How many English words do you know?

Frank

How many English words do you know? And how many words do you actually need to be able to speak in a foreign language? This last question is not only about the amount of words you have to know. When you would, for example, start learning English from a dictionary and you would just start learning all the words beginning with an A, certainly you would learn a lot of English words. But how usefull would that be? With this knowledge of words you could not start a proper conversation yet. Instead of learning a random collection of 1000 words, you’d better learn the 1000 words that are most frequently used first. When you know about a thousand of these common words (and you know some grammar too) you’ll be able to start a simple conversation.

But do you know exactly how many words you know at this moment? Here you can find a test where you can discover how many English words you probably know right now. In the 2000 level you can find an extract from the 2000 words most used in the English language. Next to these words you find a subscription of the meaning of the words. There you have to put in the number of the word that suits best with the subscription. If you know most of them, you probably have a lexicon of more than 2000 words. If you are finished with the first row, you can do the same for the next level.

You can find the test here:
http://www.lextutor.ca/tests/levels/recognition/2_10k/

Here you can find an interesting article about this topic:
http://www.lextutor.ca/research/

mheredge

Two thousand words doesn't sound all that many @lichaamstaal‌, but it's still a lot when you have a memory like a sieve like I do. Today I was searching for a teacher of Hindi. So far I only know a dozen or so words in this language.

Frank

A thousand words allegedly should be enough for a simple conversation. A dozen words sometimes can be even sufficient to ask for something. Unfortunately in that case you won’t be able to understand the answer.

In other situations it’s sometimes possible to communicate without speaking any word. You only have to nod and hum. After having spoken to you, your interlocutor might say that it had been a pleasure talking to you because you acted like a very good listener (although you might not have understood a single word).

Dit you do the test @mherdge? What was your score?

mheredge

I'm a slow learner @lichaamstaal‌. I couldn't work out what I was supposed to do to take your test! I'm a real dunce sometimes.

I have been able to have 'conversations' with women when we couldn't speak a single word of each other's language. In particular, I remember being invited for tea in a Berber woman's home in a village in Morocco. To this day, I still can't work out how I was able to find out so much information without language. Somehow we managed though.

I'm not sure how convinced my new Hindi teacher will be tomorrow when we start classes!

Frank

@mheredge Sometimes it’s just enough to know just a few words in a foreign language to be able to make contact and communicate. For example if you know how to say hi in the other language this will open doors for you. The fact that you speak those words makes clear that you are interested in the people because you have taken the effort to learn these words. Then those people will become very hospitable and will do everything to make you at ease. They will try to do their very best to make themselves understood and take the effort to understand you themselves.

mheredge

Hands are very useful too @lichaamstaal‌. I love it when someone is trying to explain something and don't know the words to describe what they mean, so they use their hands. And more often than not, they can get their message over even without words.

Teach

Good test @lichaamstaal‌ - Funnily enough, I made a mistake in the first set. LOL

2000 level
Score 17/18 (94%)
Prob. sets 3
3000 Level
Score 18/18 (100%)
5000 Level
Score 18/18 (100%)
UWL Level
Score 18/18 (100%)
10k Level
Score 18/18 (100%)

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It could be this one:-


1. blame
2. hide 2 keep away from sight
3. hit 3 have a bad effect on something
4. invite 4 ask
5. pour
6. spoil

Probably have a bad effect on something is "spoil", but if something is hit by something, it has a bad effect on it.

hit - be affected by (an unfortunate and unexpected circumstance or event).

The Network was badly hit by a DDOS attack.

Frank

Gestures are very useful indeed @mheredge. That counts for all body language anyway. Giving adivice about this matter provides me a good living.

