I recently and literally (in web-speak anyway) “stumbled upon” a great blog whose focus is introducing and explaining common English collocations. For those who may not know exactly what a collocation is and why anyone would want to devote an entire blog to the concept, just read what today’s knowledge gatekeepers and crafters over at wikipedia have to say:

A collocation is defined as a sequence of words or terms which co-occur more often than would be expected by chance.
Collocation comprises the restrictions on how words can be used together, for example which prepositions are used with particular verbs, or which verbs and nouns are used together. Collocations are examples of lexical units. Collocations should not be confused with idioms.

INCLUDE EXAMPLES
DISTINGUISH FROM IDIOMS

What poses the most difficulties for English learners the more and more proficient they become? I think it is speaking as much like a native speaker as possible! Well, this is almost impossible if your English studies begin after the age of 11 or 12- see Critical Period Hypothesis for more information. So, you’ll never speak as I do or even like Stan on South Park does. Don’t despair, however, as you can arm yourself with more tools and weapons of thought that will at worst, help you understand those crazy guys you always meet out at the bars in Waikiki a bit better, and a best, will push your powers of expression way beyond their and certainly Stan’s.

The best thing advanced and upper-intermediate speakers can do is to USE a great many of and RECOGNIZE a great many many more of the collocations we native speakers take for granted.

Sounds easy so far, doesn’t it? Use and recognize, that is doable. But how to go about accumulating uncountable numbers of collocations, not to mention idioms, slang, phrasal verbs…?

If you’re serious about understanding those crazy dudes on the beach and surpassing Stan in verbal aptitude, you need to follow their example, do as they do, did, are doing, and will continue to do. Now before I tell you what they did, do, are doing, and will always do, I first want to provide some of my credentials so that you don’t think I’m just some internet grammar hack. I have learned four languages since the age of 18. With each new language, I developed and discovered better and better techniques that worked for me. At first while studying in Germany, I actually went through a small yet substantial dictionary memorizing each word from Aachen to zythum. That was a tremendously futile length of drudgery Aachen; I get some use out of since it’s the name of a city, but zythum? Not so much. I learned my lesson and kept on experimenting. I won’t go into all my discoveries here, I’ll save that for later posts, but I will share the one method that discovered and developed that has consistently improved both my speaking and comprehension. So, the method I’m referring to is… oh wait!! I completely left out my educational credentials! How very silly and American of me. I know how much importance most European and Asian cultures place on formal education and the little pieces of paper you receive, without which your skill, talent, experience, and knowledge would be null. I earned my Bachelor’s degree from the University of Redlands and Heidelberg Universität in German Studies (Germanistik) and Linguistics. I then pursued my Master’s in English Composition with an emphasis in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). Oh, and I have over 10+ years experience teaching English at all levels, to all ages, in every corner of the globe most people avoid. (Jinan, China; Kabul Afghanistan; Zarbdar, Uzbekistan, and can’t leave out Los Angeles, California)!

Now what was it I was going to tell you? Oh, yes, the method, the surefire method. Now pay attention and read carefully because it’s quite complicated. What you need to do is….

Read, Read, Read and not just here and there but at every conceivable opportunity.

You can’t be reading books or magazines that don’t challenge you. But I don’t like reading, you say. Okay, then I hope you do like your English level the exact way it is now because without reading, you have really no chance to improve. So, if you like to read or just convinced yourself to try it, I have a few tips on what types of things you should be reading.

First, choose texts that interest you and only such texts. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to read challenging and BORING things in English later at either work or school. if you’re not sure about your interests, the internet is a great resource not only finding myriad things to read but also for discovering yourself.

You should read things that are just a bit too difficult but not so much so, that you can’t make it through the first page with confidence that you have understood 97% of what you just read. If there are more than 5 new or unfamiliar words (unless there new words for everyone, which writers often include because, well, English and it’s speakers, love all things new neologisms), you might want to find something a bit less frustrating. If you ever feel the need to consult a dictionary, published on the net, in an electronic device, or bound in paper the good old way, you should stop reading, take a breath, and let that annoying thought just float away so you can continue reading. Remember, you’re reading to fulfill enriching your life with information on things that interest you. You are not reading to improve your English. If you think of reading this way, then you’re not a good candidate for developing an advanced vocabulary. This is perfectly fine and wonderful. Be happy and don’t complain that your teachers or classes are bad because your English has remained at the same level for the past 3 years.

So, what are you suppose to do? Be interested and curious about things. Have or develop a true excitement for the printed word. Explore and discover written things that really fascinate you. Read these texts everyday forever, unless you really just can’t find anything of interest to you one particular day. Don’t ever connect what you read with any kind of work, requirement, or process for language learning. Read first for you and second for you and you’ll quickly discover an entirely new world full of new words and expressions all around you where before you only saw bits and pieces. When you know a new word or expression, it’s not like something on your to-do list that you can now check off. To know a word or expression is to give form to new and more expressive thoughts. You’ll soon wonder how you could ever have gotten by in English for so long without the word gratuitous or superfluous; words you were certain, could not be common at all and just two weeks later, you laugh as you encounter and put these words to use day after day.