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Routledge Frequency Dictionaries | ||
Tags: Word Frequency | Dictionaries | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6149 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 1 of 21 12 March 2012 at 10:42am | IP Logged | ||
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Has anyone used a Routledge Frequency Dictionary ? What are your opinions on using one ? Do you think learning the 5,000 most popular words in a language would give a competency at B1, B2, C1 or even C2? Edited by DaraghM on 12 March 2012 at 10:56am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6437 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 21 12 March 2012 at 2:55pm | IP Logged | ||
Assuming your other skills don't lag too far behind vocabulary, I'd say B2/C1, certainly not C2. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6149 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 3 of 21 12 March 2012 at 3:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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I thought 5,000 seemed low for C2, but the following article quotes even lower.
French as a Foreign Language 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4676 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 4 of 21 12 March 2012 at 4:19pm | IP Logged | ||
C1 even says "Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes.". Clearly, with 3300 words, you can't do that. Or perhaps if you interpret the definition so much as to make it fit to your situation like some people often do, but that's clearly not the spirit. And try writing academic papers or essays with a knowledge of 3300 words... I'd say at most B2. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| buchstabe Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4700 days ago 52 posts - 108 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, French, Spanish Studies: Czech, Swedish, Japanese | Message 5 of 21 12 March 2012 at 4:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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With the question being worded as in the opening post, I'd answer no, because of the various other skills you have to master to get to those levels, and I wouldn't want to encourage false hopes.
That being said, depending on the language, it looks like you get impressively far with only the 5000 most frequent words. There are some interesting preliminary findings and discussion in chapter "Vocabulary Size and the CEFR" of this publication: http://www.scribd.com/doc/58382879/38/Vocabulary-Size-and-th e-CEFR EDIT: Added link Edited by buchstabe on 12 March 2012 at 4:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| atama warui Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 4699 days ago 594 posts - 985 votes Speaks: German*, English, Japanese | Message 6 of 21 12 March 2012 at 10:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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I wonder what vocab size is required for B2 and C1 Japanese. I'm a German... but I guess numbers for English speakers would be all right, with German and English being pretty similar, the difference won't be huge.
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| Lukos Tetraglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4841 days ago 8 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English*, German, Latin, Ancient Greek | Message 7 of 21 12 March 2012 at 11:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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I used the Routledge Freq. Dictionary for German, made flashcards for all unknown words in the book and drilled
them (this was a summer project...), and it helped immensely. Reading, speaking, and writing in addition supplied the necessary context for the raw vocabulary (although the books also give example sentences). (Never had my level in the language assessed, so I can't tell you how far the book helped 'officially'.) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5014 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 8 of 21 13 March 2012 at 12:21am | IP Logged | ||
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Also, a C2 is expected to understand certain idiomatic usage.
For example: Knowing the meanings of 'blue' and 'moon' don't give a clue to what the phrase "once in a blue moon" actually means. :) A frequency dictionary should certainly help. I use them myself. But, lets be realistic. Napoleon 1 person has voted this message useful |
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