How many words do you need to read a newswire article from Reuters in your target language? Many, but you can make do with a fairly limited vocabulary.

See this text with the eyes of somebody who knows only the 3000 most common English words, then the 5000 most common words and finally with a full vocabulary (The '#' stand for unknown words.):

Reading with a 3000 words vocabulary

---

Chinese is the language to learn
By Melissa Jackson
BBC News education ########

“Teacher Aidan O'Kelly visits a Chinese school Linking up with Chinese schools is proving successful Cantonese and Mandarin are the languages children should be learning at school if we are to capitalise on the future business potential of China, say experts.

China has the world's fastest growing economy and is rapidly becoming an influential player in global business and industry.

With the government announcing another £115m for foreign language teaching in England's schools, now is a good time to focus on how best to spend it.

Some schools are already ahead of the game - offering lessons in these key languages, which could help the next generation of business leaders ###### this rich and ########## market.”

Reading with a 5000 words vocabulary

---

Chinese is the language to learn
By Melissa Jackson
BBC News education reporter

“Teacher Aidan O'Kelly visits a Chinese school Linking up with Chinese schools is proving successful Cantonese and Mandarin are the languages children should be learning at school if we are to capitalise on the future business potential of China, say experts.

China has the world's fastest growing economy and is rapidly becoming an influential player in global business and industry.

With the government announcing another £115m for foreign language teaching in England's schools, now is a good time to focus on how best to spend it.

Some schools are already ahead of the game - offering lessons in these key languages, which could help the next generation of business leaders ###### this rich and influential market.”

Full text

---

Chinese is the language to learn
By Melissa Jackson
BBC News education reporter

“Teacher Aidan O'Kelly visits a Chinese school Linking up with Chinese schools is proving successful Cantonese and Mandarin are the languages children should be learning at school if we are to capitalise on the future business potential of China, say experts.

China has the world's fastest growing economy and is rapidly becoming an influential player in global business and industry.

With the government announcing another £115m for foreign language teaching in England's schools, now is a good time to focus on how best to spend it.

Some schools are already ahead of the game - offering lessons in these key languages, which could help the next generation of business leaders conquer this rich and influential market.”