Hello,

I've been learning English for just over 10 years now, and I feel like I'm stuck in a rut.
Most of that learning happened in a classroom (yuck!) and still does since I'm an English major (currently doing a research paper on phonetics).

My English was horrible for the first four years. Then, I started studying on my own and AE(?)ATTing it.

I raked in 1,000 hours of listening in a couple of months when I was a sophomore, but I don't have the time to do that anymore. I'm trying to AEATT it hardcore again, but it's very difficult for me since I have tons of stuff to do for college.

My pronunciation is very good since I love phonetics, but my vocabulary... not so much. Our translation teacher gave us one of those fill-in-the-blanks vocab tests last week, and I failed miserably. I studied for four hours over the weekend and passed the next one, but still.

At that stage, words like glisten or gleam just shouldn't be a problem anymore.
I still can't read Harry Potter comfortably, even if I can read most newspapers pretty easily.

The thing is, I listened to NPR during most of my AEATT phase. It was hard at first, but now I'm a big fan of NPR and I listen to Most E-Mailed Stories every day.

I've never really liked reading, except when I was a child. I bought a Kindle a while ago to read novels, but ended up reading books about Poker instead.
I bought a second Kindle a few days ago so that I could read "bilingual" books (I'll use both Kindles at the same time) but I don't know how much that will help me.

I made over 6,000 paper flashcards during my hardcore AEATT phase, but I forgot most of the words I learned. I don't want to switch to Anki. I tried to, and it didn't work. I don't like learning vocabulary on a computer screen. I carry my flashcards everywhere I go, it's much better that way.

Anyway, I made new flashcards because my translation teacher really bruised my ego with his pop quiz. I made MCD's out of the three pages of vocabulary he gave us. In hindsight, I wish I had added translations of the words into my native language because I'll need them for an exam I'm taking at the end of the year, but more on that later.

So, I've noticed that I burn out really quickly while making and reviewing flashcards. That's a big problem because more vocabulary pages are coming my way and I need to learn them. Oh, and there's the tiny issue of me not being able to read novels for kids.

It's getting complicated because I need to juggle my research paper work, my college classes, extra stuff I'm supposed to do if I want to pass that selective exam I was talking about, and vocabulary learning.

I'm having so much trouble with my research paper that I was thinking of MCDing some of the content that is bugging me. That would take me a lot of time though.

Could you please give me some advice?

I don't know how many words I should be "adding"/ reviewing, and how to organize my work better. It's gotten to the point where I sleep 5 hours/ day because I'm so darn stressed out.

Since you don't like reading, have you tried audio-books? It's weird at first, but I got used to them pretty quickly. And you can listen to them everywhere, even when it's impossible to read (like walking around, driving). Doesn't work for difficult text though, which partially defeats the purpose. But listening to Vonnegut or Dostoevsky still beats American talk radio (and yes, NPR is just a talk radio station, no more sophisticated than the rest of them).

Aside from reading novels, the second most important source of my (albeit still limited, compared to what your ambitions seem to be) English vocabulary was, surprisingly, conversing on Internet forums. Particularly forums about philosophy and literature. Of course, there's not much point in spending all day debating morons about day to day politics, or for that matter any subject that adds no new words to your vocabulary. The goal here is to find people who are better at English than you are, to converse with.

As long as you have the discipline to stick to topics you like, and only engage the people you can learn from, online forums can in fact be a magnificent means of combining input with output.

Try to sleep more.
Spread out your work throughout the week/day.
Take 5-10 minute breaks.

Stress makes it more difficult to remember what you learn. Relaxation will certainly get you out of your plateau. Try to find a way to be more efficient, while finding a way to relax.


When learning words (or anything for that matter), if you make a connection, you'll remember it better. (Making a connection could be creating stories, applying it to your life, using context, using its etymology, searching google, or any other tool to help you appreciate the word). Spend some time with the word, maybe around 30 seconds to a minute encoding the fact.

