: makeup artist, flash drive...
former historicisms: Mayor, Duma...
It is necessary to distinguish between active and passive vocabulary language and individual native speakers.
Active native speaker dictionary- a set of lexical units that the speaker freely uses in spontaneous speech.
Passive vocabulary of a native speaker– a set of lexical units that are understandable to a native speaker, but are not used by him in spontaneous speech.
It's obvious that
specific media language differ significantly(quantitatively and qualitatively) from active and passive dictionaries language;
active and passive dictionaries different media language differ significantly in volume and composition depending on
age,
level of education,
spheres of activity [ERYA, p. 21].
Outdated words
The loss of a word or one or another of its meanings is the result of a long process archaization. A word or meaning begins to be used less frequently and moves from an active vocabulary to a passive one, and then can gradually be forgotten and disappear from the language.
Obsolete words form complex system. They are heterogeneous in terms of
degree of obsolescence,
reasons for archaization,
possibilities and nature of their use.
By degree of obsolescence Some scientists highlight necroticisms and outdated words.
Necroticisms(< греч.nekros‘dead’) are words that are currently completely unknown to ordinary native speakers:
strict'paternal uncle',
friend‘mockery’ (cf. friend at),
zga‘road’ (cf.: path,neitherzgi not visible).
These words are not even included in the passive stock of the language [SRYA–1, p. 56].
Outdated words - real units of language having
limited scope of use
and specific stylistic properties:
verst(old Russian length measure ≈ 1.06 km),
policeman(the lowest rank of city police in pre-revolutionary Russia),
verb(speak).
Many words that have disappeared from the active dictionary literary language, are actively used in dialects:
vered(a), vologa, invest, move'wash', bed‘bed, bed’...
Outdated and even words that have disappeared from a given language can be stored in the active vocabulary other languages, first of all related. Wed:
velmi'Very' (velmi – in white, velmi in Ukrainian),
knock here'fat' – in white (cf. Russian fat),
all‘village, village’ – in white. veska, in Polish wieś .
Words can also be stored in unrelated languages, if they were borrowed [SRYASH, p. 294]
Depending on reasons for archaization There are two types of obsolete words:
historicisms,
archaisms.
2.1. Historicisms- these are words that have fallen out of active use, because The objects or phenomena they designate have become irrelevant or have disappeared.
Those. appearance historicisms caused extra-linguistic reasons: development of society, science, culture, changes in customs and way of life of the people.
Historicisms don't havesynonyms in modern language and are used when necessary to name disappeared realities:
boyar, coachman, altyn(3 kopeck coin) , chain mail[ERYA, p. 159].
Depending on whether it's outdated whole word or just its meaning, distinguish 2 types of historicisms:
lexical (full),
semantic (partial).
Lexical(full) historicisms– words (single- and polysemantic) that have fallen out of active use as sound complexes along with meanings:
kaftan;mayor(in Russia until the mid-19th century, the head of a district town) - the names of old positions are considered historicisms.
Semantic(partial) historicisms– outdated values polysemantic words of the active dictionary:
mace: 1) a short staff with a spherical heavy head, a symbol of the power of a military leader, in the old days - a striking weapon;
2) a gymnastic hand apparatus in the shape of a bottle with a thickening at the narrow end.
1 LSV – semantic historicism, in the 2nd meaning it is a word in the active dictionary.
Special category constitute historicisms, which name realities that have disappeared from the life of speakers of a given language, but are relevant in the life of other modern peoples and therefore intersect with exoticisms(for exoticisms, see the lecture “Vocabulary from the point of view of origin”):
Chancellor, burgomaster...
Historicisms are used
How neutral words– if necessary, name the realities they designate (for example, in historical works);
How stylistic device:
to create a solemn style (for example, in journalism and poetry) [ERYA, p. 160].
2.2. Archaisms(Greek archáios‘ancient’) – words forced out of use by synonymous lexical units [ERYA, p. 37].
Archaisms in modern language must there are synonyms:
fishing'hunting', voyage'journey', koi'which', peeit'poet', Baltic ‘Baltic’, complacency'complacency'.
