How Many Words Do You Need to Know to Speak English with Confidence? Watch this to Find out!

- Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com.

Now, in today's lesson,

you're going to learn how many words you need to know,

to be able to speak English with confidence.

So, I'm going to give you a breakdown on this,

and then also to go over some key points to consider.

Because it's not just about the words you know,

but, is also how you use them.

Now this video is sponsored by italki.

An italki is a platform

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And right now, they are offering people

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Now, like I've said in this video,

it's not just about the words you use

but how you use them.

So, when you learn a new word, it's a good idea to practice.

And it's a good idea to find a teacher

who can give you feedback on the mistakes you make.

So definitely go check out italki,

there's a link in the description,

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Okay, so let's now talk about

how many words you need to know,

in order to speak English with confidence.

And while researching this,

I found two fantastic articles that broke this down.

So I'm going to share what they found.

And I'll leave a link to those articles, in the description.

So the first article,

broke it down in this way,

that if you know one to 3,000 words,

then this means you are conversational,

conversational.

If you know three to 10,000, this makes you advanced.

And then 10,000 Plus, you are a native,

or you have the ability to speak like a native.

So just before we talk more about this,

it is important that you know, words in English.

This is an important part of being able to speak English.

Because obviously, if you don't know words,

you can't say anything.

You can't express yourself.

If you know a few words,

but you're thinking, there's a better word for this.

What is it?

Then you can't express yourself freely.

So knowing words is important.

And I like this break down

because what it's saying is, after 1000 words,

it means you can have conversations in English.

And you know this like,

there is a point when you start learning English

and you know enough words,

that you can have good conversations in English.

But imagine, a lot of you

don't want to just be able to have conversations.

You want to be able to speak well.

So we're looking at between three and 10,000 words here,

to be able to have an advanced level of English.

And then once you have over 10,000 words,

then this is when you can start speaking more like

a native speaker, with a very advanced level.

So that is one way to look at it.

The next way is this, and I love this one,

because I talk about levels in this way.

So, if you know 2,000 words,

then you have a B1 level of English.

Okay?

A B1 level.

If you want to test your level, I made a video on this,

a few years ago now.

But click the link in the description,

to learn about A1, A2,

B1, B2,

C1 and C2.

But very briefly,

a B1 is like a lower intermediate level.

A Lower intermediate level,

where you can have conversations with people,

but you're constantly thinking about grammar.

It's not very natural, you can't understand

what people say in natural situations.

And you can only talk about, small amount of topics.

So you can't talk about complex things.

And that makes sense if you know 2,000 words.

Now,

C1 level,

this is the level that I think most people

who are learning English should aim for.

C1 level.

Now C2,

is where you are very close to being a native.

Where you make no mistakes,

you know every word, your accent is perfect, etcetera.

Or every word you need to know.

That's kind of like this,

so, 8,000 words is just below that native level.

Both of these makes sense to me.

But C1 level is something that you should aim for,

that's a great goal to have.

Most students I talked to, are between A2 and B2,

high beginner, high intermedia.

But once you get to the C1 level,

then things are just so much easier.

You can understand most things you listen to,

you can understand TV shows,

you can have great conversations with people.

You can write well, you can read novels in English.

You're not perfect, you still make mistakes.

You're still learning, but you've reached the level

where things are just so much easier.

And to have this level,

what they're saying is you need to know 8,000 words.

8,000 words.

Okay, so this is a good level to get to.

Now, to learn vocabulary,

I recommend that you listen to things,

you read new books,

and you also do a little bit

of dedicated practice for words.

But be sure to learn new words through sentences,

okay?

And this is my To Fluency method.

This is what I teach inside my program.

Learn more about that in the description.

But I want to go through

four tips here,

because this is going to help you become more efficient,

and it's gonna help you learn new words.

Okay, number one meldrop versus want.

What does that mean?

Meldrop versus want.

This is highlighting that some words are more important

than other ones,

want, to want.

You're going to use this a lot when you speak English.

So it's saying that this is more important than this.

Now, you can do your own research

and find out what meldrop means.

I'm not gonna say in this lesson,

but feel free to leave an example of meldrop below.

Again, this just highlights

that high frequently use words are important.

So focus on those ones, focus on the types of words

that people use in everyday English.

'Cause if you learn 3,000 words that nobody uses anymore,

that's not important.

But if you learn 500 words that people use everyday,

then that's gonna make a big difference.

So, high frequently use words.

Number two, learn words through sentences.

I can't highlight how important this is enough,

because it's okay learning a word.

But you need to know how to use that word

within a context of a sentence.

This is grammar.

This is how you learn grammar.

You repeat sentences,

and you internalize the different patterns,

the different grammar rules, you're not studying rules.

Instead, you're internalizing the rules.

So it feels natural to you.

And you need to do this for all types of words,

it's really going to make a big difference.

So learn through sentences.

Check out the To Fluency method

to get the full program on this.

80/20.

Tip number three, 80/20.

Focus on the words that you need to know,

not just the high frequently used words,

but also the words that you're going to use.

For example, let's say that your job

is in the world of real estate.

And you need to talk to people in English about houses.

It's important that you learn new words

that are specific to real estate.

And, that you learn those words through sentences.

This just makes sense that you're going to

learn the type of English that you need to know,

for your specific situation.

Okay, so be smart about it.

Also, passive versus active.

When you learn a new word,

think about whether this is passive or active.

Active means words that you're going to use.

Passive means that words that you're not going to use,

but it's good to know to understand.

A good example of passive vocabulary is, slang.

So slang that is specific to

a certain type of group of people,

for example, people in Northern England

have specific slang that they use.

If you are interacting with people

from Northern England like me,

then it's a good idea to be able to know

the types of words, and the slang that they use.

But you don't need to say it.

You don't need to use it.

And you can think of lots of examples

of passive vocabulary like,

the type of vocabulary that people use

If they are a judge.

You don't say things,

but it's good to know, if you're watching TV shows

based on the subject.

So I think this is a really good thing to think about,

how many words you need to know to get to C1 level.

I think this one, is the most important statistic here,

8,000, C1.

But focus on words

that are important

that people use.

Learn them as part of a sentence,

get the To Fluency program to do that.

80/20 the Pareto principle,

focus on things that are going to make a difference,

words that you need to know.

And then think about active versus passive vocabulary,

and what you do to learn those two things.

Okay, so if you've enjoyed this lesson,

then please like and share it.

Be sure to get my book,

"The Five-Step Plan for English Fluency"

if you don't have it already,

you can download that for free.

Check out my To Fluency program in the description.

Subscribe if you are new.

And please leave me a comment below.

Tell me what you think about this lesson

and try and estimate how many words you know.

Think that would be fun to read.

So leave a comment tell me,

how many words you know in English.

Thanks again for watching.

Bye bye.

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