WORDS, WORDS, WORDS

What we can do when we do not know a word?

To answer that question we did an activity in class, which consisted in describing objects (such as an oiler, a magnifying glass or a compass) to our partner, but we did not know the words in English or we hardly ever use them. The partner should guess what word we were describing.

The result was that all the students used similar strategies to make us understand. We described what it was for or what it looked like or even we associated them to a famous character, like the loupe with Sherlock Holmes.

In fashion and old-fashioned words

Words come and leave throughout generations. We do not speak using the same words as our parents or grandparents. And I completely sure, that our sons will also speak differently from us. Furthermore, a person does not speak in the same way his whole life because of the knowledge he acquires and the experiences he has. People are, indeed, responsible for the birth or the death of words and time is the one which shows such vocabulary evolution.

Finally, I want to introduce the concept of viral. A word goes viral when it is used by everybody, like an illness would be. After a while, it could be that the viral word disappears of our mouths and everybody forgets about it. But it can also happen that the word becomes so important in our vocabulary that in the future the word could be accepted and introduced in dictionaries. 

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is all about words. It is defined as the knowledge of words that a language user has. But do we really know what knowing a word means? We have discussed that point in class and personally, I found the answer quite surprising.

 

First of all, there is definition. You know a word when you are able to explain its meaning. Nonetheless, there are words which have more than one entry in the dictionary. For example, it is not the same a book, sheets of paper bound together, or to book, which means making a reservation in a hotel. 

We also know a word if we are able to translate it into another language. But languages describe the world in a particular way, and there are words that haven’t got an equivalent meaning in other languages. Then the only form to learn how to use that word is using and seeing it lots of times since we will forget it if there is no contact with the word.

Context is the third point that we must take into account because words have positive and negative connotations. Connotations are the implied cultural, social or individual meanings associated with a word. For instance, Wall Street is associated with wealth and power. That is an example of positive connotation, whereas chick would be a negative meaning related with women. 

Sometimes, we find two or more words that always go together. They are called collocations and they are important in the knowledge of the meaning of a word. Certainly, collocations only sound well to native speakers. Why must we say have a bath or give a warning? Unfortunately, there is not an explicable and logical reason, they just go together. 

 

Register is a remarkable issue in vocabulary. If we think about ourselves, we do not address teachers or parents in the same way, and much less our friends. So, once we have learnt a word, we know when it is appropriate and when it is not. 

Spelling and pronunciation, orthography and sounds, are the lasts necessary points so as to have the knowledge of a word. We should point out that the aim of languages is to communicate. So, if we are not able to be understood in the communication process we are failing in the final goal of a language. 

To conclude, as I said before, there are words with several definitions. The verb to get is a good example. Does this mean that we won’t be able to use correctly that verb if we don’t memorize all of its twenty (and more) meanings?  Of course not.  I believe that we should be realistic and also aware that knowing all the meanings of less used words is a loss of time. It is better investing time in another activity because in the end we will only remember the words or meanings related to our lives, which we use in our daily days.