Lexicon. A rich vocabulary is an indicator of a person’s intellectual development

A person may well serve as a very objective indicator of his intellectual development, high level of culture and good education. Society, as a rule, perceives such a person as smart and creative. It is initially easier for such a member of society to find a good and more promising job, he progresses faster and more successfully career ladder and has a reputation as a person whose advice and recommendations should be listened to more often and more carefully.

What does the concept of human vocabulary mean?

Simply put, this is a set of words that this or that person owns. According to modern scientists, human vocabulary is of two types: active and passive. The first consists of words that are used both in writing and in oral speech. Passive, in turn, is that set of words that is recognized and understood, but not used by a person. As a rule, the latter is several times greater than the former.

What is the vocabulary of the Russian language?

According to recent statistics, our language has almost 500,000 words, but only 3,000 are used in everyday speech. Ordinary schoolboy operates with 5,000 words, and the vocabulary of an adult is 8,000.

In other languages the situation is almost the same.

Is it possible to increase the set of words used?

Very often in everyday conversations one hears about the tongue-tiedness of one or another mutual acquaintance. One can often come across the opinion that the gift of oratory is given to us at birth and subsequently a person’s vocabulary (as a predisposition, for example, to some bad habits or diseases) cannot be corrected. This is nothing more than a delusion! Can! You can add, correct and improve! And it’s not that difficult to do, the main thing is to set a goal.

How to improve a person's vocabulary. List of simple tips

Make a list of words that you are sure to use every day. Let this list be as long as possible. Ready? Now, using an explanatory dictionary or a dictionary of synonyms, write several alternatives next to each word. For example, “interesting” - remarkable, entertaining, curious, noteworthy, noteworthy. Try to remember them and use each of the written options at least once during the day. This is the only way they can remain in our memory.
Read as much as possible. Start with books by those authors who are close and pleasant to you. And only gradually will it be possible to move on to more serious literature. If an unfamiliar word appears in a work, it is recommended that you look up its meaning in the dictionary, and if you want to remember it, read it out loud and repeat it mentally several times. Why is this so? - Modern scientists have proven that in human memory It is better to put aside what was said at least once.
Write. If you have no one to write long, warm and full positive emotions letters, use the example of Demosthenes: rewrite other people’s articles, your favorite works of art, write down in a special notebook poems or sayings of the great that stirred something in your soul.
Crosswords are also quite useful for developing vocabulary. But in this case, I would like to warn you that the publications publishing them must be well-known and trusted.
If you have to most spend your time on the road or behind the wheel, and there is simply a catastrophic lack of free time for the above, you can resort to the help of audiobooks, the choice of which is now quite large, and the quality is quite decent.

With these proven methods, you can gradually increase your vocabulary: English, Chinese, French and any other. But we should not forget that without making an effort, you are unlikely to be able to make your speech more melodic, informative and expressive.

The fact that the language's dictionary contains approximately 300 thousand words is only of theoretical interest for a beginner learning this language. Almost main principle for the reasonable organization of your studies, especially at the initial stage, this is an economy of words. You need to learn to memorize as few words as possible, but do it as best as possible.

Let us emphasize that our approach is directly opposite to the guiding principle of “suggestopedia”, with its emphasis on the abundance of words presented to the student. As you know, in accordance with its canons, a beginner needs to be literally “showered with words.” It is best to give him or her 200 new words every day.

Is there any doubt that any normal person will forget all those numerous words with which he was “showered” using this, so to speak, method - and most likely very soon, in just a few days.

Don't chase too much

It will be much better if at the end of a certain stage of study you know 500 or 1000 words very well than 3000 - but poorly. Don’t let yourself be led into a dead end by teachers who will assure you that you need to first learn a certain number of words in order to “get into the swing of things.” Only you yourself can and must decide whether the vocabulary you have mastered is sufficient for your goals and interests.

