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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

It is no secret that many learners of English who become advanced speakers have a richer vocabulary than most natives. heck, there's been a few times when I've asked a Polish person to explain a word to me. Likewise, I understand the same is true for students of Polish.

My question is, how often do you use these advanced vocabulary items? There's no doubt that a word like anthropomorphism have their uses but I didn't even hear this word in English until I was 30 years old and have only ever heard it maybe twice since.

But, how often do you use advanced words and if you don't use them often how do you keep them current or even remembered?

If there are advanced students of other languages, of course, please do share your views.

Tony
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Dariusz Tomczak

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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

Tony Kenny:

My question is, how often do you use these advanced
vocabulary items?
But, how often do you use advanced words and if you don't use
them often how do you keep them current or even remembered?

This (your hearing a learner using advanced vocabulary item) may be just a side-effect of exam preparation where immense vocabulary is vital for success and could be shortly achieved by reviewing Thesauri. Using such words on every possible occasion is simply the learner's weapon against forgetting them quickly. Another and to my mind more effective is learning sets of similar yet different words and being able to distinguish them clearly.

Different cause could stem from popular misunderstanding of what is good use of language i.e. lots of people try to inflate and thereby sound important, more sophisticated, educated etc.

The airline pilot who wakes us to announce that he is presently anticipating experiencing considerable weather wouldn't dream of saying that there's a storm ahead and it may get bumpy. The sentence is too simple-there must be something wrong with it.

But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb which carries the same meaning that is already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves she reader unsure of who is doing what-these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence. And they usually occur, ironically, in proportion to education and rank.
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

Yes, I agree that a lot of these words will be learned for passing exams. But, it makes me wonder what I'm missing in my own language, what power there really is that I could harness.

You are also right in what you say about people not using words correctly. One school I used to work for were proud of their 'didactic' department. A word I had to look up and got 2 definitions:

adjective MAINLY DISAPPROVING
1 intended to teach, especially in a way that is too determined or eager, and often fixed and unwilling to change
2 intended to teach people a moral

I was going to point out the mistake but thought better of it after experiencing the less than amiable moods of the manager.

Once I get back into teaching full time, I think I must get myself into literature and start to explore what it has to offer.
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

Tony Kenny:
It is no secret that many learners of English who become advanced speakers have a richer vocabulary than most natives.

Strange.

I've been teaching for a helluva a long time without ever having noticed this phenomenon.
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

warren whitmore:
Tony Kenny:
It is no secret that many learners of English who become advanced speakers have a richer vocabulary than most natives.

Strange.

I've been teaching for a helluva a long time without ever having noticed this phenomenon.

Really? what levels do you teach?

I've come accross this a few times.
Before becoming a teacher I had zero interest in anything toher than technical manuals so my exposure to the language was maybe somewhat blinkered. I'll still be surprised if any native knew the meaning of every word on the advanced and proficiency tests. If you do then respect to you, can I get a download? :) Chances are that you were simply better educated than I :)

Brung up? I was slung up! As the saying goes.
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

Tony Kenny:
Really? what levels do you teach?

All.
I've come accross this a few times.

I haven't.
Before becoming a teacher I had zero interest in anything toher than technical manuals so my exposure to the language was maybe somewhat blinkered. I'll still be surprised if any native knew the meaning of every word on the advanced and proficiency tests.

I wouldn't.
If you do then respect to you, can I get a download? :) Chances are that you were simply better educated than I :)

Brung up? I was slung up! As the saying goes.

I doubt that this is the case.

You probably either misunderstand your own abilities or languages generally.
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Dariusz Tomczak

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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

Tony Kenny:
You are also right in what you say about people not using words correctly. One school I used to work for were proud of their 'didactic' department. A word I had to look up and got 2 definitions:

adjective MAINLY DISAPPROVING
1 intended to teach, especially in a way that is too determined or eager, and often fixed and unwilling to change
2 intended to teach people a moral
I have found two senses of this word. One is definitely derogative. But the other is agreeable or even positive.

CHAMBERS DICTIONARY
didactic adj 1 intended to teach or instruct. 2 derog. too eager or too obviously intended to instruct, in a way resented by the reader, listener, etc. didactically adverb. didacticism noun. didactics singular noun the art or science of teaching.
ETYMOLOGY: 17c: from Greek didaskein to teach.

It might have been mistaken for "dydaktyczny" - slight false-friend here to my mind.

How often a native speaker of English would use words like episcopal or avuncular I wonder? But an average CPE test-taker has to.
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

Dariusz T.:

How often a native speaker of English would use words like episcopal or avuncular I wonder? But an average CPE test-taker has to.

As a matter of fact, I don't believe they do.
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

warren whitmore:
Dariusz T.:

How often a native speaker of English would use words like episcopal or avuncular I wonder? But an average CPE test-taker has to.

As a matter of fact, I don't believe they do.

You mean you do not believe such words to be used by test-takers, natives or any of them?
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

warren whitmore:
Dariusz T.:

How often a native speaker of English would use words like episcopal or avuncular I wonder? But an average CPE test-taker has to.

As a matter of fact, I don't believe they do.

I have never heard of those words and would have to check them prior to teaching a lesson containing them.

