The Magic Number How Many Words Do I Need to Know in My Target Language

The Magic Number How Many Words Do I Need to Know in My Target Language The Magic Number: How Many Words Do I Need to Know in My Target Language? How many words does it take to get to the center of a delicious foreign language?One?Two?Just like Tootsie Pops, languages are tasty treats  that we rarely notice ourselves getting closer to the “center” of until were  chewing on the chocolaty  goodness of free-flowing conversation and wondering how many steps it took us to get there.Unlike  Tootsie Pops, languages are complex living things, frustratingly resistant to black-and-white measurements of how many words or how many licks it takes to cross the finish line and reach your goal.However, while the number of licks in a Tootsie Pop remains a mystery to this day, there are a few different useful ways of sussing out how many words you need to reach arbitrary labels like being “conversational” or “fluent” in a foreign language, or to truly “speak” the language.Theres no magic number of words that you can learn to suddenly unlock all a languages mysteries, but there most certainly are ways to think about the numbers o f words that add up to fluency.For instance, there are  ranges of vocabulary that correspond roughly to different levels of fluency. There are particular kinds of words you should learn before others to get yourself closer to fluency faster. There are  learner-tested strategies for first learning to understand new words and then learning to use them.But before we start counting, lets talk about what were counting, as well as what counts. The Magic Number: How Many Words Do I Need to Know in My Target Language?When someone mentions learning a foreign language, our minds often  fill up with images of endless  flashcard apps and apartments covered in foreign words written on sticky notes stuck to everyday objects.After all, words are the stuff language is made of, right? The gotta-catch-em-all approach seems bound to pay off at some point.Its true that you cant learn a language without learning the words that make it up, but amassing a huge vocabulary shouldnt be your  main goalâ€"the difference between 1,000 words and 5,000 is a small one if those extra 4,000 are just different versions of the first thousand, if theyre words youll rarely get to use, or if you dont really know how to use them.Before you can wrap your head around the difference between 1,000 words and 5,000, youll need to think about what a word is. The answer depends on who you ask.What is a word?A quick search for how many words are known by the average native English speaker can give you results that vary widely.One source will claim that highly-educated native speakers have a vocabulary of around 10,000 words, while another says that an ordinary speaker who has finished high school knows 35,000 easily.Its not because these studies are fudging their numbers, but rather what theyre measuring is just different.Some word counts count every form of a word. For example, from the verb to run, we get  run, runs, ran, running and many more. By some counts, these would all count as individual words, all with slightly different meanings related to person, number and tense.Other counts  only look at headwords or word families, the forms by which most words are listed in the dictionary and the root word from which all other forms are derived. When counting this way, house and houses would be two forms of the same headword, house. The same would be true of am, is, was and be, all forms of the headword to be.Taking the latter  approach to counting up our vocabulary, you can think of a verb like to run as a word that youve learned, and your ability to conjugate it to the dog  runs would count as grammatical knowledge, rather than an entirely new word.This way of thinking closely mirrors organic language learning, in which we learn one form of a word and, as we learn more about the language and its structures, were able to generalize it and apply it to other situations. The grammatical understanding you acquire over time allows you to make the word plural, past tense, future tense or a d irect object.Perhaps you can already see the gulf of grey area between these two approaches.For instance, if run and ran count as one word, what about the verb to run in the sense of to manage or the noun form, as  in a quick run to the store? Where do we draw the line between one cluster of meanings and the next?When attempting to count words, its important to adopt a consistent standard (what youre counting and how youre distinguishing one word from another).Its also important to remember  that, at the end of the day, its all a bit arbitrary.How do you know what you know?Another complication is defining words we know.Do you know a word if you sort of mostly understand it when you hear it, but are unable to recall it and use it during conversation?This is the distinction between active and passive vocabulary.Active  vocabulary  is  vocabulary that you can quickly remember and actively use when writing, speaking and thinking.Passive vocabulary is  vocabulary that youre passively abl e to understand when you see it or hear it, but that you cant useâ€"or that youre unsure of how to useâ€"when writing, speaking and thinking.Generally speaking, new words  will first be gradually absorbed into your passive vocabulary as you encounter them several times and start to get a feel for their use.Then, once youve gained enough context clues, and once youve heard and read enough of a words different meanings and usages to have a more exact idea of what it means and how its used, itll move over into your active vocabulary.Native speakers and second language speakers alike generally have a passive vocabulary several times greater than their active vocabulary.  