Language learning experience shows that about 400 well-chosen words can cover up to 90 percent of the vocabulary you need for everyday communication purposes. In order to read, you will need more words, but many of them are only passive. Therefore, with knowledge of 1500 words, you can already understand fairly meaningful texts.

It is better to master the words that are most necessary and important to you than to constantly rush to learn new ones. “He who pursues too much risks missing everything,” says a Swedish proverb. “If you chase two hares, you won’t catch either,” the Russian proverb answers.

Vocabulary in oral speech

Very roughly speaking, about 40 well-chosen, high-frequency words will cover about 50% of word usage in everyday speech in any language;

200 words will cover about 80%;
300 words - approximately 85%;
400 words will cover about 90%;
Well, 800-1000 words are about 95% of what would need to be said or heard in the most ordinary situation.

Thus, the right vocabulary helps you understand quite a lot with very little effort spent on cramming.

Example: if a total of 1000 words are spoken in an everyday conversation, then 500 of them, that is, 50%, will be covered by the 40 most common high-frequency words.

We emphasize that these percentages, of course, are not the result of exact calculations. They simply give the most general idea of how many words it will take to feel confident when entering into a simple dialogue with a native speaker. In any case, there is no doubt that by correctly choosing from 400 to 800 words and remembering them well, you can feel confident in a simple conversation, since they will cover almost 100% of those words that you cannot do without. Of course, under other, less favorable conditions, 400 words will cover only 80% of what you need to know - instead of 90 or 100%.

Reading vocabulary

When reading, having correctly chosen and well remembered about 80 of the most common, most frequent words, you will understand about 50% of a simple text;

200 words will cover approximately 60%;
300 words - 65%;
400 words - 70%;
800 words - approximately 80%;
1500 - 2000 words - about 90%;
3000 - 4000 - 95%;
and 8,000 words will cover almost 99 percent of the written text.

Example: if you have a text in front of you with a volume of approximately 10 thousand words (this is approximately 40 printed pages), then, having learned the most necessary 400 words in advance, you will understand about 7000 words that are used in this text.

Let us note again that the figures we give are only indicative. Depending on various additional conditions, 50 words will cover up to 50 percent of the written text, but in other cases you will need to learn at least 150 words to get the same result.

Vocabulary: from 400 to 100,000 words

400 - 500 words - active vocabulary for language proficiency at a basic (threshold) level.
800 - 1000 words - active vocabulary in order to explain yourself; or passive reading vocabulary at a basic level.
1500 - 2000 words - active vocabulary, which is quite enough to ensure everyday communication throughout the day; or passive vocabulary sufficient for confident reading.
3000 - 4000 words - in general, enough for practically free reading newspapers or literature in the specialty.
About 8,000 words - provide complete communication for the average European. There is practically no need to know more words in order to communicate freely both orally and in writing, as well as read literature of any kind.
10,000-20,000 words - the active vocabulary of an educated European (in their native language).
50,000-100,000 words - the passive vocabulary of an educated European (in their native language).

It should be noted that vocabulary alone does not ensure free communication. At the same time, having mastered 1,500 correctly chosen words, with some additional training, you will be able to communicate almost freely.

As for professional terms, they usually do not present any particular difficulties, since in most cases this is an international vocabulary that is quite easy to master.

When you already know about 1500 words, you can start reading at a fairly decent level. With passive knowledge of 3,000 to 4,000 words, you will be fluent in reading literature in your specialty, at least in those areas where you are confident. In conclusion, we note that, according to calculations carried out by linguists based on a number of languages, the average educated European actively uses about 20,000 words (and half of them are quite rare). In this case, the passive vocabulary is at least 50,000 words. But it's all about native language.

Basic vocabulary

In the pedagogical literature you can find the terminological combination “basic vocabulary”. From my point of view, at the maximum level the vocabulary is about 8000 words. It seems to me that it is hardly necessary to learn more words, except perhaps for some special purposes. Eight thousand words will be enough for full communication in any conditions.