Frank

This was my score @Lynne‌:

2000 level
Score 18/18 (100%)

3000 Level
Score 17/18 (94%)
Prob. sets 6

5000 Level
Score 17/18 (94%)
Prob. sets 5

UWL Level
Score 17/18 (94%)
Prob. sets 3

10k Level
Score 6/18 (33%)
Prob. sets 1 2 3 4 5 6

I hampered on the 10k level. Those infrequently used words are apparently still difficult for me. That's why I still need a dictionary when I read scientific books. But it's good to realise that I probably know more than 5000 English words.

mheredge

I'll try again....

Frank

i"m curious @mheredge!

Teach

It needs a new level @lichaamstaal‌ - the Will Self level.

I'm sure @Xanthippe‌ would agree.

Xanthippe

@Lynne, of course I would. Long live 'fly-bedizened carcasses'!

Teach

Have you tried the test @Xanthippe‌?

Xanthippe

My score:

2000 level
Score 18/18 (100%)3000 Level
Score 18/18 (100%)5000 Level
Score 18/18 (100%)UWL Level
Score 17/18 (94%)
Prob. sets 6 10k Level
Score 18/18 (100%)

Xanthippe

This test is funny too: http://www.merriam-webster.com/quiz/index.htm

Frank

That's really a good test to practice and improve your vocabulary @Xanthippe. Thanks!

[Deleted User]

I have done pretty well.

2000 level
Score 18/18 (100%)
3000 Level
Score 18/18 (100%)
5000 Level
Score 17/18 (94%)
Prob. sets 6
UWL Level
Score 18/18 (100%)
10k Level
Score 16/18 (89%)
Prob. sets 5 6

[Deleted User]

Hi @mheredge‌,

From the instruction page:-

You must choose the right word to go with each meaning. Write the number of that word next to its meaning.

[Deleted User]

Argh! I should have written, "I did pretty well." I'm certainly not going to do it again.

Teach

You're okay Xeb, as long as you wrote it just after you had finished, and you provided evidence of your success, so it's all good.

[Deleted User]

This makes me feel great. I thought I was back to my worst basic mistakes.

Bobmendez

2000 level
Score 18/18 (100%)
3000 Level
Score 18/18 (100%)
5000 Level
Score 15/18 (83%)
UWL Level
Score 15/18 (83%)
10k Level
Score 14/18 (78%)

Too many numbers! I still don't know the size of my vocabulary. It would be better to get the only approximate number.
If I knew so many words, I would twitter like a news reporter, but I can't link a couple of words instead. BTW How to say literally that I find it hard to talk?
1. I am not fluent enough.
2. ?
3. ?

april

I know already which level I have without doing the test.

Teach

@Bobmendez‌

2. I find it hard to talk.



3. I struggle to make conversation with people in English.

Frank

If you want to say: ‘I find it hard to talk’, then you’d better say something like ‘I find hard talk’ @Bobmendez. This way you don’t only say you find it hard to talk, but also show that. This makes it very plausible. It’s more difficult to say: ‘I don’t find it hard to talk”. Then you have to speak very comprehensible to be believable.

But I agree with what you say. It's not only about the vocabulary to be able to speak words. It’s about the relation among words; how they are combined. That’s often difficult because the rules for that differ in various languages.

Here you can find a list of phrasal verbs that might be helpful:
https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/phrasal-verbs-list.htm

Teach

"Hard talk" is a TV programme about discussing difficult subjects.

Xanthippe

This is interesting too:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2013/05/vocabulary-size

The test: http://testyourvocab.com/

Xanthippe

English learners' results: http://testyourvocab.com/blog/2011-07-25-New-results-for-foreign-learners#mainchartNonnative

Frank

At http://testyourvocab.com/ my total vocabulary size was estimated to be: 10,300 words. I hope to gain a lot of more words writing in this forum. When I look at the lexical facts in the economist this is uncertain because they say: adult test-taker vocabulary growth basically stops at middle age. On the other hand they also conclude that the most common vocabulary size for foreign test-takers is 4,500 words. In that case I at least doubled that amount.

mheredge

Some of the words listed at the end stumped me @lichaamstaal‌. And a few were French words.