Large vocabulary. A rich vocabulary is an indicator of human intellectual development

is not a myth. At the time when I was at school, I did not know why we need such subjects as Russian literature. I was not interested in the classic books of Pushnikin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and other Russian classics. To the same extent, such subjects as philosophy, rhetoric, Tatar language(I live in Tatarstan). And only when you become an adult do you understand that such things as a rich vocabulary are very important for achieving success in life and play, if not the role of the main factor in victories, but this is another contribution of your parents to your future competitiveness. When we become adults, we are ready to pay big money for learning what we were taught in school for free.

Vocabulary Shakespeare according to philologists, it was 12 thousand words. To communicate more or less freely English language, you need to know and understand about 1000 words in the lexicon and know some set expressions and designs. But this vocabulary will obviously not be enough to speak fluently and have a rich speech.

You need to improve your vocabulary

To express your thoughts well, you need to have a serious vocabulary. Many experts agree on this. It often happens that successful man he shows himself well in business, but at a business meeting he cannot connect a few words. How to improve vocabulary? There is different ways. Many advise reading more diverse literature, and thereby you indirectly increase both your vocabulary and literacy and the quality of your oral speech.

By the way , know a lot interesting words and talk nicely- it's not the same thing. Your vocabulary should be supplemented by a broad outlook and knowledge, beautiful speech, expressiveness. Here it is worth paying attention to such a thing as rhetoric. They are taught to speak beautifully. Try to listen to other people, and also try to speak in public yourself. Your speech quality will improve very quickly.

Having a rich vocabulary you will become a stronger negotiator. This is a real business skill that exploits philology for capitalist purposes. You will really easier when you finally learn how to link together at least a few words, and not talk in abrupt sentences.

Ways to improve vocabulary

3. Read specialized and fiction as well as non-fiction books. It doesn't hurt to study something from the non-fiction series

Sidebar: non fiction - nonfiction- this is a special genre of non-fiction, where the presentation is based on real events. Documentary prose. The amount of fiction in this genre is small and only needed to give more brightness to the presentation. The style of presentation is journalistic. The story is based on the words of eyewitnesses, based on real documents. The subjective view of the author can also be traced in documentary prose, which may not coincide with the generally accepted point of view.

4. Watch cultural St. Petersburg authors on Youtube. In general, the fact that in such cities as St. Petersburg is more developed human capital, which means that the speech is true. I watch Konstantin Zarutsky, a famous auto video blogger, and it turns out that familiar words can be used in very interesting formats. Recommend.

5. Each new word - type in google and see, what does it mean. This will help in the development of vocabulary. For example, I have just learned what non-fiction is and have become the owner of a slightly richer speech.

6. They say vocabulary can be upgraded by writing articles or by listening audiobooks. Useful for those who have a long commute to work. Player in your ears. I think that to enter a graduate school, start writing a dissertation, or at least study for several years in good university- Great for expanding vocabulary.

7. Learning foreign languages also greatly expands your ability to speak beautifully, for example, using borrowing.

8. Use in speech new phrases, words and sayings. It is good to study poetry.

In the dry matter rich vocabulary is of great importance for a person and his success. This is an indicator of intellectual and social level your personality and your professionalism.

Every day we communicate with other people, say hundreds of words, work with documents, browse the Internet, correspond with friends and relatives, read magazines and newspapers, watch movies and TV shows. In the process of communication, transmission and perception of information, our consciousness processes a lot of words. How many words does a person need to know in order to fully communicate, to know the world and the surrounding reality?

By different estimates scientists, in English there are about one million words, in Russian - from two hundred to five hundred thousand, Czech contains about fifty thousand words. But this does not mean at all that in order to master the language, you need to learn such great amount words. The fact is that our vocabulary is divided into two types - active and passive. Active vocabulary is words that a person knows and actively uses. Words, the meaning of which a person knows, but which he rarely uses, constitute a passive vocabulary. Of course passive margin several times more active. Researchers of William Shakespeare's work have calculated that in his works he used about twenty thousand words, in the literary heritage of Karel Capek there are almost thirty thousand words. However, this does not mean that in Everyday life great writers expressed themselves in a complex and ornate way, using all their lexical baggage.

