Base vocabulary list for any language

The basic vocabulary of a language is the core of its lexicon. It comprises those words that are most useful for the speaker and hearer because they. The size of the basic vocabulary cannot be empirically ascertained; it depends on the purpose that it serves. Two variants of the Swadesh list see below comprise and items; Basic English comprises items. Contrast this with the size of a complete dictionary, which may comprise any number of entries between

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Content:

• How to Learn Any Language in Record Time and Never Forget It
• 60+ Vital First Words and Phrases to Learn in a New Language
• Corpus-based vocabulary lists for language learners for nine languages
• Tower of Babelfish
• How many words do you need to speak a language?
• The 50 Most Commonly Used Words in the English Language
• Tier 2 Word Lists and Vocabulary Lessons

WATCH RELATED VIDEO: 7 Insanely Effective Techniques to Memorize Vocabulary in a New Language

How to Learn Any Language in Record Time and Never Forget It

When it comes to learning a foreign language such as English, many students spend hours working through textbooks, doing grammar exercises and perhaps even watching the occasional Netflix show in their target language.

Even if we barely know a language and have zero grasp of grammar, we can still communicate although we might end up sounding like cavemen! As British linguists David A. Again, as with ESL students, their ability to communicate becomes much more effective once their language abilities develop. But the point here is that they are still able to communicate using vocabulary alone. When you have a wider vocabulary in your target language it also helps support all four language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking.

A rich vocabulary makes the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing easier to perform. Vocabulary knowledge is perhaps the most important factor when it comes to reading comprehension, both for native and non-native speakers.

You might end up looking up the words in a dictionary, guessing the meaning of the words from their context, or you might simply give up and find something else to read.

This can be disappointing, disheartening and also shatter your confidence. This connection between vocabulary size and second language attainment has been widely researched over the years. We see similar evidence when it comes to listening skills for the language student, for obvious reasons.

Clearly, if you have never seen or heard a particular piece of vocabulary in a second language, it will be much harder to recognise and decode the sounds and therefore extract the meaning. It can be frustrating and often cut the conversation short. For learners at intermediate levels and above, all the five factors affected level differences, but vocabulary frequently appeared as the discriminatory factor.

The more words you know in any language, the better you can express yourself. Put simply, the more vocabulary you know, the easier it will become to improve your language skills. For starters, this knowledge will allow you to access a wider range of learning materials designed for both native and non-native speakers.

It will also help you understand these words from their context, naturally expanding your vocabulary and improving your language skills without needing to spend time looking the words up in a dictionary or asking someone for an explanation.

See Nation, If we break down this word, we have [un-] and [happy]. If we know that the prefix [un] is a derivational morpheme i. They feel able to tackle more complex texts or social situations, which exposes them to an even wider range of vocabulary and allows them to further their knowledge of the second language. A rich vocabulary is associated with greater academic performance.

Many ESL students are studying English because they want to attend an English-speaking university, excel at higher level study and land a well-paying job. A large vocabulary can help them do just that. As you have seen above, a wide vocabulary is associated with a greater performance across all aspects of foreign language learning, including speaking, reading, writing and listening.

This is why we encourage children to read widely in their native languages- the wider their vocabulary, the greater their chances to perform well academically. This also applies to learners of a foreign language. Putting it all together — Why Text Inspector focuses on vocabulary. This means that if we want to improve the overall standard of English language teaching and create better learning materials for our students we need to focus closely on vocabulary.

This helps English teachers and curriculum developers to develop more effective learning materials for our students and improve our understanding of the English language as a whole. Vocabulary is clearly important for language learning as it underpins all other language skills, can be a stepping stone to high level language use and can help the student to achieve fluency faster.

Is Vocabulary Important in Language Learning? A large vocabulary helps develop other language skills When you have a wider vocabulary in your target language it also helps support all four language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Reading Vocabulary knowledge is perhaps the most important factor when it comes to reading comprehension, both for native and non-native speakers. Listening We see similar evidence when it comes to listening skills for the language student, for obvious reasons.

