How do I improve my Vocabulary

Ideas are immense and infinite but when one has ideas and not enough packaging to support it, the idea looks vague and ineffective.

Vocabulary is a strong tool to effective communication. It is a double edged weapon as usage of flamboyant vocabulary often puts the reader off and using multiple words to express an idea makes the reader beat round the bush. For Example, look at this statement "The Metropolitan had the mechanism to control the flow of automobiles on either side of the road with specific indicators that the operators of the automobiles follow in order to avoid confusion and accidents on the streets" and read the next statement - "The city had Traffic Signals that the drivers follow to avoid traffic congestion on the streets". Excessive vocabulary can be dangerous and inadequate vocabulary will be boring. In the above sentences, the idea is the same but packaged in different styles, one of them definitely is confusing.

An average educated person has at least 400 - 500 words in the vocabulary but ideally it is good to have at least 1000 words for effective communication. It becomes all the more important for the individuals to understand the utility of each of the word.

Moving on with our understanding of Vocabulary, it is important to understand what is a poetic expression and what is a layman's language, what is a scientific language and what is a common parlance. While it is important to understand the reader before choosing the expression, we should also keep in mind that the idea should be universally appreciated. The quality of our communication reflects in the choice of words. Expressions and choice of words vary from country to country, culture to culture. Using slang, colloquial terms should be in sync with the reader or if the writer is not sure, such expressions should be avoided.

The Big Question is how do i improve my vocabulary? At an age where our learning abilities take a metamorphosis, the basic methods of learning vocabulary would seem primitive and ineffective. The best way to improve vocabulary for such an age group is to read topics on varied interests. Fiction, Non-Fiction, Current Affairs would be the basic topics which can be taken up and a cross reference of the same with a dictionary would be helpful. this exercise will have dual benefits - 1. it will refine your idea generation process and 2. it will enhance vocabulary. Self help Book like "Word Power Made Easy" should be used to understand the word origin and usage. One should not shy away from using the words in day to day communication however care should be taken about the reader group.

Every subject matter has its own set of words and our interaction with homogeneous groups should always include Subject Matter Vocabulary to enhance communication effectiveness. For Eg: what is High Blood Pressure to us is Hypertension to a doctor, for us there is power cut and for an electrician there is electricity trip down. So one of the key issues is that whenever we are communicating with a set of people out of our area of comfort, it is important that we understand and use their set of vocabulary.

This is a basic overview about improving vocabulary especially for people who would want to improve their levels of vocabulary to a manageable extent.