The 1,000-word weekend

A new client proudly told me she’d learned 1,000 new English words in a month.

Then Monday came. And a colleague asked, “How was your weekend?”

She froze. Not because her English was poor. And not because she didn’t know the grammar. She’d spent so much time collecting new words that she stopped trusting the ones she already knew.

She could explain complex ideas. She understood specialist vocabulary. Yet she struggled to say, “It was sunny.”

A lot of professionals make the same mistake.

They download vocabulary lists, save useful expressions and mark up every article they read. But they rarely use the English they already have.

So they end up with a larger vocabulary, but not more confidence.

Most conversations don’t need impressive words. They need words you can reach for quickly. Words that sound natural coming from you. Words you can use without searching for them.

Fluency isn’t about how much English you know. It’s about how much English you can use when you need it.

Quick win: Before you learn five new words today, use five you already know.