The main thing is becoming efficient. Efficiency in life is having the right balance between productivity and relaxation. Timothy Ferriss calls it the MED, or minimum effective dose, in which you commit to the minimum amount of work that allows the best possible result. It's also called the Pareto Principle, where 20% of the work leads to 80% of the outcome.


Scheduling your time properly is important too. In the end, it's up to you to figure out how to get it together. Write out what needs to get done and create a schedule.

Always cycle between working&recovering.

Make sure you have time to relax around evening time. That way, you get a better night of sleep.

Clear your mind. Slow down, to speed up.

I forgot to mention that I also listen to audiobooks, sorry.
These days, I don't have the attention span for audiobooks. I fall asleep each time I listen to one and then I have to listen to the whole thing again--ugh. Watching crime dramas also does that to me, which is why I've switched to comedy/ fantasy.

During my hardcore AEATT phase, I ended up sleeping through 12 hours of a book by Charles Dickens.

During this phase, I didn't listen to music at all. Music isn't really "pure" language. Some words are mispronounced for stylistic effects, and I didn't want to be exposed to anything that would be deleterious to my English. I did watch talk shows, but that's another story. My understanding of *colloquial* English is really good, thanks to Ricki Lake and Jerry Springer.


By the way, NPR isn't just "another talk show". I've watched enough "trash" (but oh-so-entertaining) TV to be able to make the difference between good, standard English, and slang that should only be used with really close friends.
NPR deals with a lot of interesting topics such as science, technology and economy.

I also have a really weird way of grading myself when it comes to listening hours. Right now, I tolerate music because I'm good enough at spotting non-standard pronunciations, but I won't count one hour of music as a full hour of listening.

Anyway, I raked in close to 8 hours today, which I haven't been able to do in AGES, so I'm really happy. I wish I found a way to deal with my vocabulary troubles though.

Quote:Try to sleep more.
Spread out your work throughout the week/day.
Take 5-10 minute breaks.

Stress makes it more difficult to remember what you learn. Relaxation will certainly get you out of your plateau. Try to find a way to be more efficient, while finding a way to relax.

I use timeboxing to get through the horrible book I have to read for my paper. I love phonetics, but this book is *so* dry. I did AEATT before reading AJATT so I'm not one of those crazy proponents of the "method", just someone who learns best through osmosis. I'll try anything if I think it can help me learn English.
I've been on antidepressants and anxiety meds for years. I'm already much better, but I can't stand pressure.

Since my second Kindle will finally get delivered tomorrow, I'll probably read The Hunger Games or Harry Potter/ The Lord of the Rings in both French and English at the same time. Or maybe CHERUB. I don't know yet.

I'll also go to the library and get some vocabulary books. I've been going to the library a lot, but the one I go to only caters to the needs of the locals, so it doesn't have any books in English.

Oh, and I read/ listened to tons of "productivity/ motivation" books a few years ago. I jumped on every possible bandwagon, including The Secret and Wicca spells for good fortune. Like I said, I'll do anything.

I'll try to aim for 60-100 flashcards a day (less when I'm swamped with work).
I'm bad with reps so I'll have to find a way to deal with that.

Not sure how helpful it is, but if you are going to listen to music, why not get into some guys and gals that are fairly good poets and lyricists? From the perspective of learning English it might be better. Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan are the best I know of. After that Joni Mitchell. Then others like Paul Simon, Tom Waits, Jackson Browne. An old progresive band called Procol Harum also had a great lyricist.

Leonard Cohen might be especially interesting, since he uses pretty normal pronunciation in a lot of songs. At certain stages of his career he was basically just talking, haha. "Songs of Leonard Cohen," his first album, is a good place to start.

Bob Dylan's still my favorite though, at the end of the day. "Blood on the Tracks" is my favorite album of his.

As someone also on antidepressants and anxiety meds (and psychotics for sleep);I understand your issues with stress.

Despite what is marketed towards us consumers choice is not always the best option.
To give an example (one I do not suggest following): I went "off" my meds for four days, for various reasons. Four very long days. By the end I had a very clear idea of what I actually wanted and not just the meds. Also relating to a few other Japanese study things.

