>>1
I think it might be the first step in the right direction to keep your motivation as high as you started studying.
Read this. It's what I posted somewhere in 2ch to make my position clear about what Japanese people need when trying to increase English vocabulary. I think the same goes for you.
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I had half a mind to go without leaving a comment, but I have a say about this theme. As most of you know, Japanese people usually don't use English in daily lives. That's a main reason they suck at the language. Basically, they must twist their own arms to practice more (if they really want to improve). Still, I often hear them complaining like, "despite the fact that we are taught English at school for at least 6 years, we
can't speak English. It's because the English education of Japan is fucking shitty." I lol at this kind of idea. How much time do/did they actually spend in learning English?
To put it another way, what they need is practice more instead of ranting like that.
Concerning the idea of reading a lot, though, I think it sure helps get used to English. As I said above, what Japanese people need is to put more time into learning English (I'm assuming you are interested in the language since this is the English board). And reading books is an easy way to do so. To read makes your English good. With this in mind, however, I'm a bit dubious whether you can increase your vocabulary effectively only by reading. As for me, I've been reading my favorite stuff again and again... But I also used vocabulary books to learn about the meanings of rarely used words, and consulted dictionaries when I couldn't guess correctly what they meant from the contexts they were used in. Of course, I don't mean extensive reading in itself is useless. The point I'm trying to make is, there's no absolute method as you believe there is. So wake up and face the music. All you have to do is spend more time. Trial and error is the best teacher. Good luck to you.
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