I’d love to hear from some advanced learners who have reached 50K, 100K known words. I’ve reached 30K in a few languages (excluding most proper nouns, etc.), and by then I generally feel comfortable, meaning I can understand most articles, YouTube content, can engage in relatively complex conversation, etc. I still do struggle sometimes though in certain languages (like French) in understanding fast-spoken native movies and the like, whereas in Swedish I have no problem (though I also lived in Sweden for a year).
As I’ve continued progressing, most material (generally from YouTube, my favorite source) has few unknown words, and I know if I want to push to the next level, I should focus more on things like novels. So my question is - especially if you are constantly distracted by new languages like me - what made you progress beyond 30-40K words if you were already comfortable speaking and understanding? Did you have a Eureka moment at 60 or 70K and realize you knew far more than at 30K and was it worth it?
As someone who lives far from native speakers of my target languages, I’m trying to balance the utility of continuing studying with novels, etc. vs. just getting conversational in a new language, so I’d love to hear from people with relatively high word counts (40K+) and what benefits you drew from that.
I guess phrased differently, my (subjective) question is, did you think the effort of moving beyond 30-40K words was worth it, especially if you don’t deal with native speakers often?
Honestly, when you reach the 30,000 word mark, you reach what you think is the requirement to completing the language. In reality, many people speak and utilize different words in life and you will eventually and always encounter an unknown word. Can say that for conversation, you would already completed the requirement for conversational in almost all cases. But for cases such as tv shows, you would have to go beyond 30,000+ to have a chance of recognizing almost physically all of the words.
It’s equivalent to finishing a video game. Being, 30,000 is how the game ends. But then there is DLC’s, extension packs, and secret easter eggs. That’s what the words beyond 30,000 is for. That’s usually where the extra fun is.
Could debate is that 30,000 is when the journey begins since now you have reached a stage when every word is recognizable but you most likely haven’t heard them all yet since you just reached 30,000.
I only have 30k Known Words in Italian, so take it as a grain of salt. I am motivated to increase this number as I’d like to read books without a dictionary with ease in Italian. At my current level, I cannot do that. There are just too many unknown words for it to be done with ease.
I have just shy of 70,000 known words in French, according to LingQ. I’ve done just as much listening and reading outside of LingQ, so the actual figure would be more like 140,000. I still struggle with films, radio debates are usually very easy but can be hard if there is someone who articulates poorly. However, I sometimes struggle with an American speaker even though I am English, so I’m not too bothered about mumblers.
For me listening is more about achieving a deeper understanding of the language, and a greater sense of ease when hearing it.
Is it worth it? I think so. I still regularly come across new words, and new phrases. Although my comprehension is far better that I had ever expected it would be, it is not as effortless as it is in English i.e. I have to pay attention and it requires considerable effort. I suspect French is harder than many languages in terms of comprehension of the spoken language. I can listen to German, and make out every word, even though I am only B1.
I think it all depends on your goals. Why are you learning a given language? What do you hope to achieve by learning it? What will you do with it? Are you an occasional visitor, or a frequent flyer?
I like French culture, and hence I want to achieve a deep understanding of the language and the history. There is so much about the French that we British get wrong, which is sad because our histories are deeply entwined. Even before William the Bastard paid us an impromptu visit, Gaulish kings were hiring brythonic Britons to fight in France, and the Britons and Gauls had shared roots, albeit distinct branches of the celtic language tree,
I’m also interested in German culture, though I don’t yet know if I will find it appealing. I knew a German as a friend at university, but haven’t had much dealings with them otherwise.
I completely agree with you. For so many years 30K was my end goal. After reaching 30K I was really dissapointed that I wasn’t better. (this was about a year and a half ago) These days thinking back on it now I think 30K is enough to talk to people and have meaningful conversations. The problem I had was I just didn’t spend enough time speaking so I thought I needed more words when in reality I just needed more speaking practice and listening practice.
I have more than 60K in 3 foreign languages and 40-50K in two more. I think for most European languages you are literate at a low fluency at around 30K and at 40-50K you get to fairly good fluency in reading and 60-70K you are almost completely fluently literate. Note that I don’t exclude proper nouns and it may be different for me, having already been a polyglot when I started LingQ.
Let me tell you this though: Fluently literate does not mean fluent in the language. You could still have very limited understanding when you listen and be even worse off when you try to talk. Your writing and spelling might still be poor as well. It all really depends on how much time you put into these activities. Reading and getting to, say 70K known words should give you a great passive vocabulary, but you do need to learn how to use it on the fly.
I have over 50k known words in Ukrainian. It’s not nearly enough to be fluent or understand most Youtube/media. I can get a lot (and I can speak a lot), but there’s a long way to go.