Ten Tips to Improve your Vocabulary

Everyday of our lives, the need for effective communication and relevance cannot be over emphasized-using the right words, which convey the right and succinct meanings to the hearers and readers alike. Excellent interpersonal interaction and a poise in personal effectiveness is null and void without a good use of Vocabulary.
Here are  ten tips to improve your vocabulary to achieve that self esteem and improve your already rich reservoir of words.

1.  Decide why you need new words: Decide your area of interest-medical terms, automobiles, agriculture, oil and gas, speech writing, leadership, public speaking, GRE, IELTS,etc This will enable you tailor your  search on the subject area and just get ready explore all the way!
2. Read! Read !! Read!! : There is no other sure way of learning new words than reading.You will find words right there in a "natural habitat" than in a boring list. Once you find an unfamiliar word, try and guess its meaning from the context, or look up in a dictionary if you are not satisfied.
3. Use New Words Right Away : I remember  watching  an interview granted by a former chief of staff to the Former Edo state Governor, Hon Patrick O. : in his words: 'I am a man of many compendium(books) and I make use of the new words that I learn from my study".Either in writing or in speech,  If you don't use it, you'll lose it
4. Subscribe to a word-a-day- List: Sites like wordsmith.org, www.oed.com and so many innumerable sites offer excellent services in that regard at absolutely no cost. Sign up and print the words out and use them.
5. The need for a good Dictionary: Oxford and Longman's Dictionaries are still very relevant in this guise. You can never go wrong with a good dictionary
6. Ask for help: Requesting the cooperation of friends and family in the use of new words is a lot of fun and very interesting. The use of games like scrabble is very helpful here. Actually, someone from Nigeria recently won a world scrabble championship. It creates a form of "buzz words" atmosphere and a cool feeling- trust me. 
7. Set little word-hunt goals: The best way to master words is by you checking them out and finding them with regards to a particular relationship or application.
8. Buy and Use Good Thesaurus: Thesaurus helps to expand a word in every direction. Tips like synonyms, antonyms use can change the way you use a word for the best. 
9. Listen to and Watch good radio and TV programs: TV ads, captions and and pronunciation of words seen in spelling can remove uncertainty.
10. Don't forget to check the pronunciation of the new and difficult words in your dictionary: Checking out the etymology which will give a succinct information on the right use of the word.