If you are planning a trip to an English-speaking country and want to show off your excellent knowledge of modern English, you are in luck!
There are many fantastic ways to improve your vocab, one word at a time. Log into your Twitter account and get ready to learn with these word-a-day profiles to follow (Tip: Consider creating a separate Twitter list for these to better monitor what they Tweet without getting distracted from your regular Twitter routine).
1. A Word A Day
This is an obvious one you may have already found, and if not you will love it. You get a word every day, along with a simple description and a link to the page on Wordsmith that explains it in great detail. It gives you the pronunciation, meaning, etymology (origin) and usage. It follows by a weekly theme, and on the Wordsmith site you will be given links to other words posted that week in the same thread. There is a Discuss section, as well as a place for basic Feedback. If you want to keep it off of Twitter, you can subscribe to their RSS and XML feed. For past entries, check out their Archive.
2. Urban Dictionary
You have to love Urban Dictionary, the place to go for slang or online specific terms. They post a lot more than a single word a day here, sometimes posting as many as a dozen in a minute. So you will definitely have plenty to check out. You can tweet them for a response, and you will see a ton of replies given to their users. Which is a cool, interaction quality most Twitter accounts don’t have.
3. Wordnik
This is another cool Twitter account that posts more than just a word a day. You usually get a dozen or more, and they are well known for their obscure definitions and their special features from people around the social network. You will also see many tributes to figures in history, with both official and unofficial terms related to them. For example, they recently posted “wah-wah” to celebrate the birthday of rock legend Jimi Hendrix.
4. Artwiculate
Like to get a little competitive? This is a large scale Twitter competition that works through both the official site and their social media account. There are not nearly as many followers on this page as it deserves, especially since they follow back and interact with their users all the time. They are really worth a look.
5. Mnemonic Dictionary
If you are looking for a way to remember the words you learn, this is the perfect account to follow. Most days they will give you a word or two, along with a definition and a mnemonic device to help you remember it through their website. Very cool, and a handy way to teach people words they have probably heard of but haven’t used in their everyday vocabulary.
Bonus
A free tool we would recommend is Twitter Video Downloader. You can use it download Twitter Videos related to English dictionary/speaking and save them to your iPhone or iPad.
Do you know of any good Twitter accounts that post a word or more per day to help people expand their vocabulary and improve their language skills? Let us know in the comments!
