They say people judge you on your vocabulary, and it's true, but it's misleading. People hear that saying and they translate it as, "need bigger words". In fact, this is the basis for a whole industry of "increase your vocabulary" products.
Truth is, it's better to know less words, and know them well. Of course, the best of both worlds is to know more words and know them well too. The danger is in picking up new words and not having a very good understanding of them.
A word has so much more meaning than can be captured in any concise little dictionary entry. The meaning of the word is a product of what associations the listener makes, which in turn is a product of how exactly the word's been used through its lifetime. Some words are primarily used in specific contexts, like poetry, technical writing, and so on. You can read the dictionary definition of such a word, and slip it in a sentence where it would seem to work from the definition, but it comes out awkward because that's not how the word's been used throughout most of its lifetime.
Partway through my Japan trip, I experienced a boost to my conversation skills. I think it's because I was constantly dumbing down my English to talk to youth hostellers from Europe/Korea/China with broken English (I mostly used Japanese to speak to the actual natives). Any time I said a long word where a shorter one would work, the conversation ground to a halt because my audience simply could not understand. In the U.S. if I made such a mistake, I'd still be understood, I'd just come off a little eccentric or nerdy. But in Japan the conversation would grind to a halt, so it was like getting an electric shock with every mistake. (My writing style wasn't affected, so one of my projects I want to work on is figuring out whether I should dumb down my writing. But that's for another post)
The purpose of words is to convey ideas. They're just tools, they're not ends in themselves. The point of a longer, more obscure word, is to fine-tune what ideas can be conveyed (or, in some cases, to get the right rhyme or rhythm). When doctors use unnecessarily long words for parts of the body, it's partly to convey ideas of formality, expertise, gravity, etc. (By "gravity", I mean "seriousness". There's an obscure word-sense for you!) It's not just to gloat that they have a bigger vocabulary than you.
If bigger was always better with vocabulary, nobody except children would say "cat", everyone would say "felis catus" or whatever. Aww, what a cute felis catus! Try saying that next time you meet a girlfriend/boyfriend's cat. ;)
Practically speaking, if you want to add a new word to your vocabulary, you should take a look at a bunch of example sentences. Real life example sentences are best, not just textbook ones. One really great way to do this, if the word isn't too short, is to do a search for the word at books.google.com. For example, searching for "felis catus", I see from just the first couple pages that the term is often inside parentheses, or used in extremely formal settings, or in books about biology. There are some exceptions, but mostly they're intentional exceptions, ie., done deliberately to be silly. And that's fine. The point is, now I have a better idea when to use "felis catus" and when to stick with good old "cat".
If you like this article, please give it some love in StumbleUpon. Thanks :)
Here are some other articles. They use real, live words!
A Goldmine of Engrish
Prescriptive Linguistics Vs. Descriptive Linguistics
Is Society Biased Against Smart People?
Short Story: The Juggling Balls of Destiny
Truth is, it's better to know less words, and know them well. Of course, the best of both worlds is to know more words and know them well too. The danger is in picking up new words and not having a very good understanding of them.
A word has so much more meaning than can be captured in any concise little dictionary entry. The meaning of the word is a product of what associations the listener makes, which in turn is a product of how exactly the word's been used through its lifetime. Some words are primarily used in specific contexts, like poetry, technical writing, and so on. You can read the dictionary definition of such a word, and slip it in a sentence where it would seem to work from the definition, but it comes out awkward because that's not how the word's been used throughout most of its lifetime.
Partway through my Japan trip, I experienced a boost to my conversation skills. I think it's because I was constantly dumbing down my English to talk to youth hostellers from Europe/Korea/China with broken English (I mostly used Japanese to speak to the actual natives). Any time I said a long word where a shorter one would work, the conversation ground to a halt because my audience simply could not understand. In the U.S. if I made such a mistake, I'd still be understood, I'd just come off a little eccentric or nerdy. But in Japan the conversation would grind to a halt, so it was like getting an electric shock with every mistake. (My writing style wasn't affected, so one of my projects I want to work on is figuring out whether I should dumb down my writing. But that's for another post)
The purpose of words is to convey ideas. They're just tools, they're not ends in themselves. The point of a longer, more obscure word, is to fine-tune what ideas can be conveyed (or, in some cases, to get the right rhyme or rhythm). When doctors use unnecessarily long words for parts of the body, it's partly to convey ideas of formality, expertise, gravity, etc. (By "gravity", I mean "seriousness". There's an obscure word-sense for you!) It's not just to gloat that they have a bigger vocabulary than you.
If bigger was always better with vocabulary, nobody except children would say "cat", everyone would say "felis catus" or whatever. Aww, what a cute felis catus! Try saying that next time you meet a girlfriend/boyfriend's cat. ;)
Practically speaking, if you want to add a new word to your vocabulary, you should take a look at a bunch of example sentences. Real life example sentences are best, not just textbook ones. One really great way to do this, if the word isn't too short, is to do a search for the word at books.google.com. For example, searching for "felis catus", I see from just the first couple pages that the term is often inside parentheses, or used in extremely formal settings, or in books about biology. There are some exceptions, but mostly they're intentional exceptions, ie., done deliberately to be silly. And that's fine. The point is, now I have a better idea when to use "felis catus" and when to stick with good old "cat".
If you like this article, please give it some love in StumbleUpon. Thanks :)
Here are some other articles. They use real, live words!
A Goldmine of Engrish
Prescriptive Linguistics Vs. Descriptive Linguistics
Is Society Biased Against Smart People?
Short Story: The Juggling Balls of Destiny
Posts
1 comments:
Language barrier is really one of the causes for miscommunication. It is fine to have some mistakes if your audience are American. But with Japanese audience, they have a different language and culture so miscommunication cannot be fully avoided.
Post a Comment