English Words - How Many is Enough? (2024)

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English Words - How Many is Enough? ›

Between 1,000 to 2,000 high-frequency words for basic conversation and everyday texts. More or less 8,000 words for advanced conversation. In the region of 10,000 to 20,000-word families (excluding fixed phrases and expressions) to read at a university level.

Between 1,000 to 2,000 high-frequency words for basic conversation and everyday texts. More or less 8,000 words for advanced conversation. In the region of 10,000 to 20,000-word families (excluding fixed phrases and expressions) to read at a university level.

Generally speaking, knowing an average of 2000-3000 words should be enough for everyday conversations and basic understanding (A2-B1 level). To become proficient in English, you need a vocabulary of about 5000+ words.

With 2,500 to 3,000 words, you can understand 90% of everyday English conversations, English newspaper and magazine articles, and English used in the workplace. The remaining 10% you'll be able to learn from context, or ask questions about.

Beginner. Akorbi recommends that a complete beginner typically has about 250-500 words under his or her language belt, with the necessary tools to form complete sentences. With this knowledge of words, they will also be able to get through introductions, answer simple questions, and hold basic conversations.

People who know 250 to 500 words are beginners. Those who know 1,000 to 3,000 words can carry on everyday conversations. Knowing 4,000 to 10,000 words makes people advanced language users while knowing more than 10,000 words puts them at the fluent or native-speaker levels.

The relationship between vocabulary size and fluency is complex, and the number of words required to achieve fluency varies. Some estimates suggest that around 3,000 words are necessary to achieve basic fluency, while others suggest 10,000 or more.

Most adult native test-takers have a vocabulary range of about 20,000-35,000 words. Adult native test-takers learn almost 1 new word a day until middle age. Vocabulary growth stops at middle age.

According to a recently conducted study by The Economist, most adult native speakers of the English language, who took their vocabulary test, have a range from 20,000 to 35,000 words. The average of native test-takers of the age 8 was 10,000 words and 4-year-olds have already a considerate amount of 5,000 words.

Do we need to know the same number as native speakers? In English, for example, the average native speaker knows about 20,000 words. That goes up to 40,000 words when we're talking about college-educated people.

What is the least used word? ›

Translation between English and Arabic is not always straightforward. Arabic has over 12 million distinct words.

It is clear that Arabic is the basis for hundreds of words across dozens of languages. As we continue to examine why it may be the richest language in words, let us take a look at the origin of the Arabic language.

According to Goethe Institute, level B1 requires knowing about 2400 “lexical units”. Duolingo helps you learn 2000+ “words”, but does not specify if that set of “words” coincides with Goethe's set of “lexical units”.

Conversational: 1,000-3,000 words.

With around 1,000 words in most languages, you'll be able to ask people how they're doing, tell them about your day and navigate everyday life situations like shopping and public transit.

With 1,500 words or more, you can qualify for a pre-intermediate level. You will be able to express yourself easily and have everyday conversations with your peers and colleagues. This corresponds approximately to a level of A2/B1 on the CEFR scale.

To recap: The number of words to learn to speak a language really depends on your purpose. Remember that 300 to 600 words may be enough to travel, but at least 1,000 words are necessary for a conversation.