Learning a new word is like earning a dollar
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Ashequl Islam
WHILE making a sea journey from Japan to South Africa via Sri Lanka, I became intimate with a sailor who was from the Philippines. I was impressed with the capability of the Philipinos in using English language. I was discussing the benefits of learning English language and he gave me one tip: "Learn as many words as possible. When you learn a new word, you actually earn a dollar."
That time I was a university student. I took his comment seriously. Now that I am a professional struggling every moment in the competitive job market, I realise the sailor's 'word-dollar' concept more than ever. The more I know English, the better I can do in my job, of course I need to maintain my other skills at the same time.
I completely agree about the importance of our mother tongue-Bangla. But at the same time, we cannot ignore importance of learning another language other than our mother-tongue, and that can be preferably English language since this is widely and mostly used in our day-to-day working life.
The more words we know, the more we can think. The more words we know, the better we can communicate with others. We can read any piece written in English and understand easily.
If we find some new words while reading a story, novel or poem, we usually guess and proceed. Later, after reading is over, we are supposed to consult the dictionary and know the meaning of the words. But we do not consult our dictionaries all the time due to our laziness, rather we skip the meanings. If we continually do so, some words will always remain vague in our brain. That way we will remain poor in vocabulary.
Vocabulary is, in fact, a strength. Can you imagine you are reading a difficult piece written in English and you find very few words unknown to you? Reading really becomes interesting when we know the meanings of the words.
For enriching vocabulary, we need to have love for the language. If we can do everything for our loved person, why cannot we be devoted to the learning of new words/phrases in the same way?
One thing: we must know the use of a new word we are learning. Knowing a word only might not help unless and until we know the use of that.
Dictionary can be a great source of learning new words/phrases. If we are really serious about enriching our language, let us make dictionary our all-time companion.
If we can learn new words everyday, we will surely succeed in life. We must be patient. We must put efforts first, result will come automatically.
WHILE making a sea journey from Japan to South Africa via Sri Lanka, I became intimate with a sailor who was from the Philippines. I was impressed with the capability of the Philipinos in using English language. I was discussing the benefits of learning English language and he gave me one tip: "Learn as many words as possible. When you learn a new word, you actually earn a dollar."
That time I was a university student. I took his comment seriously. Now that I am a professional struggling every moment in the competitive job market, I realise the sailor's 'word-dollar' concept more than ever. The more I know English, the better I can do in my job, of course I need to maintain my other skills at the same time.
I completely agree about the importance of our mother tongue-Bangla. But at the same time, we cannot ignore importance of learning another language other than our mother-tongue, and that can be preferably English language since this is widely and mostly used in our day-to-day working life.
The more words we know, the more we can think. The more words we know, the better we can communicate with others. We can read any piece written in English and understand easily.
If we find some new words while reading a story, novel or poem, we usually guess and proceed. Later, after reading is over, we are supposed to consult the dictionary and know the meaning of the words. But we do not consult our dictionaries all the time due to our laziness, rather we skip the meanings. If we continually do so, some words will always remain vague in our brain. That way we will remain poor in vocabulary.
Vocabulary is, in fact, a strength. Can you imagine you are reading a difficult piece written in English and you find very few words unknown to you? Reading really becomes interesting when we know the meanings of the words.
For enriching vocabulary, we need to have love for the language. If we can do everything for our loved person, why cannot we be devoted to the learning of new words/phrases in the same way?
One thing: we must know the use of a new word we are learning. Knowing a word only might not help unless and until we know the use of that.
Dictionary can be a great source of learning new words/phrases. If we are really serious about enriching our language, let us make dictionary our all-time companion.
If we can learn new words everyday, we will surely succeed in life. We must be patient. We must put efforts first, result will come automatically.