Developing linguistic skills

[Endorphin]

Hello there!

I recently switched the main characters in my story. However, the new protagonist is a linguists student, and while this is not the main point of the story but rather a side information, I believe that it influences not only the way she talks, but also the way she thinks and perceives things.
She is able to articulate herself clearly, though she prefers a flowery, elaborate use of language, and I simply lack the confidence to portray her that way, seeing as my English is rather basic since I'm not a native speaker. (Which leaves me wondering it's even possible for me to write in a way that won't throw out of the flow by making tons of mistakes.)

How do you go on about expanding your vocabulary?
(Are there some exercises you do, some books you prefer to read for this purpose?)

- En.

[Kjata]

I would highly recommend reading certain works of fiction to be the best way to improve your vocabulary. First establish the kind of personality you want your character to have, then try to find a character in a piece of literature which embodies those characteristics.

For example, whenever I am trying to write something witty. I read the lines from the character Lord Henry from Oscar Wilde's "A Picture of Dorian Gray".

If I were trying to write a character who used "flowery" lines my first thought would be to try and read certain pieces of Shakespeare.

The key here is not try and copy lines from these texts, but to try and get the feeling of how these characters think. When you understand how your character thinks you will be able to naturally write lines for them. I hope this has helped.

[Endorphin]

Thank you for your answer! :>
Yes, reading was also my first idea.
However, the problem is less that I'm not able to feel the way that they are (roleplaying helped a lot with that), but more that my English skills are rather basic. I can easily capture the flow of her speaking (consisting of style, sentence length, ticks etc. ), but I do not speak or write like a native speaker, which means that my vocabulary is probably heavily limited. While I'm pretty sure that she adores Shakespeare's literature and this probably also influences her style of speaking, my main problem lies in my basic abilities.
Reading is great and all, and I do it a lot, but I can't help but wonder if there aren't more efficient ways of expanding one's vocabulary.

- En.

[Kjata]

I do understand your problem, unfortunately I am a native English speaker and I have never attempted to write outside of my native language, it would probably be better to get advice from someone in a similar situation to you.

Despite that, I genuinely cannot think of any better way of improving overall vocabulary and writing ability than reading the right literature. For example, even though I consider my level of English to be quite high, I can see marked improvements in my writing quality after reading a quality piece of literature.

I highly recommend reading the book Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov (warning: the subject matter is strictly 18+), it is one of the best books I have ever read and it greatly improved my vocabulary. You will need a dictionary close by for a lot of it, as he doesn't use common English, but if you spend the time reading it, it will not only improve your vocabulary but give you ways to use words you already know to new effect.

[Endorphin]

Thank you for your recommendation!
I was planing on reading it anyway, but I didn't think about reading it in English--now I will.
Are there any other books you'd advise me to read?

- En.

[Taleweaver]

I think you may want to talk to me. I am not a native speaker of and have a Master's Degree in English.

One thing to remember is that many of "us linguists", so to speak, study languages for the sheer love of it. (There's not much money in it anyway.) Thus, you'll find many who enjoy playing with words, enjoy jokes that rely on puns and verbal misunderstandings and know of the finer nuances between words to an extent where they will want to express a thought but, if they cannot immediately think of the perfect word, refuse to use another word which would almost describe something but not exactly. We are prone to dispensing our knowledge without being asked, especially when we recognize connections between things non-linguists wouldn't recognize (like, telling an athlete who's particularly good with the javelin that it's funny his name is "Gerald", as the "ger" part in is name is an ancient norse word for "spear").

To study lingustics, you read a lot. Not just scientific literature and the books you study anyway but pretty much all the classics that belong to your field of study. And if something new comes out that is relevant to your field of study, your professors pretty much expect you to have read it the day it was published. You thus learn to read fast, to quickly understand the gist of a text, and to put it into the context of what you already know.

In everyday life, this probably means linguists will have a deep understanding and insight into their specialization, a very wide but shallow general knowledge of the world, and they are prone to quickly develop an opinion on anything, based on what they already know about it, even if that knowledge is far from deep.

For a good example of a writer who uses language linguists love to use themselves, try John Updike.

[Endorphin]

I'll contact you, thank you for the offer. :>

And really, this insight was quite interesting, I really appreciate it!
I'll make sure to inform myself about John Updike~

- En.

[SHiNKiROU]

I'm a combination of English as a second language (got 3 only in AP English), computer science (major) and linguistics (learning it outside of class), so I have only ROYGBIV-BGW as my color vocabulary, and I use "if and only if"s, and I perceive negatively of irregularities in language.

One thing I observed is that I know what words like "yummy, clandestine, opal" mean but I never use them.

If your character is a combination of native English speaker, classical literature reader and linguistics, she will be completely opposite.

However, if you can't win at vocabulary, try to give your character awareness in grammar: Clear sentences, varying sentence complexity, ambiguity control (unambiguous when debating but ambiguous when joking), and even making up grammar rules (while others know what it means right away).

[Sorakun]

As a native English speaker I find the most common way is to read books, If your not used to reading in English start with something simple like the secret seven or the famous five, they are very good books and are fairly easy to read.

If you feel a bit more comfortable with reading you could try some more advanced books, personally i only really read fantasy books so that is all I know to recommend. If you want to start with a bit simpler reading you could try the Eragon series, if you want to read something a bit more advanced you could try the Dragon lance series, both are series I personally enjoyed a lot.
If you like a bit more history romance or detective fiction novels you could try reading some of Georgette Hayer's books.

Other than reading just talking with native speakers will normally help you learn more of the language, though do be careful as in just day to day chatting most people who speak English fluently will use a lot of slang.

That would be all the help i can offer at the current time, if I think of anything else ill add it on later.
Hope this helps