Warren, I'm interested to hear if you know these words and if you do, where did you learn them? During your course as a teacher or before?

Incidentally, my definitions of didactic were from the online Cambridge dictionary, so seems even they are unaware of all the possibilities.

But the exact meaning aside, would you call this department 'didactic' of 'educational' ?
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

Dariusz T.:
You mean you do not believe such words to be used by test-takers, natives or any of them?

I don't believe such words are tested at even CPE level.

And I'm a Cambridge examiner who's seen many such tests.warren whitmore edytował(a) ten post dnia 10.03.09 o godzinie 14:54
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

Tony Kenny:
I have never heard of those words and would have to check them prior to teaching a lesson containing them.

I don't believe these words are that useful and/or necessary to know.
Warren, I'm interested to hear if you know these words and if you do, where did you learn them? During your course as a teacher or before?

I do know these words.

Probably, I've known them all my adult life.
Incidentally, my definitions of didactic were from the online Cambridge dictionary, so seems even they are unaware of all the possibilities.

But the exact meaning aside, would you call this department 'didactic' of 'educational' ?

'didactic' is a word used by Poles, but rarely if ever by natives.

It is they who are wrong and not us.
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

One of my favorites: jejune.

:)
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

a n d r z e j C.:
One of my favorites: jejune.

:)

Sounds good.

You got me on that one.

I had to look it up.
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

http://www.gjtutorial.com/news/2008/09/sample-question...
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

warren whitmore:
I don't believe such words are tested at even CPE level.

And I'm a Cambridge examiner who's seen many such tests.

But I did learned these words last semester during CPE course in O.K. language school that has had 100% passing rate several years in succession. In fact the texts and exercises we did were harder than any practice test I have ever taken. Besides we were punished for using "independent from" instead of "independent of" - although -as you may find yourself- "independent from" appears even at http://bbc.co.uk site.

Also some grammar "perversions" like reporting modals are also vital to impress the examiners, not for real life I reckon.

I am just to start second semester.
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

Dariusz T.:
warren whitmore:
I don't believe such words are tested at even CPE level.

And I'm a Cambridge examiner who's seen many such tests.

But I did learned these words last semester during CPE course in O.K. language school that has had 100% passing rate several years in succession. In fact the texts and exercises we did were harder than any practice test I have ever taken. Besides we were punished for using "independent from" instead of "independent of" - although -as you may find yourself- "independent from" appears even at http://bbc.co.uk site.

Also some grammar "perversions" like reporting modals are also vital to impress the examiners, not for real life I reckon.

I am just to start second semester.

I find it almost impossible to believe your school has a 100% success rate for CPE. It's a very difficult exam.

If what you are taught in your school differs significantly from 'BBC English', then perhaps your school should reconsider what it teaches.

Furthermore, what they tell you will 'impress' the examiners may well be completely erroneous unless they happen to be examiners themselves.
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

warren whitmore:
I find it almost impossible to believe your school has a 100% success rate for CPE. It's a very difficult exam.

I've seen 'schools of motoring' in the UK advertise a 100% pass rate. They employed 2 tricks. Firstly they only allowed students to enter for the test if they were certain they would pass, which of course means more lessons are needed a profits boosted. Secondly, if somebody passes on their 3rd attempt, they still passed with that school and therefore, 100% of students passed.

I'm not suggesting for a minute this is what is happening in the honourable gentelman's school, just pointing out that statistics are far from ideal.

I can also boast a 100% pass rate with my private students. of course, only one of them has taken any sort of exam and I'm pleased that her hard work in the lessons in addition to her own study worked for her.

She was actually my first ever student after passing the CELTA and I am soo pleased I was able to help her. I kept all the notes I made in lessons from the very first and any time she felt down, I showed her the notes and the obvious progress that had been made.

Anyway, I digress... I looked at that link... oh dear... I need to read a dictionary... I so hope no perspecitve employers are reading this... time to stop typing methinks... the hole is getting too deep
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

warren whitmore:
If what you are taught in your school differs significantly
from 'BBC English', then perhaps your school should reconsider
what it teaches.

I cannot voice my opinion on that issue as I simply do not know who is right. Anyway I have very good impression of teaching at that school. I believe I can pass the exam.
Furthermore, what they tell you will 'impress' the examiners
may well be completely erroneous unless they happen to be
examiners themselves.

The haven't told it to us. It is my impression of what it (reporting modals) might be useful for.

I have been preparing pupils for school exams for years and there is a constant game to be played, game of what and how is tested and how to pass these tests with flying colours. In-depth knowledge of exam format, what the examiners are fond of and how to distinguish oneself from the pool of candidates is part of the game. The rest is honest work and simply liking the language.
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Temat: Advanced Vocabulary

Tony Kenny:
It is no secret that many learners of English who become advanced speakers have a richer vocabulary than most natives. heck, there's been a few times when I've asked a Polish person to explain a word to me. Likewise, I understand the same is true for students of Polish.

Don't worry, Tony. For example, I know a phrase which is totally unintelligible: "free time". I don't know what it means (and I think my English is rather advanced), but Warren will surely know it. He is really well educated and knows ALL six Welsh (or so) languages.
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