How many words you need to know in English to communicate fluently
Let's figure out what the vocabulary should be in order to speak fluent English depending on your goal.
In order to communicate fluently in English, you need to have a number of important skills: understanding English speech, the ability to compose grammatically correct sentences, and, of course, a sufficient vocabulary. However, before you start learning all English words in a row, it is worth understanding at least the purpose of communication. After all, the vocabulary will vary depending on whether we are going to communicate on everyday and domestic topics, solve business and professional issues, or take academic courses at a foreign university.
It is important to remember that it is not always the quantity of words learned that makes the difference, but also their quality. After all, if we learn all the names of insects or mushrooms in English, it will significantly enrich our vocabulary, but it is unlikely to contribute to successful communication because these words will simply be inapplicable for communication in everyday situations.
How many words do native speakers use?
If you look at how many words English dictionaries contain, it may seem very discouraging. The Oxford Dictionary contains just over 170,000 actual words (not counting the 47,000 that have fallen out of use in the modern language). However, don't be intimidated: no native speaker knows all of these words. The reason is that a number of these words are specific terms that are not used in everyday communication and are necessary only in a narrow environment, for example, among specialists in certain professions.
To reassure yourself, you can check how many words are contained in the dictionary of your native language and see that the entire number is not equivalent to your vocabulary either. This happens in any language, so in order to communicate with native speakers, you will not need the whole dictionary.
Thus, it is believed that the vocabulary of the great master of drama William Shakespeare involved 20,000 words. The same number makes up the vocabulary of an average educated English speaker today. At the same time, only half of these words can be present in the active vocabulary of a native speaker, and for everyday communication on simple topics, a native speaker will use even less — from 2,000 to 3,000 words.
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