De hecho, ¿sabías que necesitarás un ‘banco’ de entre 5.000, y hasta 9.000 palabras? Además, en el C1 Advanced, un buen vocabulario te ayudará a superar la prueba de Use of English. Así que, vamos a ver cómo podemos darle un impulso a nuestro vocab en inglés, ¡y ejemplos de frases y expresiones para temas comunes del examen – let’s dive in!
Vale, pero ¿cómo lo hago?
Empezamos con unos fundamentales para aumentar tu vocab:
La Lectura:
Lee una amplia variedad de textos:
- Libros
- Periódicos y revistas
- Blogs
Pero también, aprovecha otras fuentes, por ejemplo:
- Series
- Letras de canciones
- Videojuegos, etc.
Juegos & Aplicaciones: aprender no tiene que ser aburrido
- ¿Conoces los quizzes de Cambridge English Plus?
- ¿O la sección de Learn English de la página web de Cambridge English? Ahí tienes muchas actividades para practicar tu vocabulario, como esta
- Y puedes descargarte unas apps para adquisición de vocab, por ejemplo alphabear 2, o words with friends 2
¿Y qué hago con todo este nuevo vocabulario?
¡Haz que tus apuntes sean fáciles de recordar!
Tenemos la tendencia a escribir palabras nuevas en listados, terminando con un cuaderno lleno de listados, lo cual resulta un poco monótono para nuestro pobre cerebro.
Mejor usar una variedad de métodos, que aparte de listas, que deberían de incluir los siguientes ejemplos:
Tablas de ‘familias de palabras’:
verb | noun thing | noun person | adjective | adverb | preposition |
Diagramas, como este:
¡Sé estudiante activa/o!
- ¿No estás seguro del significado de una palabra? Adivina ANTES DE buscarlo en el diccionario
- Escucha, lee y ve ACTIVAMENTE: Intenta anotar nuevas frases y patrones, como combinaciones de verbos y preposiciones, etc.
- ¡Personaliza tu vocabulario nuevo! Úsalo para hablar de cosas REALES de ti o gente que conoces, e incorpora tus nuevas frases cuando escribes o hablas – así es más facil para tu mente recordar – como decimos en inglés: use it or you lose it!
Y por último: ¡repasa, repasa, y repasa! Recuerda que solemos necesitar ver palabras nuevas 5 veces antes de poder usarla correctamente, así que, ten paciencia y revisa regularmente.
¿Cuáles son las palabras más útiles?:
Primero, si uno quiere sacarse el C1 Advanced, tiene que familiarizarse con los temas principales que suelen surgir en el examen. Si queremos aprender eficazmente, es mucho más práctico aprender frases cortas que palabras sueltas. Por eso, en las siguientes tablas vemos 4 temas típicos del examen en las que, en vez de palabras sueltas, podemos ver construcciones como collocations, phrasal verbs, e idioms.
- Environment
English | Spanish | Word class | Definition | Example |
endangered species | especie en peligro de extinción | collocation | Animals or plants that may soon not exist because there are very few now alive | The mountain lion is one of a number of endangered species |
environmentally friendly | ecológico | collocation | not harmful to the environment | Most people don’t think about using environmentally-friendly detergent |
cut down; chop down | talar | phrasal verb | Millions of trees are chopped down every year | |
to die out | extinguirse, desaparecer | phrasal verb | to become more and more rare and then disappear completely | Sadly, many plants and animals have died out in the last 50 years |
Get the ball rolling | poner manos a la obra | idiom | We need to get the ball rolling with a campaign to reduce emmisions. | |
Turn a blind eye to something | hacer la vista gorda | idiom | to choose to ignore something that you know is wrong or illegal | We are turning a blind eye to the climate crisis
|
- Work/Studies
English | Spanish | Word class | Definition | Example |
Glass ceiling | techo de cristal | noun phrase | a point after which you cannot go any further, usually in improving your position at work | Various reasons are given for the apparent glass ceiling women hit in many professions |
Heavy workload | pesada carga del trabajo | collocation | the amount of work to be done, especially by a particular person or machine in a period of time | Teachers are always complaining about their heavy workloads |
Meet a deadline | cumplir/respetar el plazo | collocation | to fulfil, satisfy, or achieve a time or day by which something must be done | |
knock off | Phrasal verb | I don’t knock off work until six | ||
Pile up | acumular | Phrasal verb | (of something bad) to increase in amount | As the work was piling up, they decided to go into the office at the weekend |
get the boot | ser despedido | idiom | to tell someone to leave their job, usually because they have done something wrong (also: get/be fired) | You’ll get the boot if you arrive at the office late on more time! |
keep/put your nose to the grindstone | hincar los codos | idiom | She kept her nose to the grindstone all year and got the promotion she wanted | |
pull your socks up | hacer un esfuerzo; ponerse las pilas | idiom | to make an effort to improve your work or behaviour because it is not good enough | He’s going to have to pull his socks up if he wants to stay in the company |
- Health and fitness
English | Spanish | Word class | Definition | Example |
be in good/bad shape | estar en buena/ mala forma | collocation | ||
suffer from illness | padecer una enfermedad | collocation | He suffers from severe depression. | |
pick up | coger; pillar | Phrasal verb | Young children often pick up viruses at nursery | |
come down with | caer enfermo | Phrasal verb | ||
take a rain check | posponer algo | idiom | something you say when you cannot accept someone’s invitation, but would like to do it at a later time | My work’s piled up, so can we take a rain check on that game of tennis? |
have the upper hand | tener ventaja | idiom | to get into a stronger position than someone else so that you are controlling a situation | The team had the upper hand from the start as they had stronger pla |
- Travel & Holidays
English | Spanish | Word class | Definition | Example |
affordable prices | precios asequibles/ económicos | collocation | prices etc that are not too expensive | The resort has plenty of nice hotels at affordable prices |
stunning views | una vista impresionante | collocation | scenery that is extremely beautiful or attractive | There is a stunning view over the bay from the top of the mountain. |
to have wanderlust | tener ansias de conocer mundo | collocation | She has travelled to over 15 countries – she really has the wanderlust | |
get away | desconectar | phrasal verb | to go somewhere to have a holiday, often because you need to rest | I just need to get away for a few days. |
head for | dirigirse hacia | Phrasal verb | to be starting to go somewhere | We’re heading for London for a few days and will then move onto Oxford |
get/be bitten by the travel bug | estar entusiasmado/ada por | idiom | to develop a strong interest or enthusiasm for travelling | We first got bitten by the travel bug at university |
travel on a shoestring | viajar con un presupuesto muy bajo | idiom | If you do something on a shoestring, you do it with a very small amount of money. | It’s still possible to travel around some Asian countries on a shoestring |
*Todas definiciones de dictionary.cambridge.org
Text Sources:
20 tips on vocabulary teaching with Penny Ur
Completing the English Vocabulary Profile: C1 and C2 vocabulary
Boost vocabulary using personalized Interchange word lists
Learner Resources:
Cambridge Learning English: Activities for Learners Body and health part 1
