Improving Vocabulary: getting to grips with the building blocks of the English language
If you plan on improving vocabulary by trying to “swallow a dictionary” then I have to warn you that you face a nearly impossible task, given that the English language contains over a million different words. Now if you were to learn even 100 words a day (which is a major commitment) this would still take you 10,000 days and given that there is only 365 days in a year, this means that you would (in theory at least) learn the English language after 27 years.
Of course, it really is not that simple because unless you are using each and every one of the words that you learn on a constant and frequent basis, you will be liable to forget them or make a mistake, such as the pronunciation of the word, its definition, or the context in which you use it in. The truth of the matter is that there is simply no need to know every single word in a language, after all even the average native English speaker does not know them all, making do with a rather paltry 50,000! Studies have also indicated that the English as a Second Language (ESL) tests will require the person sitting the test to be familiar with a minimum of 8,000. Whilst these are still large numbers, (and there can be no denying that) when placed and weighed in comparison to the total number, things look much more palpable.
One of the most counter-productive things you can do when you are improving vocabulary is to rely solely and exclusively upon only one source, as whilst there is the English language as a entity, there are a number of sub-divisions and sub-classifications which it can be broken down into. These include formal English (typically found with academic spheres as well as certain professions such as law and medicine) and informal English which is more often found within everyday speech.
As touched upon earlier, the best way of expanding and improving vocabulary is to rely on a variety of different sources and so watching films with subtitles can be a great way of doing this. Why? Well, many DVDs nowadays come with the audio of the film in one language, and the option to turn on different languages via the subtitle options. This means that you can watch a film in your native language, and then watch the film so as to draw a ready comparison between the two. Alternatively you can have the film audio in English, and the subtitles in your own language, so make sure you swap it around and see which is best for you.