When starting to learn a language, it would be wise to make do with shorter lists. Here are three levels that I have found in practice to provide a good guide for a beginner:

level A("basic vocabulary"):

400-500 words. They are enough to cover approximately 90% of all word usage in everyday oral communication or about 70% of simple written text;

level B(“minimum vocabulary”, “mini-level”):

800-1000 words. They are enough to cover approximately 95% of all word usage in everyday oral communication or about 80-85% of written text;

level B("average vocabulary", "medium level"):

1500-2000 words. They are enough to cover approximately 95-100% of all word usage in everyday oral communication or about 90% of written text.

An example of a good dictionary of basic vocabulary can be considered the dictionary published by E. Klett in Stuttgart, 1971, under the title "Grundwortschatz Deutsch" ("Basic vocabulary German language"). It contains 2000 of the most necessary words in each of the selected six languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian.

Eric W. Gunnemark, Swedish polyglot

Every language, dialect, dialect, slang on our planet is unique and interesting in itself. And each of the listed options has its own specific set of words with which students’ dictionaries and heads are filled. But before we start talking directly about English language, I would like to start with our native - native to me and to you reading this article - and the great Russian language.

Answer this question for yourself: how many words of your native language do you know and use absolutely freely in your speech? How will you count them? The first method is to take the most big dictionary and begin to put checkmarks in front of those words that are familiar to us. 3 weeks pass when we reach the words “jasper”, “box”, “foot and mouth disease” (who knows), open the first page again and start counting. After another 3 weeks, everyone will reach a certain huge number of words and think about why he did all these manipulations. For what, I will tell you a little later. The second way is that we don’t take a dictionary, don’t count anything, because we personally don’t need it and we have compelling arguments. I will also tell you why this is still necessary in this article. And finally, the third way is to find a definition test on the Internet, pass it and know exactly within what limits the number of words available to our consciousness varies. But even here a problem arises: how to choose the right test, because there are dozens of them, what is passive and active reserves words, etc. So, let’s turn to theory and figure out what vocabulary is and why I decided to talk about this today.

In simple non-scientific language, vocabulary is that specific set of words that a person knows. certain person. He actually owns it, and not just “I heard a ringing, I don’t know where it is.” Those. understands the meaning of a particular word, knows how to apply it verbally and writing, perceives it during live communication. The entire vocabulary of a particular person can be divided into active and passive. Active vocabulary is the set of words he uses in spoken and written speech when he is the source of that speech. Passive vocabulary is a set of those words that a person recognizes by reading this or that literature, or hearing them in oral speech, but is not the source of these words, i.e. does not use in his own speech. This distinction is applicable both for your native language and for the one you are studying as a foreign language, since in both cases there are those words that you and I personally use, and those whose meanings we recognize with our memory.

If we talk about the composition of the language as a whole, then the Russian language is almost impossible to calculate, since it is too rich and diverse, and different sources it contains from 2.5 to 4.5 million words and vocabulary units. In English everything is much simpler, last time An official count was carried out in 1999, and according to its data, there are slightly more than one million words and vocabulary units in this language. Therefore, we can safely be glad that we are studying English, because a million is not so much. But seriously speaking, out of this “a little more than a million” in ordinary everyday speech, even the most educated person uses no more than 20-30 thousand words and vocabulary units (and no more than 50 thousand are stored on the hard drives of his memory) - and at the same time, that English is his native language. If we are talking about English as a foreign language that we study, then the highest indicators for active vocabulary are 8-10 thousand words, and for passive vocabulary up to 15 thousand. Those. you see that the indicators are not as large and scary as they might seem at first glance.

