Hi guys! Have you ever thought about how many English words you know. I mean I really wonder how many words should we know to speak English. 1000, 2000, 3000? How many?
I think that the most important thing is to be able to use all vocabulary you know. For example me, I know that my vocabulary is pretty large. I pay much attention to this part of learning. More over, I think that vocabulary is the most important thing. I told you about the way I improved my vocabulary in the article «How to improve vocabulary».
So getting to the point, I think that I can't use all words which I know in my speech. The reason is I don't practice them, I don't use them so often! Yes, I speak English pretty well and understand people very well. But for example when I'm reading a book and understand all its words I'm always asking myself: «I know all these words, but why I don't use them in my speech?» And it's annoying to be honest.
My vocabulary is good. I read rather difficult books and understand them very well. But anyway when I'm talking to somebody I don't use words from those books. Instead of it, I use just common words and phrases. It's not so bad, it's normal. But I think that I should expand my speaking skill.
For some reason, when I'm talking to people I forget about all the good words I know. Why? Because I don't use them so often.
So I think guys that we should always keep our vocabulary up and use not only common words and phrases, but also use more complicated ones. It will help us to improve our speaking skill and as a result our English.
On the other side, why should we use sophisticated words in our speech if we can express our thoughts using only usual and easy vocabulary? And it's right too. When you're just starting learning, try to use only simple words and phrases in your speech. Don't think about difficult vocabulary. Try to speak only common and easy English.
But when your level is pretty good, I think that we shouldn't stop on just usual vocabulary. In my opinion, we should improve our speaking skill by using more an more set expressions, idioms and colocations. This way we show people our excellent English and it's very good.
So answering this article's question, I'm saying that the more words we know the better our English becomes. And it's very important to know many English words. I'm not sure what the exact number is. I've never counted the words I know. By the way I should try I think. It would be interesting to count I'll write an article when I do it.
So yes, you should know a lot of words to speak English easily and discuss many different topics. But what's more important, you should always use your vocabulary in your speech. You should always refresh all the words you know by using them in your speech. You should always expand your speaking and not to stop on just simple words and phrases.
But when you're in the beginning of learning and just starting to speak English, you should do right the opposite thing. You should use only common and easy English. Don't pay attention to difficult words and phrases, but try to learn deeply simple vocabulary. And when your English is pretty good and all common words and phrases store so deeply in your brain, that you can use them automatically, you can start to expand your speaking by using more and more difficult words, idioms, phrasal verbs and collocations. It's very important.
So that was my opinion. I answered the question «How many words should we know?» from my point of view. What do you think about it? Have you ever counted your vocabulary? If you have, what results did you get?