The real power of language will be yours if you work to expand your vocabulary

by Richard L. Weaver II

One of the common stories that occurs on college campuses is about students who go home during their first major campus holiday. Often, this is Christmas. One of their first goals is to hook up with family members and high school friends who did not have the opportunity to go to college. The complaint most often heard from students returning to college after the break is the perceived distance they experienced between themselves and both family members and friends. Friends would say, “Hey, you know you don’t have to ‘put on airs’ with us!,” or “Just talk like the rest of us. You don’t have to be a show off.”

It happens surreptitiously; it increases slowly over time; most students don’t even know it is occurring. Their vocabulary is increasing daily, and new words creep into their everyday conversations as comfortable and natural ways to express their ideas. But, when they talk with family members and friends who have known them for many years, they don’t alter the way they have learned to talk at college. With the new words indelibly embedded, it is difficult to do, and so, to friends and family members, they sound as if they are trying to be sophisticated, erudite, and learned. That is precisely the influence college has whether it happens because of lectures, readings, or the interaction with others.

As a professor, I had to convince students that this was not a negative occurrence — an unfavorable byproduct of a college education. This was not easy because students were feeling shunned or rejected. One of the primary — although sometimes subliminal — goals of everyone is to fit in and be welcomed. Many college students would rather become self-conscious and make the necessary vocabulary alterations than experience any level of ostracism by others — especially by friends and family members.

Even if I were able to convince students of all the values of having a better vocabulary, the playing field isn’t level when you weigh that against potential rejection by others who are close to them. I would tell them it would help improve their image by adding color to their personality, dynamism to their character, and self-confidence and poise to their presence. In addition, a better vocabulary will energize their thinking power. Directly connected with the speech-communication discipline, I would tell them that a powerful vocabulary will enable them to become fluent conversationalists, maximize their ability to persuade and influence others, transform their negotiating skills, increase their powers of expression, and make it possible for them to articulate their most complex thoughts and ideas. With respect to their future, a better vocabulary will pay dividends in both business and social advancement, impress other professionals, clients, and customers, increase their earning power, and enhance their social status.

Research studies confirm the results with respect to students’ futures. One 20-year study of college graduates revealed, without a single exception, that those who had scored highest on the vocabulary test given in college, were in the top income group, while those who had scored the lowest were in the bottom income group. Dr. Johnson O’Connor, chief scientist of the Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation, found a direct correlation between vocabulary and rank on the corporate ladder. In the study a vocabulary test was given to executive and supervisory personnel in 39 large manufacturing companies. The test results were conclusive: “Presidents and vice presidents average 236 out of a possible 272 points; managers averaged 168; superintendents, 140; foremen, 114; floor bosses, 86. In virtually every case, vocabulary correlated with executive level and income."

A Human Engineering Laboratory Study — a research group founded by Johnson O’Connor — tested the vocabularies of thousands of people in various careers and age groups. The study found that the people drawing the highest salaries scored highest on the vocabulary test. They scored with a consistency that bordered on predictability. Indeed, a superior vocabulary was the one common characteristic of successful people.

Margaret E. Broadley — an authority on Johnson O’Connor’s work and the author of several books on human aptitudes — in her book Your Natural Gifts, shows that as far back as the 1930s, the Human Engineering Laboratory discovered “a close relationship between a large, precise knowledge of English words and achievement in life.”

But what about the opposite? What happens to those with a small vocabulary? “A low vocabulary,” writes Broadley, “is a serious handicap. Ambitious and energetic persons can push ahead in their jobs just so far, but then they reach a plateau caused by low vocabulary. They never advance. And while youthful zest and high aptitudes can enable us to forge ahead despite low vocabulary, when we become mature the world expects us to know something and we are judged on knowledge rather than our possibilities. The world doesn’t see our aptitudes, but it pays for knowledge because that can be seen.”

Broadley reports the negative effects of having a weak vocabulary: “Studies show that at middle-age the low-vocabulary persons are stuck in routine jobs. Furthermore, when big companies have their shakedowns and mergers, too often the low-vocabulary persons find themselves out on the street. Too often they place the blame on prejudice, inside politics, and personal antagonism when the truth can be traced to low vocabulary.”

As noted previously, the wider your vocabulary, the easier it is to capture and express your ideas. You can expand your vocabulary by reading, observing, and listening, and also through experience. Buy a book, read it, and look up every word you don’t understand. Then use those words in conversations. Take the Reader’s Digest “It Pays to Enrich Your Word Power” tests, and when you learn new words, use them in conversations. Practice. When you catch yourself describing something as “nice” or “good,” rephrase the description. Broadley claims that only about 3,500 words separate the high vocabulary person from the low, yet these 3,500 words can mean the difference,” she concludes, “between success and failure.”

Expanding your vocabulary is a matter of wanting to do so. The more vocabulary you have, the easier it will be to both write and speak. And the writers or speakers who can articular their ideas clearly will be looked to for leadership and will find leadership positions comfortable. The real power of language will be yours if you work to expand your vocabulary.

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There is a great website called VerbalSuccess.com, where Greg Ragland’s first of seven lessons discusses four benefits of increasing your vocabulary. He discusses: 1) Read Faster and Comprehend More Information, 2) Increase your intelligence and your IQ, 3) Earn better grades in school, and 4) Achieve greater success and earn more money in your career.

At wikiHow.com, under the heading, “How to Enrich Your English Language Vocabulary,” there are twelve specific steps for expanding your vocabulary in addition to tips on how to go about it. If you are truly interested in expanding your vocabulary, this is a great place to begin.

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Copyright April, 2009 - And Then Some Publishing L.L.C.