It's funny in a way how desperation can bring about clarity in desire. And how acute your focus can be while suffering; how imminent the present is. So many little distractions seemed entirely undesirable. Maybe that is a here nor there. Though...

It sounds like you do a lot of work in your target language,
but how much do you play in your target language?

What are your goals for your English ability? Many of my peers say I have a better grasp of the language than most people my age, but I still don't feel like I'm perfect at English. And its my native language. There are always new words to encounter, complex sentence patterns and sophisticated syntax to grapple with. The novel we're reading in class now, Grapes of Wrath, has dozens of words I have never seen put to use in my entire life, much less have any inkling of what they mean. But I don't need to know those words to read the book, ace the test and all that. And I defiantly won't use half of those words when actually talking to another person. The point I'm trying to get at is that you don't have to stress out that much about vocabulary. I read your post and if you wouldn't have outright stated you were learning English, I would have assumed you were a native speaker. I cant really gauge your full ability by that alone, but it seems like you have you bases covered. However, if you want to be able to read Harry Potter with 100% comprehension, that's a different story. That's a book written not only for an adult audience (at least as far as the language register goes) but also deals with magic and other fantasy terms that don't appear in real life. I'm not saying to give up on reading it, but perhaps it would be better to crawl before you walk or whatever. Pick up an easier novel, like maybe one geared towards middle schoolers or teenagers. After a while, the language develops naturally: I don't need to hit a dictionary every time I see an unknown word in Grapes of Wrath after all.

But I guess the important thing is to define your goals. Is reading Harry Potter your target range of ability? If so, then it would probably be most efficient to just spam the flashcards until you know terms like "goblet" or whatever. I prefer to 'enjoy' learning the language though. At least for Japanese, I started with easier books and then worked my way up, that way I wasn't totally swamped by some adult crime novel! I have to admit: I still can't read adult literature in Japanese, but I feel like I'm getting there slowly but surely. And whats more, I'm enjoying stuff I can read while boosting my confidence in the language at the same time.

Honestly, I think if you're having difficulty reading fiction, you need to read fiction. Your written English is quite good, so I'm assuming that you just have difficulty understanding what's in fiction as opposed to the non-fiction you've been reading and listening to. Fiction often has very different vocabulary and style to it compared to non-fiction, so that's why I'm suggesting this.

If you're taking anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medications, that might be having an effect as well. When I was taking them, I did really poorly at school work or concentrating on anything I didn't care to do. It sounds like you actually need them, but they can screw around with your brain in unexpected ways, just so you know.

I know you don't really like it, but Anki could really help you with vocabulary (there is a mobile app, if you have a mobile device). It's much more organized than using regular flash cards. But I understand why you don't like it, I much prefer paper to a computer screen, but Anki works better for me, so I use it.

@uisukii
I don't really suggest dropping such medication cold turkey. When I dropped my final medication (which wasn't an anti-depressant, but lithium. All the others I weened off of under supervision), I couldn't think straight at all. I barely remember it. Apparently, this isn't uncommon for anti-depressants and the like either.

Your free to experiment, but just know that it can throw you on your ass if you just drop medication like that. Less than optimal progression is far better than no progression at all.

Agree re weaning antidepressant medications carefully, as about a third of people seem to have a rough time ceasing them abruptly (talk to your doctor).

Harry Potter might have been written for kids, but even the early books have a lot of neologisms (newly coined words), and the series also uses quite a bit of relatively archaic or otherwise novel vocabulary (bezoar comes to mind, though this is explained in the text) - and what is a non-native speaker to make of Dumbledore's nonsensical "nitwit! oddment! blubber! tweak!"? So even a "kids'" series might not be as easy as you'd think. To some extent Rowling's books also "grow-up" with the main characters, so beware if you're starting off with say Goblet of Fire, as the series gets more sophisticated as it goes on.

