Re: How Much for Conversation?

 --- Jim Grossmann wrote:

> All other things being equal (mastery of correct spoken grammar, correct
> pronunciation, etc.), about how many words (or contentive morphemes) do you
> have to know before you feel comfortable using a target language for
> everyday conversation?
>
> I'm not looking for an exact figure, of course.  But can you name a ballpark
> figure, a rough estimate by the thousand?
If you ask for a ballpark figure (whatever thay may be), I would say 2,000. At
least, that's what my English teacher from school once told us. He estimated
his own vocabulary at 9,000, IIRC.

He said, that 2,000 words is enough for an average, everyday conversation; they
allow you to understand almost everything, and to read a book. Of course, the
number of words that you don't know will be huge, but they will be in such a
minority, that you will probably understand the sentence anyway.

While working on my conlangs, I have the impression that this figure is not far
from the truth. For example, Hattic has currently almost 1,300 words, and for
translation the relay text I needed to invent only five new words or so.

Besides, a large part of a language's vocabulary is self-generating. As you
learn the language, you will see that you will be able to understand, and
ultimately produce, a growing number of words and compounds you never learnt
(for example: "fish market", or just about everything you can pick up from the
matrix of verbs and prepositions, like "take out", or "carry away").

You didn't ask for it, but I'll tell you, anyway. A very useful technique for
learning words, is making small pieces of paper (let's say, 2 x 3 cm). You
write down a word in the target language on one side, and the translation into
your own language on the other. Then you make a package of them. Now you can
start repeating the words by going through the package one by one, separating
the word you know from those you don't know. After going through the whole
package, you will have two new packages or piles. You perform the same
procedure with the (probably smaller) package of words you don't know.
Repeating this pattern, you will see that the package of words you don't know
grows smaller and smaller, until you know everything, except maybe for a few
words that you somehow just can't memorize.
I used this technique for learning Polish and Russian, and for me it worked
very well. There were occasions when I learnt 200 or even 300 words in one day!
It has also a few other advantages: you can use those cards in both directions,
you can from time to time use them for repeating your whole vocabulary (or even
for unfreezing it after years), and you keep track of the number of words you
know more or less.

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Everything you'll ever need on one web page
from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts
http://uk.my.yahoo.com

Reply