Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary lists about 470,000 words while the Oxford English Dictionary has some 300,000 words listed of which 47,000 are obsolete. Recently, the Global Language Monitor, the size of the English language crossed the 1,000,000. Clearly, the number we are discussing is very elastic.
With a vocabulary of 15,000 words you should be able to read about 98% of texts of which headwords account for around 72%. A native English speaker, for example, understands approximately 20,000 words by the time he/she finishes college.
The number of words you need varies according to individual needs: are you a banker, bus driver, academic, business person, entrepreneur, etc. As a speaker of English as second language a vocabulary of around 3000 high frequency words can be enough to get by.
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ReplyDeleteMerriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary lists about 470,000 words while the Oxford English Dictionary has some 300,000 words listed of which 47,000 are obsolete. Recently, the Global Language Monitor, the size of the English language crossed the 1,000,000. Clearly, the number we are discussing is very elastic.
ReplyDeleteWith a vocabulary of 15,000 words you should be able to read about 98% of texts of which headwords account for around 72%. Headwords are those words used to locate an entry and dictate its alphabetical position in a dictionary. However, a native reader needs to understand approximately 95% of a text to really comprehend what is being read not discounting the different types of texts (i.e. a novel vs. a newspaper). So, this answer can range anywhere from 2000 to 5000 or more ‘high frequency’ words. A native English speaker, for example, understands approximately 20,000 words by the time he/she finishes college.
The number of words you need varies according to individual needs: are you a banker, bus driver, academic, business person, entrepreneur, etc. As a speaker of English as second language a vocabulary of around 3000 high frequency words can be enough to get by.
To score high on TOEFL, GRE and GMAT it is estimated that a 10,000 word vocabulary is necessary. Other studies indicate that a 2,000-word vocabulary of high frequency words actually comprises 87% of words in an academic text accompanied by an additional 800 academic words identified as comprising an additional 8% of textual items are sufficient for a successful college life.
So, have we covered 95% of texts – yes or no? The remaining need for words stems from technical items of specific fields amounting to between 1,000 - 2,000 items. Lastly, a large number of low frequency academic words estimated to number up to 123,000 words can be added to one’s vocabulary to achieve our purpose.