Now it’s worth talking about how to calculate that very cherished figure that you reach with your amount of knowledge. There are many in various ways, tests, calculations. I suggest you pay attention to two of them, and I will argue why I chose these options. The first of these calculation options can be found on the website, which is dedicated to the joint American-Brazilian research project, aimed specifically at counting the words of your passive vocabulary. It is built very simply - you just need to mark those words whose meaning (at least one) you know for sure. The only problem is whether you can be honest with yourself and truly choose the words you learn truthfully. At the end, the system itself calculates your result and gives an approximate value of +/- 500 words. The second option for counting words allows you to do this by level and specifically see where your omissions are. You can find this calculation option on the website. This test will allow you to go through the levels and determine exactly where we stop and continue training. Each version of the test consists of 6 levels, and you must pass them starting from the very first, even if you are sure that you know much more. The result will give you the opportunity to understand what your vocabulary is and what you should pay attention to.

But why count? This is the question that many of you are wondering right now. After all, numbers are not important to anyone, you think. But that's not true. Firstly, such a calculation allows you to objectively assess your level of knowledge, and secondly, when passing certain tests in British and American schools, I will ask you to indicate the results of vocabulary calculation. And I do not advise any of you to do this offhand, since after testing, an embarrassment may occur due to the discrepancy between the data you specified and the test results. Therefore, knowing your vocabulary (especially active) is not only useful, but in some cases necessary.

a vocabulary of 350-700 words is the active vocabulary required for the initial (basic) level of proficiency in a foreign language.
a vocabulary of 700-1300 words – sufficient to explain yourself (if it is active for you); and for reading at a basic level (if this is your passive vocabulary).
vocabulary of 1300-2800 words - active vocabulary, sufficient for everyday everyday communication; if it is passive, it is sufficient for fluent reading.
a vocabulary of 2800-5500 words is quite suitable for free reading of the press or scientific literature.
a vocabulary of up to 8,000 words is enough for normal, full-fledged communication of a person learning English as a foreign language, which will allow him to understand almost any literature, TV programs and the press.
vocabulary of up to 13,000 - the active vocabulary of a person with high level education who studies English as a foreign language.

But even if you pass this test successfully, you should remember that only words recorded in your memory will not give you the opportunity to communicate fluently in English, since this skill has many other aspects. However, having mastered 2000 correctly selected frequently used words, with a certain grammatical base and practice, you can easily communicate in the magnificent language of Foggy Albion.

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Great Russian language! Research by modern linguists shows that it contains about two hundred thousand words. However, the average Russian uses no more than three thousand lexical constructions in everyday life. There are many methods on how to improve your Russian language. Get to know the most effective techniques You can improve the culture of speech in the article.

A book is an endless source of knowledge. Expanding vocabulary through reading, analyzing and memorizing information is one of the most effective methods of speech enrichment. How to expand your Russian vocabulary and what to read for this? You should study not only fiction, but also popular science, specialized literature of Russian and foreign authors, poetry. It is important to adhere to the following rules:

slow, thoughtful reading followed by text analysis;

concentration on new terms, phrases, lexical constructions;

the practice of reading aloud, memorizing, or retelling a text.

Having come across an unfamiliar word, you need to write it down in a separate notebook/notebook, select synonyms, memorize the interpretation and try to apply it in everyday life.

A large vocabulary comes from hard work. Masters of eloquence recommend paying attention to developing your oratorical abilities. Every erudite person should have the ability to clearly formulate thoughts, vividly describe events, or retell recently read information in detail. Active application of the studied material (in in this case new words) is the key to the richness of speech: in conversation, in correspondence or during a speech, you should express thoughts, carefully selecting the best words.

Among the tips on how to expand your Russian vocabulary, exercises on writing your own text are particularly effective. For example, you can take a notebook and pen or open text editor on the computer and just start writing. It is important to try to endure own feelings on paper, learn to characterize events in detail or tell a story. Alternatively, you can start keeping a journal or start a virtual diary - daily practice as a writer will stimulate your brain and force it to “dig” into your own lexical baggage.

“Well,” “kind of,” “sort of,” and long pauses “uh-uh” instantly reveal a person with a poor vocabulary. Such constructions pollute human speech, depriving it of information content and beauty.

