Very often, those who start learning English want to start speaking it as soon as possible. But many are faced with the fact that no matter how carefully they learn the rules, no matter how many topics are discussed, there are still difficulties in understanding foreign speech. Now this word is incomprehensible, then another unfamiliar. So how many words in English do you need to learn in order to speak fluently and understand other people? Let's find out.
Number of words in English
First, let's find out how many words there are in the English language. Of course, it is worth noting that this figure can be very approximate, because it is rather difficult to estimate the actual number of words. Usually these statistics are based on the study of existing dictionaries.
You can't call it inaccurate. Rather, it is incomplete, because each editor has his own approach to work, so all existing words simply cannot be on the pages of dictionaries. However, we can still get a more or less accurate idea of the number of words in the English language. For example, let's analyze data from the Oxford Dictionary. This dictionary has about 600,000 words. It is worth noting that this figure also includes variants of the English language (American, Canadian, British, etc.), obsolete words, words that are rarely used, a number of loanwords in English, etc. Those. it contains words of absolutely all varieties, so you should not assume that all 600 thousand are in use. No, the volume of modern and commonly used vocabulary is much smaller.
How many words are there in Russian
Now let's compare the number of words in Russian and English. Statistical data is usually based on information contained in the Big Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language.
It contains about 150,000 words. At first glance, this figure is clearly inferior compared to 600,000. But only at first. The Great Academic Dictionary contains words of the modern Russian language, and the Oxford Dictionary, as mentioned above, contains words of all varieties. If you add various dialect words and obsolete words to the list of Russians, then this list will not be inferior to the data of the Oxford Dictionary.
How many words do we know
Of course, hardly any person can own a perfectall existing words. And you don’t need to learn 600 thousand of them at all in order to speak English fluently. This is impossible to do. What then to do? First of all, it is worth getting acquainted with the concepts of active and passive vocabulary. Active vocabulary is those words that we know well and regularly use in our written and oral speech. Passive stock are words we are familiar with but don't use regularly.
So how many words in English do you need to learn to communicate fluently? It is necessary to focus on an active vocabulary. Each person has his own, of course, but in general they are all approximately the same. There are lists of the most frequently used words for each language (Frequently used words). This list is the first thing you need to master in order to begin to communicate freely and understand other people.
English levels and word counts
The study of English is divided into several levels, or rather 7.
The first level is beginner, the second is above beginner, followed by intermediate beginner, intermediate and high intermediate, advanced and professional. Each level corresponds to the approximate number of words that you need to master. Consider each level separately.
First level
Or initial. At this stage, you need to master the simplest and most elementary vocabulary. These are pronouns, various auxiliary verbs, simple nouns, verbs andpronouns. Usually at this level they master a greeting, a short story about oneself, the ability to ask an interlocutor about something, to involve another person in a conversation. This level assumes the ability to speak approximately half a thousand words.
Second level
This level is already above the initial level. Here you need to be able to participate in more detailed dialogues, use common phrases, be able to hear and understand simple phrases. You also need to make the grammar a bit more difficult. Those. learn how different types of questions are asked, learn about the use of prepositions, etc. One of the most difficult topics is the words denoting quantity in English, as well as countable and uncountable nouns. These important topics can be touched upon already at this stage. On average, at this level, you need to know about 1000-1300 words. Those. vocabulary doubles compared to the previous level.
Third level
This is already an intermediate level. At this stage, you already need to be able to talk about your interests and hobbies in a few sentences, as well as express your opinion on new topics studied. Also at this stage, they learn the ability to request some necessary information. Usually, thematic dialogues are played for this. The number of words in English in the active vocabulary at this stage should be approximately equal to 1600.
Fourth level
This is the middle stage. Usually, at this stage, students feel more comfortable, because they can already express some of their thoughts in another language. Here alreadynot only grammar is studied, but also a wide variety of topics are touched upon, there is a fairly active replenishment of vocabulary. It can contain about 2500 words.
Fifth level
This stage is above average. Usually, those who have mastered this level communicate quite easily on various everyday topics. They can even support some spontaneous conversation. This level may even be sufficient for some tourist trips, as it will allow a person to feel quite comfortable surrounded by those who speak a different language and easily understand other people. The number of English words in the active vocabulary is about 4000.
Sixth and seventh levels
These levels are considered the most difficult. Having mastered them, a person will be able to easily and without obstacles understand foreign speech, build complex sentences, use various synonyms and advanced vocabulary, and easily build arguments. The seventh level allows you to communicate even on rather narrow topics, such as jurisprudence or medicine. The sixth level allows the use of approximately 7,000 words in the active vocabulary, and the seventh - about 12,000. Although there is no limit to perfection.
For many, the fifth stage is also suitable, since it makes it quite easy to express one's thoughts and perceive someone else's foreign speech. And with the regular use of English in everyday life, the level of proficiency in it will only improve, and new words will imperceptibly penetrate into speech and become fixed in it.