The parallel text idea is a good one, OP, as it provides you with an easy check and thus lets you get into more interesting material without sacrificing interest (that is, without boring you to sleep!) Also agree that popular songs can be a good start, especially those written by those with a good command of language (such as Cohen and Dylan), as they will get you used to the idiomatic use of the language while being brief enough to fit in here and there around other things (as well as memorable). Sounds like you need reading material you can "snack on" - that is, relatively short but appealing material that gives you some pleasure (so it isn't just yet more "work").

mel685 Wrote:I forgot to mention that I also listen to audiobooks, sorry.
These days, I don't have the attention span for audiobooks. I fall asleep each time I listen to one and then I have to listen to the whole thing again--ugh. Watching crime dramas also does that to me, which is why I've switched to comedy/ fantasy.

During my hardcore AEATT phase, I ended up sleeping through 12 hours of a book by Charles Dickens.

I also have a really weird way of grading myself when it comes to listening hours. Right now, I tolerate music because I'm good enough at spotting non-standard pronunciations, but I won't count one hour of music as a full hour of listening.

Anyway, I raked in close to 8 hours today, which I haven't been able to do in AGES, so I'm really happy. I wish I found a way to deal with my vocabulary troubles though.

As nadiatims suggests, you could try adding vocab lists. These are way more efficient than trying to learn solely through rote memory. Writing words out in a list as you learn the words makes the context more concrete. If there are any difficult words, you could use flashcards to review them, after the list is done. Using both flashcards and vocab lists would ease your vocabulary troubles

Nadiatims, who found the flaschard system inefficient, began using vocabulary lists to learn words.
http://rtkwiki.koohii.com/wiki/Nadiatims_method.

Anyone else have suggestions on how to learn vocabulary without anki ?

[Zgarbas]

Is your problem strictly with reading, or just reading entire novels?
Because there are thousands of short stories and novellas out there just waiting to be loved =). And I don't blame you for falling asleep on Dickens. I hate Dickens with a passion (when I read Great Expectations I would stop every page to curse Pip and tell him to die...). Myabe you just need some better writers =)?

If it's just fiction you have a problem with (since you said you were reading books about poker), then why not just go for non-fiction? Lords knows they can go crazy, especially if it's even slightly academical.
Also, there's always the news, both the common ones and the academic journals.

Ah, the Magic of Reading. I really don't know any other way to exercise your vocab. Maybe SAT words flashcards?

Wow, thank you so much for all the answers. I didn't think so many people would be interested in my thread.
I still consider myself a beginner and that's why I've come here for help.

Quote:How much time do you spend having fun in your target language?

I used to watch a lot of cool DVDs and TV shows, but lately I haven't had the time to do that. I listen to a lot of American music (mainly rap) but I've gotten tired of listening to my favorite songs. I "banned" French from my life 5 years ago but stuff happened and I've been watching more and more French TV. I've also been reading manga in French, but that's because I have an aversion for online Jap/Eng scanlations.

That being said, it's not such a big deal since I average 3-6 hours of listening (to various things in English) every day.
Oh, and now that Koh-Lanta is over, I should be able to get that number up.

I used to play a couple of Korean MMORPG a lot (10 hours+ a day). I played on English-speaking servers so obviously I learned a lot of (not-so-useful) vocabulary like "scimitar". I don't even know how to say this word in my native language (not that it really matters ).
I stopped playing such games because I got bored of them.

I love English, but I'm tired of not understanding "basic" words. My new Kindle didn't get delivered this morning, so I'll probably have to wait till tomorrow to do some parallel reading.
I'm not that interested in listening to the books/ shadowing the books at the same time because listening comprehension and pronunciation practice aren't my main goals.

I had lofty goals, but now it seems like I can't make any progress. I wanted to have a native-like command of American English. I think I need help finding new goals that are mainly centered around vocabulary and comprehension.

I read the last 3 volumes of Harry Potter in English 7 years ago. I didn't understand much, but I enjoyed them anyway. I feel like reading them in English kind of ruined the experience for me because at the time I didn't even know what a wand was...

Wow, OP, getting through the last three HP books is pretty impressive! Just wondering what you mean by "not understanding" basic words?

