How does one turn a large passive vocabulary into an active one? For example, I can read an ordinary book in English and understand almost all of it, even words relatively uncommon in everyday language (eg, riveting), because I have seen the words before and they come back to me when I see them. But what happens is when I actually want to use that word (eg, I actually see some riveting in real life) it's highly likely I won't be able to recall the word (I may even forget I know it). Do you have any ideas or similar experiences?
passive => active vocab
Charades
Charades is a word game played at parties. People who are interested in language encourage their children to play "Charades".
I think that everybody suffers from what you experience. The words they use in 'everyday English' is smaller than the total number of words they know.
Recognition of words is easier than 'recall'. Also, even though you might want to use a word, you might not be able to 'pronounce it', spell it, etc. or you might think that it is unsuitable because other people might not understand it, etc.
I have a riveting idea for you!
Using a site like 'Anti-moon' is a way of keeping your English alive.
Charades is a word game played at parties. People who are interested in language encourage their children to play "Charades".
I think that everybody suffers from what you experience. The words they use in 'everyday English' is smaller than the total number of words they know.
Recognition of words is easier than 'recall'. Also, even though you might want to use a word, you might not be able to 'pronounce it', spell it, etc. or you might think that it is unsuitable because other people might not understand it, etc.
I have a riveting idea for you!
Using a site like 'Anti-moon' is a way of keeping your English alive.