A larger vocabulary can be a stepping stone to higher levels of language fluency Put simply, the more vocabulary you know, the easier it will become to improve your language skills. A rich vocabulary is associated with greater academic performance Many ESL students are studying English because they want to attend an English-speaking university, excel at higher level study and land a well-paying job.

Conclusion Vocabulary is clearly important for language learning as it underpins all other language skills, can be a stepping stone to high level language use and can help the student to achieve fluency faster.

What do you think? Is vocabulary important? Let us know your thoughts by following us on Facebook or Twitter. Back to Blogs.

60+ Vital First Words and Phrases to Learn in a New Language

Learning a new language can be tricky, but how many words do you need to know before you can actually get by in a foreign tongue? Despite learning German for three years, and practising nearly every day, they still couldn't seem to retain more than words. To work out how many words you need to know to be able to speak a second language we decided to look into how many words we know in our first language, in our case English. We considered dusting off the dictionary and going from A1 to Zyzzyva, however, there are an estimated , words currently in use in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, not to mention 47, obsolete words. To quote a well-known internet meme "ain't nobody got time for that". What we needed was a mathematical cheat.

Corpus-based vocabulary lists for language learners for nine languages

But first things first. If you have no idea what a language level is, refer to the Common European Framework of Reference for Language Learning. Now back to the rule! It is as simple it gets — the number of words needed to advance to every level doubles. This way, you will get the approximate range for each language level. It needs some clarification since this term has changed its meaning in Linguistics in the last few decades. According to a renowned linguistic researcher Paul Nation , if you use the 1. A fair question, I guess.

Tower of Babelfish

Back in , Gabriel Wyner wrote an article for Lifehacker detailing how he learned French in 5 months and Russian in 10, using mostly spare time on the subway. That article went viral. That was nothing but version 1. This post gives you version 2. His new book is amazing.

How many words do you need to speak a language?

This post may contain affiliate links. It means I would get a commission for your purchase without additional cost to you. Here is where it all comes from: British scientists proved Researchers from Oxford university composed the text corpus of English language used in 21 st century, this corpus is called the Oxford Text Corpus. The data was gathered from books, blogs, emails, press, chats, and other text sources. It was done for makers of Oxford English Dictionaries and language research programme, according to sources.

The 50 Most Commonly Used Words in the English Language

However, if you are a regular speaker of English, you probably use around thousand words a day. This is an aggregate amount, and we repeat ourselves a lot. If many of the words we use daily are the same, then it got me thinking:. There is a widely quoted statistic that claims that, on average, men use seven thousand words a day and women twenty thousand. The study investigating the matter has in fact reported that the distribution of values was very large, and that there was no statistical difference between the sexes. It would be tempting to conclude that the number of words in a language defines its level of complexity.

Tier 2 Word Lists and Vocabulary Lessons

We now return you to your regular programming:]. These are words that are frequent in English and are relatively easy to picture. Most of them will show up in the top words of your target language, and so you can save a bit of time by adding these words to your Anki deck right at the beginning. Transport : train, plane, car, bicycle, bus, boat, tire, gasoline, train ticket.

For many people, the word vocabulary is primarily associated with the number of words that a person knows; one either has a large or a small vocabulary. But the word has many shades of meaning and is nicely representative of the nuanced and multi-hued nature of so much of the English lexicon. Vocabulary may indeed refer to the collection of words known by an individual or by a large group of people. It may designate a physical object, such as a book, in which a collection of usually alphabetized words is defined or explained.

One of the most important things when you learn a new language is knowing where to start. It can be really overwhelming trying to decide which resource is right for you. So do it on your own terms instead and use the essential vocabulary to learn in any language list in this article to get you started. Time to quit feeling guilty about your language learning. Ready to find your way to actually learn a language with confidence? Apply to join me in Language Life, my transformational group program for learners of any language.

To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world. Peter Kruger has a good explanation. He states: Tier 2 words are high-frequency words used by mature content users over a variety of content domains. More simply, they are words that are frequent enough that most native speakers would know what they mean, but usually require explicit instruction having to look them up in a dictionary, or apply context referencing, etc.