Specialized textbooks that study the etymology of words can open up new horizons in the native language. You can use either classic volumes from Dahl or Ozhegov, or use online services to learn new words. It is noteworthy that explanatory dictionaries, in addition to interpretation, also contain examples of the use of the term in context, which allows it to be included in the active lexicon.

A mandatory point in working with a dictionary is to transfer unknown terms to a separate notebook. It is important to review your notes from time to time. A list of words located in a prominent place does an excellent job of replenishing the vocabulary of the Russian language. Placing sticky notes with terms on your desk, refrigerator, or mirror engages your visual memory in the process of learning new vocabulary. Do not neglect flashcards: a word is written on one side and its definition on the other.

For beginning linguists: tricks for learning your native language

Solving word puzzles.Crossword, scrabble, boggle or cranium - if you choose a game you like, you can not only have a lot of fun, but also expand your vocabulary and learn to think critically.

Regular training is the key to success. If the daily “load” is 3 words, then in a month your vocabulary will increase by 90, and in a year - by 1080 words!

Secret from the serieswhich many people neglect is plistening to audiobooks, podcasts, lectures and public speaking cultural and scientific figures.INo while cleaning or commutingsuch activities contribute to enrichmentlexicallyWowbaggageA.

How to replenish the vocabulary of the Russian language for students and children?

Speech abilities in children are formed by the age of five: upon reaching this age, the child should be able to use various structures complex sentences, master the skills of word formation and inflection, have a sufficient vocabulary. Lack of communication, neglect of reading, problems with pronunciation are factors that lead to the child having passive knowledge of speech.

Applying vocabulary expansion techniques for adults to children is ineffective. The following rules from teachers, speech therapists and neuropsychologists will come to the rescue: they shared secrets on how to expand the vocabulary of the Russian language in childhood.

No confusion! If a child calls mittens gloves and plates saucers, it makes sense to help the child see the differences between these objects through visual analysis. For example, after drawing things that cause confusion, conduct a detailed inspection of them and highlight the differences.

Verbal communication. Association games allow children to develop abstract thinking. For example, a child should select several nouns, adjectives and verbs (preferably synonymous) for the word “guitar”: “music” and “sound”, “ringing” and “loud”, “playing” and “strumming”.

Hidden meaning. Concrete thinking is inherent in children up to 7 years old; later they begin to grasp the “messages” of the author and learn to read “between the lines.” Discussing proverbs and sayings helps develop the ability to understand figurative meaning.

Reading and communication. Important aspects In the question of how to replenish a child’s Russian vocabulary, communication and reading skills are key. You should always listen to your child, and also remember to instill in him a love of literature.

How to quickly expand your Russian vocabulary? Use all of the above methods in a comprehensive manner. It is important to remember that success is achieved only through hard work, and erudite and developed personality become those who are ready to constantly work on themselves.

The objective of the study was to determine the volume of passive vocabulary of native Russian speakers. The measurement was carried out using , in which respondents were asked to mark familiar words from a specially compiled sample. According to the rules of the test, a word was considered “familiar” if the respondent could define at least one of its meanings. The test procedure is described in detail. To improve the accuracy of the test and identify respondents who take it sloppily, non-existent words were added to the test. If the respondent marked at least one such word as familiar, his results were not taken into account. More than 150 thousand people took part in the study (of which 123 thousand passed the test accurately).

First, let's analyze the effect of age on vocabulary.

The graph shows the percentiles of the resulting distribution. For example, the lowest curve (10th percentile) for 20 years gives 40 thousand words. This means that 10% of respondents of this age have a vocabulary below this value, and 90% - above. The central curve (median) highlighted in blue corresponds to a vocabulary such that half of the respondents of the corresponding age performed worse, and half - better. The topmost curve—the 90th percentile—cuts off the result above which only 10% of respondents with the maximum vocabulary showed.