For learners, upgrading our passive vocabulary to the active category is one of the best ways to expand our knowledge of the language were learning.How many words do you know, and how many do you need to know?For the sake of this post, lets say that our vocabulary counts are using  headwords  and  word families that are included in our  active vocabulary.So, were not counting all the various forms of a given word, and were not counting anything thats only in our passive vocabulary.When we narrow our perspective  down like this, we can start making approximations.In general, we can describe levels of fluency in a foreign language with these rough word counts:Functional beginner: 250-500 words. After just a week or so of learning, youll already have most of the tools to start having basic, everyday conversations. In most of the worlds languages, 500 words will be more than enough to get you through any tourist situations and everyday introductions.Conversational: 1,000-3,000 words. With around 1,000 words in most languages, youll be able to ask people how theyre doing, tell them about your day and navigate everyday life situations like shopping and public transit.Advanced: 4,000-10,000 words. As you grow past the 3,000 word mark or so in most languages, youre moving beyond the words that make up eve ryday conversation and into specialized vocabulary for talking about your professional field, news and current events, opinions and more complex, abstract verbal feats. At this point, you should be able to reach C2 level  in the  Common European Framework for Reference (CEFR) in most languages.Fluent: 10,000+ words. At around 10,000 words in many languages, youve reached a near-native level of vocabulary, with the requisite words for talking about nearly any topic in detail. Furthermore, you recognize enough words in every utterance that you usually understand the unfamiliar ones from context.Native: 10,000-30,000+ words.  Total word counts vary widely between world languages, making it difficult to say how many words native speakers know in general. As we discussed above, estimates of how many words are known by the average native English speaker vary from 10,000 to 65,000+.Of course, youll need to keep in mind that different languages have different amounts of words, and thus voca bulary quantities  at different skill levels can vary considerably.Where Quality Meets Quantity: How to Learn the Right Words in Your Target LanguageTheres definitely a way to learn the right words in the right order when learning a language.Dont set out to learn as many words as you can as quickly as possible, but instead set out to learn the words that offer you the most benefit.Which words do I need to learn?A good starting point in any language is a list of high frequency vocabulary, or a handy base vocabulary list for any language.In English, for example, 3000  words make up about 95% of everyday conversationâ€"youll want to be sure you can recognize words like the, is and goes before you concern yourself with learning the names of plants and animals or todays slang.In any language, there are a few categories of words that will come in handy before others. Some of your first linguistic building blocks will be personal pronouns (I, she, your) and basic verbs, which normally incl ude words like to be, to have, to go and to do. Once you learn six personal pronouns and just these four verbs, youll already have a bunch of useful  words in your linguistic arsenal!With these basic tools in hand, youll move on to everyday concrete nouns like words about people (boy, family, hand) and household objects (table, window, refrigerator) to basic descriptors, conjunctions, demonstratives and so forth until your vocabulary numbers in the thousands of words.Strengthening your passive vocabularyAs earlier mentioned, most words wont be added directly to your active vocabulary the first time youre exposed to them.Instead, new words tend to gradually build a home in your passive vocabulary, the words that you completely or somewhat understand when encountered in context but cant independently use on your own (yet).To learn more words in a language, youll need to saturate your passive vocabulary with new information constantly. That means exposing yourself to linguistic input   like TV, videos and reading material, as well as plenty of real-life conversation.Beginning learners, dont fret over not understanding all the new words you expose yourself to every day. Every new word starts as an unfamiliar word, and repeated exposure is the only way to truly learn (rather than memorize) unfamiliar vocabulary.Tips for strengthening passive vocabulary:Watching childrens shows:  TV shows for small children speak in a slow, articulate manner with a simple vocabulary and lots of context clues. This weeks episode about colors might not be as exciting as Game of Thrones, but itll help you expose your brain to the new vocabulary in context, just like children do.Reading childrens books in translation: Green Eggs and Ham only used fifty words in the whole book. Hunt down some Dr. Seuss or other familiar childrens classics and learn new words easily by reading these, as the vocabulary is simple and youll already be familiar with the context.Watching Disney or other animate d films:  Watching a movie