Yeah exactly, I am fluent in English but watching some movies or tv shows can still be problematic sometimes
For the past 7 months here at lingq, on average maybe 5 hours per day, some days even 8-10
Very nice thank you:) I have noticed that most people who study Romance languages here and have the highest word count, are usually around 30-40k just as you said
Yes, judging from what Steve was saying himself, he usually experienced the ‘comfortable listening threshold’ at around 40k with some other languages, but with Korean it still isn’t so even at 47k. It must be the specific composition of words in the language.
So those nonsense combinations, do you mean when the two characters are placed in succession they create a word which has no obvious discernable difference from if you read the characters in isolation? Maybe you could post a couple of examples.
I am always left with remaining blue words because either the splitter is faulty or that kind of situation aforementioned. Say something like 不便，no way i’m counting that as a word. Is there a rule for what constitutes a word? I just think in English that would be two words and in combo. it doesn’t change the meaning enough to warrant lingqing.
I know it’s not the greatest example but i’m sure you understand what i mean! 
Thanks for this thread mate it’s inspiring, we have been learning for a similar period but you have been putting in 4 or 5 times more study and it is reflected in the word count, i want to try and get up to the 3/4 hours per day area, just need to harness the motivation, cheers!
It’s more of combinations like 他会… 未来…, numbers, 人会…, 再… 都…，我…，把… (So just combinations of words already known - imagine every time there is 他会 and some words after that, combined into one word, that’s obviously not really a new ‘word’, I already knew both of them), 先对你表示欢迎 (先对 is not a word but it will be a blue word) or just plainly wrong splits of words, or names. Not much that can be done about it, it just distorts the word count. But it’s fine, I am not complaining about it really, it’s just sth that anyone will inevitably notice
That is some intense lingqing. I hope the investment of time rewards you greatly.
Yea but Slavic languages are closer to 60,000… Makes sense since every noun has about 12 different endings: 6 cases singular and plural.
I concur. 20-30K is probably “fluency” as least for conversations, most activities, and being about to enjoy TV shows with subtitles in the target language. Newspapers and magazines are fine. Books will give you some trouble, especially fiction ones. 40K is probably very comfortable, even for books.
What about 14.000 at Lingq for reading, at which level should I read then 
?
I think we shouldn’t overestimate the importance of the word count. First of all it is an ambiguous factor. Are the known words the ones you only passively recognize, the ones you can write down yourself, or maybe even use actively in a speech? Each of us treats it differently. But putting that aside, obviously the more words you know the better, however you can’t really say that once you reach a certain threshold you will be fluent in the language. In my opinion rich vocabulary will mostly help with reading/writing and in that case is inevitable. When it comes to listening/speaking, there are more important factors. High word count may not be enough to understand TV shows.
This is an important point. Everybody has a different criteria for “known words” and just knowing a word isn’t the same as fluidly understanding the language at native, spoken speed.
I took up some part time Mandarin class and learn some of them.
Going off an article I read a while back (and this is regarding English mind you) an average adult has about a 20,000 word vocabulary. A five-year-old has a vocabulary of about 5,000. A well-educated person (say with a high university education) has a vocabulary of about 50,000. It was roughly like that I am struggling to find the article but it seems about right and I imagine it transfers well to other languages too. It reflects well on my German ability, I think I have a vocabulary of about 5,000. I can often understand what is being talked about in German but I fail to see a clear detailed picture and anything abstract makes me look at you very vaguely! I have a degree and my English vocabulary (I imagine) is more than 20,000 words. I am often telling my husband what words mean that he doesn’t understand smug smile although in all honesty how useful it is to him to know what masochist means I have no idea (a conversation we had earlier). Anyway! Yes, I think 20,000 words means you are well on your way and certainly an excellent achievement.
Found a similar article (nothing on educated people having a bigger vocabulary, maybe I’m just hamming myself up)
Also, I’ll just add it is interesting how I feel I am able to understand French & Spanish articles relatively easy without feeling I have a huge vocabulary in either language. So many words seem so close to English! Whereas Urdu is a bit of a headache and a bit painfully slow to read an article even though I’d probably say my French & Urdu vocabulary levels are about the same.
I use the same idea as I saw Steve mentioning, add a word as known when I understand what it means while reading, without having to look it up in the dictionary. And what you say is true, I had that in mind when writing the OP, but still, it’s interesting and motivating to know that around some threshold you will be able to roughly read and understand this and that. High word count may not be enough to understand Tv shows but it’s certainly a necessary condition:)