Memorizing words is probably the most important task of any language learner.
Yet, languages have thousands of words. So, a very common question we get is,
"How many words do I need to speak a language?" I'll try to answer this difficult
question in today's video.
It's reported that English has 170,000 words.
Huge, right? But I have some good news for you if you're
learning English or any other foreign language. First, even native speakers do
not know every word in the dictionary. A typical person passively knows
70,000 words. Second, a native speaker actively uses only a small portion of
these words when speaking. Let's say between 10,000 and 15,000 words.
It's important that we understand the difference between passive and active
knowledge if we want to answer today's question. Active vocabulary is what you
need to speak and write, while passive vocabulary is what you need to
understand what you read and what you hear. It goes without saying that what
works for native speakers can also work for you. So, your active vocabulary can be
much smaller than your passive one. Another distinction we should make is
about how you count words. For the purpose of this video, I'd say that run
runs, and ran can be considered as a single word, because they are all variations of
the same verb, whereas runner is a noun, so it should be considered as its own word.
But some linguists might not agree with that. As I said, it's very hard to
give a precise answer to this question. And in my opinion the number of words
you need is not even the most important question to ask. But let's try to figure
it out together. First: different learners have different
goals, right? For example: 300 to 600 words can
be enough for typical tourist situations. But if you want to reach a
conversational level, then you'll need to actively know between 1000 and 3000 words.
With certain words under your belt you'll be able to manage a variety of
everyday situations and conversations and you'll understand and be understood
while travelling. That's a nice level, which will give you
a lot of satisfaction. Of course, that's not enough to cover all the needs of
someone who wants to live, work or study in foreign country. If you want to reach
an advanced level, then you'll probably need between 6,000 and 10,000 words. But
if you want achieve native-like fluency, then you must know 10,000 to 15,000 words.
As you can see, your goal changes everything, because it can mean the
difference between 300 and more than 10,000 words. Personally, I care more
about the quality of the words I know than the quantity. What I mean is that
the choice of the words you know is more important than the size of your active
and passive vocabulary. In the past, I made the mistake of trying to blindly
learn a lot of words without giving priority to the most useful and common words.
But choosing the right words to learn is a game-changer. So, if I were you,
I would focus more on what words I need to know, instead of how many words I need.
You might be wondering: "Okay, Luca, but how can I choose the right words to learn?"
One possibility is to use what are called frequency lists. These lists are
based on the number of times a word comes up in a specific situation.
In particular, I'd focus on frequency lists based on spoken interactions. These lists
encourage you to give priority to verbs like "to go" rather
"to sweep," an irregular verb I actually memorized at school, but I rarely use in
my life. Once you have chosen the right words, another challenge is not
forgetting them. For that, nothing is more effective than SRS, which stands for
Spaced Repetition System. In a nutshell, it's a very efficient method which
prompts you to review a word just before you would forget it. This way, it
optimizes your memorization by keeping what you learn always fresh in your mind.
It's perfect for long-term memorization. If you want to know more about the SRS,
check out the link in the description below. This way, the word first enters
your passive vocabulary and then, after lots of repetition, it slowly becomes an
active word to you. Of course the best way to activate the word is to force
yourself to use it in your speech. If you want to save time and energy, I strongly
recommend getting some help from an app like MosaLingua, which is based on both
frequency lists and a Spaced Repetition System. In our mobile app there are more
than 3000 words and sentences. And in MosaLingua Web you can find more than 6000
flashcards and memorize up to 10,000 words, since the majority of flashcards
include example sentences. And in as little as 10 minutes a day you, can reach
conversational level in 3 to 6 months. Give it a try! You can test both
for free. So, to recap: the number of words you need to know really depends on your goal.
Don't forget that 300 or 600 words can be enough for typical tourist
situations, but you need at very least 1,000 words to reach a conversational level.
How many words you know is not as important as what words you know.
So, choose the most commonly used words to accelerate your progress, and avoid
wasting your precious time. And finally, be sure
you don't forget what you learned by using smart methods like the SRS, that
the MosaLingua app and courses use, for example. That's all for today.
take care and happy learning.
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