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2,000 words isn't even close to enough. When learning Chinese, I still had large gaps after learning 2,000 characters and closer to 20,000 words. Note: we each
by xiaoma 10y ago
2,000 words isn't even close to enough. When learning Chinese, I still had large gaps after learning 2,000 characters and closer to 20,000 words.
Note: we each just used three words not in the first 2,000 and that didn't count verb forms!
http://www.wordfrequency.info/free.asp?s=y http://www.wordfrequency.info/free.asp?s=y
- E6300 10y agoThe previous poster was referring to English. The statistic may not applicable to a lexically unrelated language such as Chinese. Furthermore, the stated vocabulary is intended for the speaker to get by with. A bare minimum for useful expressiveness.
- xiaoma 10y agoI've taught English to thousands of students who learned it as a foreign language, built and run a school with two partners and I'm the one who was in charge of the curriculum and teaching side. I'm positive that 2,000 words isn't enough to be "passably fluent" in the poster's words. Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably trying to sell you something (or has read too much Tim Ferriss). Yes, it's possible to express a large number of daily life phrases such as "which bus goes to the train station?" or "what's in #3 on the lunch menu?" with a tiny vocabulary but you often won't understand the answers. I've done this before in a few languages.