If reasons turning words into historicisms are absolutely clear, then finding out the reasons for the appearance archaisms- quite a complex problem. For example, it is not so easy to answer the question why the words:
finger, this, hitherto, will be suppressed from active use by words finger, this, so far, if.
Depending on whether it is outdated phonographic shell words or one of them values, distinguish:
lexical archaisms (outdated phonographic shell) And
semantic archaisms (obsolete one of the values words).
Lexicalarchaisms may differ from the modern synonymous word in different ways. Depending on this, several groups are distinguished.
Actually lexical archaisms are words that are displaced from the active stock by words with another root:
Victoria'victory', in other words'that is', shuytsa'left hand', actor'actor', constantly'constantly', velmi'Very', morning star‘morning dawn’.
Lexico-word-formative archaisms differ from modern equivalents by a word-formation element:
fishary 'fisherman', murdererec 'murderer', answerstvova t'reply';
from vets‘slanders’, is was in a hurry‘hurried up’.
Lexico-phonetic archaisms are somewhat different from the modern synonym in their sound appearance:
peeit'poet', mirror'mirror', smooth'hunger', voxal'railway station', ironism 'heroism', Spanish 'Spanish'.
In addition to lexical ones, there are grammaticalarchaisms- these are obsolete forms of words:
A) non-existent in modern language, for example,
forms of the vocative case of nouns: girl! father! to the king!
whereI went to eat Russian land (old perfect).
b) grammatical forms that are in modern language are formed differently:
to the balle , give me a shout(‘give me!’) , will performAnd , diede (‘died’ – old aorist), Russianago , equalsyu .
Semantic archaism- this is outdated meaning polysemantic word of the active dictionary, expressed in modern language by another word.
In that a meaning that is outdated for one sound complex is expressed by another sound complex, semantic archaism differs from semantic historicism.
Otherwise, semantic archaisms are defined as words, used earlier in a different meaning than now:
stomach‘life’ (cf.: not to the stomach, but to death),thief‘any state criminal’, language'people', disgrace,disgrace‘spectacle’.
Archaisms can only be used with certain stylistic purpose:
to recreate the historical setting and speech flavor of the era;
to create a solemn style (for example, in journalism and poetry).
The process of archaization of vocabulary not always straightforward: it often happens that under the influence of a variety of extralinguistic factors, outdated words are returning to active stock. However, their meaning usually changes:
historicisms: decree, ministry, Duma, governor, mayor...
archaisms: tavern(in Tsarist Russia - a drinking establishment of the lowest category) - in modern youth slang ‘restaurant, cafe where you can drink’.
Often words that are outdated in direct meaning, in metaphorical meanings of the word are not perceived by speakers as obsolete:
master‘a person who does not like to work himself’,
footman‘sycophant’,
serf‘minion, henchman’ [Rakhmanova, Suzdaltseva, p. 154].
Neologisms
Neologisms(Greek neos'new', logos‘word’) – words, word meanings or combinations of words that appeared in the language at a certain period and are recognized by native speakers as new.
These are words that have not yet entered the active vocabulary.
Neologisms are also defined as words arose in the memory of the generation using them.
The belonging of words to neologisms is a relative and historical property. They remain neologisms only as long as they retain a connotation of freshness and unusualness [LES, p. 331]. For example, the word astronaut appeared in 1957 and has not felt new for a long time.
In 1996, the following words were perceived as neologisms:
chaos,broker,State Emergency Committee, hekachepist, digest‘print review’, Riot police, riot police, teenager,thriller, phytodesign,voucher,videotape,clip,sponsor,supermarket,shaping, shop-tour,charter(flight).
It happens that neologisms, without ever becoming facts in the active dictionary, quickly become obsolete words. Wed:
virgin lands (established in 1954), hekachepist,Dudayevites,pager.
In developed languages, the number of neologisms recorded in newspapers and magazines during one year is tens of thousands. First of all, these are words created from original linguistic material. However, they are less noticeable than borrowings, so it often seems that there are more borrowings among neologisms.
The appearance of neologisms is explained
extralinguistic reasons: the social need to name everything new,
intralingual reasons: tendencies towards economy, unification, systematization of linguistic means, variation of nominations with different internal forms; tasks of expressive-emotional, stylistic expressiveness [LES, p. 331].
