English is considered internationally. In many countries of the world, it is vital and increases the chances of promotion on the career ladder. This article will answer the question of how many words are in the English language and how much you need to know for fluency in the language.
The importance of vocabulary for language learning
In the process of mastering any language, including English, much attention is paid to the study of vocabulary. Improving their level of knowledge, many usually try to increase their vocabulary in order to communicate more qualitatively and freely. Then, correctly combining the necessary words, using certain rules, a person can speak English, as well as understand the language by ear and, accordingly, read books and texts. However, many are wondering how many words are in the English language, and also how much should be learned in order to fully speak. What do linguists think about this?
How many words are in English?
This is a rather difficult question, since there is no standard and universal system for counting vocabulary. Some experts believe that only words should be taken into account, not taking into account their word forms. And someone, on the contrary, takes into account everything together, counting slang words, terminology, technical vocabulary. There are certain organizations that provide information regarding the lexical composition and try to answer the question of how many words the English language has.
In the United States of America, in the state of Texas, there is a company called Global Language Monitor, which studies and records the distribution of English words. The company began its activities more than ten years ago, gradually becoming an authority on the field of philology.
Scientists of this company count the words that are listed in reputable and authoritative dictionaries (Oxfod, Webster), also take into account new terms in various media, scientific and technological literature, online blogs, websites. How many words are there in English at the moment? According to this company, now there are more than one and a half million words. English crossed the millionth mark on June 10, 2007, when this organization recorded another new lexical unit. The activities of Global Language Monitor are one of a kind. The data of this influential company is used by many researchers and linguists.
The authoritative Oxford Dictionary contains approximately 500,000 words. The same number of English terms and slang words are not included in this dictionary because of its conservatism. Thus, answering the question about how many words are in the English language, we can say: from half a million to one and a half million, depending on the method of calculation.
How to get the status of a new word
Now we know the answer to the question of how many words are in the English language. By the way, in order to get into modern dictionaries and get the title of a new lexical unit, the word has to be initially flashed in the media and social networks at least twenty-five thousand times. That is, it’s not easy enough, but it’s worth it - adding the language of Shakespeare and Agatha Christie to the vocabulary.
In fact, it is very interesting how the English language so confidently and simply borrows words from various foreign languages ​​(more than 60 percent of the lexical composition is borrowed), just as it easily creates them yourself. According to statistics, a new term in English is born every 96 minutes (13 words per day).
How many words are needed for communication
There are already over a million words. Obviously, to know them all is unrealistic. How to calculate how many words in spoken English? According to philologists, it’s enough for an ordinary person to know the 1,500 most frequently used words to communicate in everyday life. They should provide an almost 100 percent chance to maintain normal conversational speech. Speaking of reading in English, another figure is needed to understand texts and books - 3500-5000. For good writing, it is advisable to know about ten thousand words. In general, the active vocabulary of an educated Englishman is approximately 10 to 18 thousand lexical units.
The passive vocabulary is much more. A figure of seventy thousand makes a person a "linguistic genius." In any case, it is necessary not only to increase the number of words, but also to do it in a qualitative way. In this case, the principle of "less is better."
How many words in Russian
The most respected Russian publication by which it is possible to judge the richness of the language is the Great Academic Dictionary, which was compiled by the best philologists in Russia. It totals more than one hundred thirty thousand words of the Russian classical language. Now philologists are working on a new edition of this book, which will already contain about one hundred and fifty thousand words. The dictionary of V. I. Dahl, which was compiled before the revolution, contains more than two hundred thousand words.
According to professional linguists, if we add various dialectic expressions, then there are already more than four hundred thousand lexical units. If we take into account technical and medical terms, informal expressions, the number of words will exceed far half a million.
New trends in the language
Language is a living organism. Some words “disappear”, come out of the lively speech of the carriers completely. But they are being replaced by new ones. For example, from the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century, our native language has been enriched by at least forty words with only one root “love”: “book lover”, “nature lover”, “monogamous” and others. Another striking example: the once popular word of French origin, “price list”, was gradually replaced by the English “price list”, and the word “makeup” was gradually giving way to the fashionable term “make-up”.
New trends are also introducing new terms into our speech, which are formed either on the basis of existing words and phrases, or by using borrowed words: “post”, “smiley”, “ok”, “like”. Of course, not a single philologist will say exactly how many words are in English and Russian. It all depends on the calculation method.