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Hi there, Vladimir here with another video about how to learn English

How many words do we really need to know?

This is a very common question,

a question I've been asked many times.

It's a common source of frustration among language learners

I need more vocabulary, I don't know enough words

is what people say all the time.

According to Google,

there are over a million words in the English language

The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford Dictionary contains entries for

a little over 170,000 words.

How many English words do we need to know

How many words do we need to know?

there are 3 answers to that question,

there are 3 numbers:

The first number is about

being able to speak and express our every thought.

The second number is about

being able to understand other people in a face-to-face conversation.

The third number is about

watching movies, TV, passing a language test and everything else.

It's basically the size of your Active vs Passive vocabulary.

Let us look at each of these 3 numbers.

How many words do we need in order to speak fluently?

The answer to that question is in the most important piece of advice

I give every language learner:

use monolingual learner's dictionaries

monolingual learner's dictionaries use a limited list of common words

for writing simple definitions of every word in the dictionary.

The list is called "defining vocabulary"

according to Wikipedia,

in 1978 Longman was one of the first modern dictionaries to use defining vocabulary,

"and since then defining vocabularies have become a standard component of

monolingual learner's dictionaries for English and for other languages."

How many words are on the defining vocabulary list?

Longman uses defining vocabulary of just 2,000 words in its definitions

Macmillan writes the definitions using a defining vocabulary of 2,500 words

Oxford uses around 3,000 words

Here is your answer to the question of Speaking:

You need between 2,000 and 3,000 words in order to speak well.

With about 2,500 words you can express ANY idea

and make a sentence on ANY topic

from literature to business,

from philosophy to mathematics,

from sports to movies,

every conceivable topic

Granted, not in the most eloquent of ways,

but still,

you will be able to get your message across.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 words

Let's meet in the middle: 2,500 words for Speaking

How about listening comprehension?

How many words do we need in order to understand what

others are telling us in a typical face-to-face conversation

it depends

but in most cases

2,000 to 3,000 words should do

for two reasons:

Firstly, in a face-to-face conversation

native speakers are kind enough to adjust their level,

cutting down on the slang and focusing on more common words

The second reason you could get by with even 2,000 words

in a face-to-face conversation is that

you can Clarify and Confirm when you don't understand.

In a face-to-face conversation you could ask:

These are the few questions every language learner must learn first.

There is nothing wrong with not being able to hear or understand what other people say,

but there is plenty wrong not being able to ask, confirm and clarify.

How about language tests?

The answer to that question is once again in my favorite English learner's dictionaries

According to Macmillan dictionary

90% of the time, native speakers of English use just 7,500 words in speech and writing

Oxford dictionary gives a similar number:

7000 words account for 90% of the language

2,000 vs 7,000 is a considerable difference.

It's Active vs Passive vocabulary:

Active is vocabulary we use with great ease, on a daily basis.

Passive is vocabulary we understand when we hear or read

but don't use daily.

Let's recap:

2,000 to 3,000 words for speaking

That's active vocabulary

2,000 to 3,000 words for listening in a typical face-to-face conversation

That's active and passive vocabulary

7,000 words for language tests as well as movies, newspapers and news on TV

passive and active vocabulary

And the good news is that most language learners already know 2000 words

The bad news is that most language learners don't know

how to use them quickly and in grammatically correct sentences.

Most people can't remember the words they know

Remember quickly and use accurately

Because most language learners don't know how to learn vocabulary

that's what Virtually Native is all about

HOW TO LEARN

It is truly shocking how much time people waste because they don't know how to learn English

Don't waste your time and read my book Virtually Native

which is available on Amazon and virtuallynative.com