Depending on whether the old word is different from new expression plan or content plan, distinguish
lexical neologisms (new words): shadow worker, security officer, horror story, mobile phone, get-together, taxi driver, nanotechnology…
semantic neologisms (new values existing words):
walrus‘winter swimmer’ (this meaning was a semantic neologism for some time after its origin),
truck'cargo spaceship',
disk‘gramophone record’ (cf. figurative meanings of words: throw, put on shoes, run over, arrow, roof, negative),
nanotechnology –(translated) ‘projects that require large expenses but produce insignificant results’, a way of obtaining money by deception’;
in addition, they highlight phraseological neologisms:
White House– about Russian realities, credit of confidence,unpopular measures,rule of law,living wage,ridiculous prices...
Hello friends!
Today I have prepared an incredibly useful post for you - so be sure to read it to the end!
In we talked in some detail about expanding your vocabulary, discussed dictionaries and ways to more effectively memorize new words and expressions.
Today we will continue to talk about vocabulary. And here it is important to note that there is a distinction between passive and active vocabulary. And it’s hard to say which one is more important...
Active and passive dictionary
Passive Vocabulary is all the words and expressions that you recognize in text but cannot use in speech. A passive dictionary, as a rule, is quite voluminous (much larger than an active one) - due to a passive dictionary, a person recognizes a word in text or audio material, but does not use it in speech. This is why students almost always understand much more than they can actually express in language.
Active vocabulary is all those words and expressions that you actively use in speech. That is, this is the vocabulary that you can freely use in speech. Active vocabulary much less passive, and all foreign language learners rightly try to increase their active vocabulary.
How is a passive vocabulary acquired?
Passive vocabulary is gained through two key skills – Listening and Reading. This is why it is so important to listen and read something every day - thereby expanding your passive vocabulary. Very, very important constantly typing passive vocabulary. This will allow you better understand English by ear. Well, you can already work with a passive dictionary and translate words and expressions into an active dictionary, which will make your speech much more beautiful and richer.
How to translate words from passive to active?
As you may have already guessed, the activation of the passive dictionary occurs at the expense of 2 other skills - Speaking(speaking) and Writing(letter). These are productive skills that require active brain activity. It is in the process speaking and writing words begin to be transferred from passive to active.
Of course, there are also special techniques that allow you to purposefully convert words and expressions from passive to active.
- First of all, I definitely recommend keep a special notebook. You need to write down interesting and useful words and expressions in it. Or you can make such a notepad on any mobile device, if that’s convenient for you. However, if you write out new expressions with your hand, you will connect the motor memory, and there will be a greater chance that you will remember this expression.
- When reading or listening to something in English, write down new expressions and try apply them immediately in speech. For example, come up with a proposal that is specifically about you and your loved ones(not abstract) in which this phrase is used. Come up with several situations at once - it is advisable that these are emotionally charged sentences and situations (if possible).
- Come up with an association for a word or expression– again, it’s better to be funny, so that it’s catchy and better remembered. A lot has been written about the associative method, so I won’t go into detail.
- Play games in English. There are absolutely amazing board games that I have talked about more than once in my webinars. This is a very good way to “strengthen” your vocabulary. One of the best, in my opinion, is a game called Taboo. By the way, at open classes of the Conversation Club we played such a game online - it was great! The essence of the game is to explain the meaning of the word indicated on the card without using taboo words. And the trick is that taboo words are exactly those words that come to mind first. In a word, 100% speaking practice is guaranteed to you!
- Singing in English– another very nice way to activate your dictionary!
By the way, at open classes of the Conversation Club we played Taboo online – it was great!
I can't help but mention wonderful program for working on vocabulary ANKI. I'm sure Ena, that once you get to know her better, you will understand how useful she is.
Work both ways
I think you have already grasped the main idea - it is important to work in two directions at once - both to expand the passive vocabulary and to constantly transfer words into the active vocabulary. If you lag behind in one direction or the other, it will be quite uncomfortable.
As one polyglot said, a passive dictionary is like a large reservoir with a small hole, from which words and expressions “leak” in a thin stream into a container called “Active Dictionary.” And the larger the “passive tank”, the more words and expressions can get into the “active tank”. Of course, if you do not remain silent, but actively use it.