youve already seen a hundred times (but doing it in your target language) works on the same principle as reading familiar childrens stories. The vocabulary is simple, and you already know the story so well that youll understand much of what you hear without ever needing to open a dictionary.Learning vocabulary with real-life video with FluentU:  FluentUs online language learning platform uses videos like TV and movie clips to let you expose yourself to real-life language use and suck up some more new words into your passive vocabulary.With FluentU, you learn real languagesâ€"the same way that natives  speak them. FluentU has a wide variety of videos like movie trailers, funny commercials and web series, as you can see here:FluentU App Browse Screen.FluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, definition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts.Didnt catch somethin g? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover your mouse over the subtitles to instantly view definitions.Interactive transcript for Carlos Baute song.You can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentUs learn mode. Swipe left or right to see  more examples for the word you’re learning.FluentU Has Quizzes for Every VideoAnd FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It uses that vocab to give you a 100% personalized experience by recommending videos and examples.Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet  or, better yet,  download the FluentU app from  the iTunes store  or Google Play store.Watching documentaries and educational programs: Learning a language with TV is one of the best ways to build vocabulary, and  documentaries and educational programs in particular  often (1) speak slowly and articulately, and (2) speak about something you see visually on the screen, making for a natural language learning setting in which you can start making connections between the words you hear and the images you see.Reading public signs, menus, etc.:  Stop, exit and emergency are all words you can learn quickly by taking a stroll through nearly any town in the world and looking around.Wikipedia pages on familiar topics:  Once youve moved beyond Dr. Seuss, try pulling up your professional field or favorite pastime on Wikipedia and finding the version in your target language on the left-hand menu. Once again, your familiarity with the subject should allow you to recognize and passively understand new words easily.Flashcards and flashcard apps:  Its old-fashioned, but spaced repetition  works. The tighter you tie new words to real-life images, the firmer they stick in your passive vocabulary, and the riper they are for promoting to active vocabulary.Strategies for building your active vocabularyPromoting passive vocabulary to active vocabulary is a question of use-it-or-lose-it.Once youve gotten acquainted with a new w ord and seen its different sides, its time to embark on the anxiety-inducing path of trying it out and using it yourself.Here are some handy ways to go from passive understanding to active use:Translating childrens books:  Translating childrens books is one of the easiest ways to start using your new vocabulary. Pick a familiar book (maybe the same one you read in your target language to help gain more passive vocabulary), and translate it into the language youre learning.Practicing new vocabulary in FluentUs learn mode:  With FluentU, once youve had a chance to wrap your head around a new word in context, learn mode or quiz mode gives you a chance to put it to work by using it actively.Vocabulary games:  Engaging your new vocabulary to accomplish a task is not only good for long-term retention, its also fun!Skype exchanges and language exchange meetups:  It doesnt get better than actual conversation. Check out some sites for Skype language exchange, or look around sites like Couchs urfing and Meetup for local language exchange events you can attend in person.Writing in your target language:  Keep a diary just for you, and dont worry about correctness or spellingâ€"just use your words! You can also chat with friends on social media or use sites like Lang-8 to have native speakers check over your writing.Talking to yourself:  Sometimes youre your own best conversation partner. Find some quiet time to read or watch some target language material and talk out your understanding of new words you hear, playing around with it until you think youve got it right.Taking a course:  If you need a more structured way to learn, you can take a course to help you along. For a very friendly and approachable course, check out polyglot Olly Richards  Conversations course, which is designed to help you set up workable, step-by-step systems for learning your target language and picking up useful new vocabulary.How to Build Your House of WordsWhether youre an absolute beginner or in termediate reaching for loftier linguistic goals, let the size of your vocabulary be a barometer for your progress rather than a goal in itself.Vocabulary is just one of the building blocks that make up a language, and just like building a house, you wont get very far with a bunch of odd-sized bricks or a faulty foundation.As you build your house of words and lay your bricks, remember that the foundation is all you need to get started, that syntactical scaffolding will support it, grammar will mortar it together, and social meaning and pragmatics seal off the roof.And to build up that critical vocabulary, take a cue from the owl in the Tootsie Pop commercial.Just bite into your language  and start chewing!