The graph shows the following:

Lexicon grows at an almost constant rate until about 20 years of age, after which the rate of its increase decreases, tapering off by age 45. After this age, vocabulary practically does not change.
During school, a teenager learns 10 words a day. This value seems unnaturally large, but is explained by the fact that in the test derived words were taken into account separately, as independent ones.
By the time a teenager leaves school, the average person knows 51 thousand words.
During schooling, vocabulary increases approximately 2.5 times.
After leaving school until middle age, the average person learns 3 new words a day.
After reaching 55 years of age, vocabulary begins to decline slightly. This may be due to forgetting words that are not used for a long time. Interestingly, this age roughly coincides with retirement.

Now let's divide all respondents into groups according to education level. The following graph shows the median vocabulary scores of these groups. Curves start and end at different places due to the fact that the statistics for all groups are different - for example, there were not enough respondents with incomplete secondary education over 45 for the results to be statistically significant, so it was necessary to cut off the corresponding curve so early.

From the graph you can find out that

Perhaps vocabulary saturation occurs in at different ages depending on education. Thus, for respondents with secondary specialized education, saturation can be determined at around 43 years old, with higher education - at 51 years old, for candidates and doctors - at 54 years old. This could be explained by the specifics of the respondents’ work—most likely, holders of an academic degree continue to study various literature even in adulthood. Or permanent life in a university environment, with its abundance of communication with educated people different specializations, constantly throwing up new words. However, from a technical point of view, such conclusions should not be drawn yet - the resulting curves are quite noisy, and it is very difficult to determine exactly where saturation begins. Perhaps a further set of statistics will make it possible to see the dependence of the age of saturation on the level of education (if any) more clearly.
There is practically no difference in vocabulary between those who entered the university, but did not finish their studies, and those who completed this path to the end (for students: this does not mean that you can not go to lectures).

Now let’s exclude the influence of age, leaving only respondents over 30 years old in the sample. This will allow you to concentrate on education.

From the graph we see the following:

Respondents who have just completed school know, on average, 2-3 thousand words more than those who did not finish school at the time.
Vocabulary of those who received average or average special education practically no different and averages 75 thousand words.
Those who studied at universities and institutes (and not necessarily those who graduated from them) know an average of 81 thousand words.
Candidates and doctors of science know an average of 86 thousand words. Thus, an academic degree adds about 5 thousand units of vocabulary compared to higher education.
Education, of course, influences vocabulary size. However, the variation within each group with the same education is significantly greater than the difference between the group means. In other words, a person who has not completed school may well know more words than a candidate of science. Here are specific figures - 20% of respondents with incomplete secondary education, who showed best result for their group, have a vocabulary that exceeds that of half of the respondents with an academic degree. Most likely, they read more on different topics, are interested and knowledgeable in more areas.

The resulting vocabulary sizes - tens of thousands of words - seem quite large. There are two reasons for this. First, it measured passive vocabulary (words a person recognizes in text or hearing) rather than active vocabulary (words a person uses in speech or writing). These reserves differ significantly - the passive one is always much larger. The calculated vocabularies of writers, for example, are precisely active. Secondly, in the test all derived words were taken into account separately (for example, “work” and “work”, or “city” and “urban”).

Separately, I would like to note that the results obtained do not give an idea of the vocabulary of the “average” (if such a thing exists) native Russian speaker. For example, the level of education of respondents who passed the test is significantly higher than the national average - 65% of respondents have higher education, whereas in Russia there are only 23% of these (according to the 2010 All-Russian Population Census). Then, it is obvious that the respondents who took the Internet test are mostly active Internet users, and this also makes the sample specific (mainly for older people). In the end, not everyone is interested in determining their vocabulary, but among our respondents there are 100% of them. It is logical to assume that the vocabulary results obtained from such a special sample should be slightly higher than the “statistical average”.

So, the data obtained revealed a strong dependence of vocabulary on age, and a weaker dependence on the level of education. Obviously, there are other factors that influence vocabulary - reading, communication, work, hobbies, lifestyle. All these are topics for further research.