Each person has a certain vocabulary that he uses when communicating. Your active vocabulary includes the words you use in your speech or writing. Passive vocabulary includes those words that you learn in the process of working with words, understand them, but cannot yet use in your daily speech. For example, you can find frequent use of the word “talk” in the active dictionary. The word “chat” is in the passive, but it is rarely used.
This phenomenon is observed not only in English, but in other languages as well. There are rarely used (passive) words and frequently used (active) words. Words can go from active to passive if you don't use them, and vice versa - from passive to active if you start using it quite often.
His vocabulary also depends on the level of knowledge of each student. The more words he has, the better and more varied his speech will be. Let's talk in more detail about the individual dictionary.
Individual dictionary
Any language is extremely diverse and knowing a language does not mean knowing all its words and expressions. This is simply impossible, because even in your native language, sometimes you are amazed at how much is still unknown, and this is not to mention the specific names and terms relating to certain professions, names of birds, flowers, medical terms, etc. To know a language means to have a certain vocabulary sufficient for communication in different situations. This is a purely individual thing, which depends on the needs of each individual person, but also, of course, on different levels. Here are approximate requirements for how many words a person should know at a certain level of English proficiency:
- Starter - 500-600 words;
- Elementary - 1000-1300 words;
- Pre-Intermediate - 1400-1800 words;
- Intermediate - 2000-2500 words;
- Upper-Intermediate - 3000-4000 words;
- Advanced - 4000-7000 words;
- Proficiency - 7000-12000 words.
Embrace the immensity
Of course, it is impossible to constantly keep in mind a huge number of words that you do not use regularly. For example, if you constantly use English at work, using mainly the topic “Business English”, then you will find it difficult to communicate on everyday topics: about music, art, etc. This happens not because it is difficult or you don’t know it, but because these words over time (especially if they were simply memorized without associative connections) leave your active vocabulary for your passive one.
Let us remind you once again for clarity that the active vocabulary is all the words that a person can freely use in speech and writing. Passive vocabulary is all the words that a person recognizes by hearing and reading, but does not use them in spontaneous speech, either spoken or written.
This division is applicable both for the native language and for any language being studied. Therefore, if necessary, it is advisable to prepare in advance by recalling in memory the words of the topic on which you are going to talk. To do this, it is better to either read or write the words that you feel will be necessary in the upcoming conversation.
What's more important
Both dictionaries are extremely important for effective communication, since the active dictionary allows you to correctly express your thoughts, and the passive one allows you to understand the statements of other people without much difficulty, develop a semantic guess, even when communicating on completely new, unfamiliar topics. However, it is always worth maintaining a natural balance. That is, to work efficiently both in receiving and delivering information. You may perfectly understand everything that is said to you, but it will be very difficult to say anything. This situation will arise if you do not pay enough attention to speaking practice.
How to develop
There are several ways to effectively translate words from active to passive.
The first of these is writing. No matter how scary it may sound, the fact is that it is during writing that you can remember words well. This memorization process can be enhanced by taking the word you want to translate into an asset and creating a sentence with it, linking it to your current interests and desires. Then write down this entire sentence.
The second way is to consciously use these words in the sentences that you will formulate as soon as the opportunity to talk arises. This could be an English lesson on Skype, a meeting with friends, or any casual conversation. In general, highlight for yourself a series of words that you want to transfer to an asset and consciously use them, replacing words that are familiar to you as often as possible.
There is also a third way that allows you to activate words for yourself while reading. Just notice the words you want to learn and write them down along with the translation. Don't write a lot of words - five is enough to start working with them.
As a result, I would like to note and remind you that the most important rule is repetition. We have already talked about it more than once. However, in the process of translating words from passive to active, repetition plays a very important role. If you don’t use words often in your speech, you will simply forget them.
Therefore, set time intervals for yourself in order to quickly review the material covered and catch those moments that you think you have forgotten and repeat them. We can say that there are some words that will be in an active state almost forever. This is easy to check. Everyone knows words that were remembered emotionally and never forgets them. Draw parallels and learn new words associatively. This will increase the chances that if a word gets into an asset, it will never leave there, and you will be able to use it in any situation fully automatically.
Big and friendly EnglishDom family