A lot of native English speakers would be hard-pressed to precisely explain the fine shades of meaning between words like "glimmer" and "gleam" for example, though they are distinct (or at least they are to me. "Glimmer", for me, means a faint glow with a sense of flickering or movement, while "gleam" suggests a steadier effect - but another reader might think of them a little differently, and dictionaries will often offer you more than one precise meaning). There are also a lot of word pairs and word triplets where English has imported the same word from (most commonly) French or Latin or French via Latin more than once, and given it a different spelling and spin/meaning each time, often very different from the original meaning as a French speaker would understand it - even native speakers can find themselves using these words with less-than dictionary precision. As you'll know all too well, English is notoriously unstable, always adopting words and using them in novel ways or changing the meaning - subtly or not - and there's no central Academy that rules on these things, though individual dictionaries may try to nail down definitions (and there are plenty of people willing to argue about points of grammar and meaning).

Most languages will have stock phrases that are a bit hard to translate word-for-word, too, and then there is idiom and allusion, where a word or phrase looks odd or out of place in a strict dictionary sense but is being used in reference to something else. "Having a hair of the dog", for example, comes from the phrase "hair of the dog that bit you" - all perfectly simple words, but which make no sense at all unless you know we are talking about an ancient folk remedy for rabies that has come down to us in modern times as an expression that means "having a drink to make your hangover (the after-effects of too much alcohol) feel a bit better".

Sorry this is a long reply, just giving more examples in hopes you'll talk a bit more about this, because your "glimmer/gleam" example was helpful in understanding the problem. I hope it makes sense (and congratulate you on your writing, which reads very well to me.)

[Zgarbas]

I think I can answer that one :p. You'd be amazed at what incredible expectations people have from English learners. English is also much more vocab-heavy than other languages and so commonly studied that having a level where you 'get by' gets about as much respect as not knowing it at all. Since OP is majoring in philology the expectations are even higher... though tbh some of the university teachers I have often make mistakes. And yes, I judge them :p.

Yes, yes, yes to the "vocab heavy" thing (though number-of-words/morphemes-in-a-given language seems to be one of those impossible-consensus topics) <g>. And also yes to the expectations of fluency, which I agree native English speakers take for granted to a ridiculous extent.

Wonder how many other languages have dictionaries of antonyms and synonyms (words that mean opposite things and similar things)? My apologies if this seems a really silly question, but I honestly do not know ...

(Again, OP, I'm sorry if I've talked about things that aren't new/aren't helpful, as seems likely, am just trying get some more concrete examples for us to work with. But if you think English feels like a never-ending river, believe me, that's a very fair thing. Suspect it's true for any language, though - there's always something you don't know or have forgotten.)

EDIT: My computer has a mind of its own tonight and it won't let me connect to the internet or post here. Let's try again...

Quote:Wow, OP, getting through the last three HP books is pretty impressive! Just wondering what you mean by "not understanding" basic words?

Thank you
There's a lot I didn't understand though. Sometimes I was like "What the heck is happening now?". I have a high tolerance for "foreign gibberish" but I need to understand English better if I want to get good grades and to become fluent.
Sometimes I feel like some words/ sentences are impossible to understand. Descriptions are horrible.


Phrasal verbs and descriptions of action scenes have always stumped me. I know most of the colloquial phrasal verbs, but none of the "good" ones that are used in literature.

I'm currently studying words that describe sounds (click, clink, bang, blast, bellow and all that good stuff). I have eight pages of them to learn and I think I'll go crazy before page four.

Today, I didn't get to study vocabulary since I tried to get some reading done for my research paper.

My Kindle did get delivered eventually so I'm downloading books in French to complete my ebook collection (I need the text to be bilingual).

sholum Wrote:@uisukii
I don't really suggest dropping such medication cold turkey. When I dropped my final medication (which wasn't an anti-depressant, but lithium. All the others I weened off of under supervision), I couldn't think straight at all. I barely remember it. Apparently, this isn't uncommon for anti-depressants and the like either.

Your free to experiment, but just know that it can throw you on your ass if you just drop medication like that. Less than optimal progression is far better than no progression at all.

Oh, I don't suggest others doing it either. It wasn't done entirely on purpose, and I am back on them now. My post was more on observing some of the other side effects, then remarking on how my mindset at the time found clarity in deciding what I wanted. The same could be said of removing distractions from your life and leaving only the tools available for the task you want to focus on.

Just to clarify for others reading, who may be on similar anti-depressant, anxiety or psychotic meds, I don't think going cold turkey is a good idea, and consulting your doctor should be priority if you are inclined to do so, etc. etc.

mel685 Wrote:There's a lot I didn't understand though. Sometimes I was like "What the heck is happening now?". I have a high tolerance for "foreign gibberish" but I need to understand English better if I want to get good grades and to become fluent.
Sometimes I feel like some words/ sentences are impossible to understand. Descriptions are horrible.


Phrasal verbs and descriptions of action scenes have always stumped me. I know most of the colloquial phrasal verbs, but none of the "good" ones that are used in literature.

I'm currently studying words that describe sounds (click, clink, bang, blast, bellow and all that good stuff). I have eight pages of them to learn and I think I'll go crazy before page four.

I'm a fast and fluent reader of English but some of Rowling's action scenes went by me in bit of a blur, too - that is, I wasn't left with a clear picture in my head of the scene. So this may have more to do with the fit between her writing style and the way you and I "read" and then "see" things than with your grip on English ;-) . (I loved the HP series, but Rowling isn't my favorite writer when it comes to writing *style*. She is also notoriously fond of adverbs .... )

I hear your frustration with all those onomatopoeic words. I've got "Japanese the Manga Way" and am struggling with the fact that I'm going to have to learn how all these things "sound" in another language - because a noise sounds like it sounds, right? Cows make the same cow sounds anywhere, don't they? My cat speaks Japanese already, yeah? But no, Warrigal, it looks like native phoneme experience changes the way this experience gets written down, too.

I'm not about to try quitting anything cold turkey again. I had a very bad experience with benzos recently (and I need to take some again tonight, but I'll be more careful this time.)

Anyway, back to the forum after a BSOD. I must have done something terrible to make my computer that angry at me, but I don't know what. :p

I thought this thread needed some more "concrete" data, so here we go:
*I rarely have more than one hour to study vocabulary (per day). If I study for two or three hours on Saturday or Sunday, I burn out (at least temporarily).
*I'm bad with reps. I'd know 5,000+ words more than I do right now if I'd just reviewed my flashcards a bit more.
*I'll not learn isolated words anymore. This is too failure-prone. I've been doing that for ages and most of the time, it doesn't work--for me anyway.
*I truly, truly want to learn lots of words this semester and will be very sad if I don't. I need to pass a very selective exam in May/ June. I need to be a good translator to get high grades.
*There are a few people in my class that I would really like to shut up because they think they're better than everybody (including the teachers). I managed to get better grades than them on the last vocabulary test and I want this to continue, even if these grades don't matter.

Dear god, I wish I could write as well as you do. Are you sure you don't have too high expectations?

I can't say I know a more efficient way to quickly acquire a more extensive vocabulary other than SRS. If you wan't to acquire an extensive vocabulary in a short time frame there aren't better options. Reading is a better way but takes a lot more time. You could try to read a few short stories instead of whole novels though. I'm pretty sure authors tend to repeat a certain kind of vocabulary or sentence structure, so reading shorter works by different authors -- perhaps even different genres -- may be more efficient. It won't be as fast as SRS, but you'll gain a deeper understanding of the concepts.

Defining a concept is hard. I'd have a hard time defining words in my own language, and I think most people are like me. When I don't know a word -- which is quite rare nowadays -- I just keep going. I don't bother looking it up in the dictionary. It's either relevant to the plot in which case it'll be described or talked about later on and I can get a feel of its meaning, or it isn't, in which case I didn't lose much by not understanding that part of the sentence.

If you're not in a hurry just keep reading or listening to whatever it is that you like.

I'm curious: mind telling what is your native language, what and where are you studying?

If your pronunciation is fine then focus on reading books. All sorts of books. Also, watch american standup, lots. At your level all of this is easy because you can already consume the language. So, just hang in there like that for a year, and then you tell me.

[RawToast]

mel685 Wrote:I still can't read Harry Potter comfortably, even if I can read most newspapers pretty easily.

You may wish to push your newspaper sights higher. British 'broadsheet' papers would definetly improve your English reading skills (The Independent, The Times, The Guardian). Not really sure which American papers compare (New York Times?)

mel685 Wrote:Phrasal verbs and descriptions of action scenes have always stumped me. I know most of the colloquial phrasal verbs, but none of the "good" ones that are used in literature.

You need to distinguish between pretentious English and good English. Like I said, things like NPR aren't good English. They're just pretentious English. They use big words with barely any idea of what they mean, to convey platitudes.

With a well known classic/early 20th century writer, who's style and ideas have withstood the test of several generations (instead of just a small audience which is looking for instant gratification and a false sense of superiority), you know that he's a master of the language and is using it as a tool to convey his ideas and paint vivid imagery, not to make himself look superior or an "intellectual". The language is a vehicle for his ideas, not his ego. This is also true for good translations (and classic novels usually have good translations), if you're more interested in European classics.

^I do not really know much about NPR, but in respect to "pretentious English and good English", I'd make the comment that in the way you have described "pretentious" in this manner is in the same manner as the characterization of the people you are referring to as using such style of speech.

All specialized and/or technical English language is by nature "pretentious" in that there are certain assumed pretentious of knowledge demanded of the audience in order to understand the text, speech, etc. being conveyed. All topics have pretensions the respective subjects are to be aware of in order to follow.

You also might want to define what "good English" is, as at current all you've done is conveyed your opinion on what you think is "good English", by means of indirect reference. Such an act is by its very nature, insinuating certain agreed upon understandings from who you are speaking to and is, as defined, pretentious.

Quote:They use big words with barely any idea of what they mean, to convey platitudes.

What are "big words" and how do you know the speakers have "barely any idea of what they mean". "pretentious" and "platitudes" are words which certain English speaking adults may call "big", while other English speaking adults may not. Labeling words as "big" insinuates pretensions of what is considered also small, and correct size words. Something which is a common phenomenon which varies between levels of literacy groupings, vocabulary sizes and specific jargon interest groups.

Your post appears to have a lot of pretensions about what constitutes valued use of the English language and what does not. Have you heard of the Dunning–Kruger effect?

yeah, if your problem is vocabulary and those fine distinctions of meaning, i'd say the best way of dealing with this problem is to read fiction. Use a dictionary while you read, and the words will gradually start to associate themselves with a meaning-feeling that just comes to you the way it should in context.

There's really no other way to do it, because spoken english doesn't use the same vocabulary set, and so literary words occur much less frequently.

How about reading poetry? That should get you pretty far, since poets are even more particular about their use of language and it's finer meanings than novelists, and you can pick them up and put them down more easily than novels, and move onto someone else. (i recommend Rimbaud's "Season in Hell", Dante's "Inferno" [um, yes, that's novel size, sorry, but still...], T.S.Eliot, or maybe the beat poets like Ginsburg and Kerouac, but poetry is quite taste specific, so probably just look around til you find something that grabs you.)

For novels, i also recommend reading great writers because you get so much more from it. But if you don't like reading so much, maybe rather than picking something too heavy and philosophical you could try something witty like Oscar Wilde or funny like Gogol (i'm reading "Dead Souls" at the moment and seriously, it cracks me up roughly every half a page!!).

Argh, i just realised that i've recommended a load of stuff that is only in translation in English, but, still... probably doesn't matter too much.

@uisukii: "And how acute your focus can be while suffering; how imminent the present is." i think it's almost the opposite; that suffering is a sort of acuteness of focus that brings about the state of imminence of the present, though yes, it can also be useful in a number of ways. You have to learn to master it and direct it though, or it will master and direct you. As everyone else already said, be careful with "experimenting" with your meds, you don't want to damage your brain any more than it may already be...