According to linguists, the vocabulary that a European, including the average Russian, manages in everyday communication is about a thousand words. The active vocabulary is approximately two to three thousand words. Thus, for language proficiency in entry level a few hundred frequently used words are sufficient. Here is an approximate gradation of vocabulary volume:

1. 400-800 words- lexical baggage necessary for a basic level of knowledge of the language;
2. up to 1500 words- a reserve that allows you to explain and read literature at an elementary level;
3. up to 3000 words- a reserve with which you can confidently communicate at the everyday level and fluently read non-specialized literature;
4. 5000 words in lexical baggage they will provide free reading of the press and specialized literature;
5. 8000 words enough for comprehensive communication, reading literature of any degree of complexity, watching television programs and films.

Consideration that these figures are only a rough estimate of the number of words needed to communicate at a certain level, and, as a result, the number of words that people who want to learn a foreign language need to know. Note that the active vocabulary is dynamic, it changes depending on the environment in which a person lives, what he does, where he works, etc. For example, the specifics of a person's work determines the lexical baggage used by him in his work activity. Therefore, it is important not only to expand the active vocabulary, but also to ensure that words do not disappear from use and do not move from active to passive.

There are various ways enrichment of active vocabulary. Let's consider some of them:

1. The most common, effective and affordable method- method of live communication. When two interlocutors communicate, as a rule, their vocabulary is mutually enriched.
2. Reading aloud allows you to use not only visual, but also auditory memory, facilitating and accelerating the process of memorization.
3. Retelling what was read. When retelling what has been read, the brain actively processes the information received, while you should try to use as much as possible those words from the text that you met for the first time or caused difficulty.
4. Interesting and useful work with a dictionary of synonyms. Many words have a number of synonyms, and a small game, the purpose of which is to replace the words in the text with synonyms as much as possible with the help of a dictionary, will significantly expand the vocabulary.

The richer the human vocabulary, the more capaciously, colorfully and accurately he can express his feelings and thoughts, the brighter his picture of the world. It is necessary to strive to replenish the vocabulary of not only the studied, but also your native language. This seems all the more relevant for native speakers of the Russian language, about which French writer Prosper Merimee: “The Russian language, as far as I can judge of it, is the richest of all European dialects and seems deliberately created to express the subtlest shades. Gifted with wonderful conciseness, combined with clarity, he is content with one word to convey thoughts when another language would require whole phrases for this.

A person may well serve as a very objective indicator of his intellectual development, a high level of culture and good education. Society, as a rule, perceives such a person as intelligent and creative. It is initially easier for such a member of society to find a good and more promising job, he moves faster and more successfully through 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 term human vocabulary mean?

Simply put, it is a set of words that a particular person owns. According to modern scientists, the 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 the 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 in everyday speech only 3000 are used. An ordinary student operates with 5000 words, and the vocabulary of an adult is 8000.

In other languages, the situation is almost the same.

Is it possible to increase the used set of words?

Very often in everyday conversations one has to hear about the tongue-tied tongue of one or another mutual acquaintance. You can often find the opinion that the gift of oratory is given to us at birth and subsequently the human 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 to do this is not so difficult, 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 will definitely use every day. Let this list be as long as possible. Ready? Now, using explanatory dictionary or a dictionary of synonyms, next to each word, write several of its alternative options. For example, "interesting" - remarkable, entertaining, curious, noteworthy, noteworthy. Try to remember them and use each of the options listed at least once during the day. Only in this way can they be deposited in our memory.
• Read as much as possible. Start with the books of those authors who are close and pleasant to you. And only gradually it will be possible to move on to more serious literature. If an unfamiliar word is found in the 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 mentally repeat it several times. Why exactly? - Modern scientists have proved that in human memory it is better to store what has been uttered at least once.
• Write. If you have no one to write long, warm and filled positive emotions letters, use the example of Demosthenes: rewrite other people's articles, favorite works of art, write out in a special notebook poems or sayings of the great that stirred up something in the soul.
• Crossword puzzles are also quite useful for developing vocabulary. But in this case, I would like to warn you - the publications that print them must be known and verified.
• If you have to most spend your time on the road or driving, and for the above, well, there is simply sorely not enough free time, you can resort to the help of audiobooks, the choice of which is now quite large, and the quality is quite decent.

In these proven ways, 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.

Vocabulary is the set of all the words that a person owns. It is generally accepted that a wide vocabulary is inherent in the most educated people as well as writers.

Active and passive vocabulary

Active vocabulary is those words that a person uses in when he speaks or writes. At different people this figure can vary greatly. Nobody knows and does not use all the words of the language.

Student's active vocabulary lower grades is approximately two thousand words, by the end of the institute this figure increases at least five times! "Pushkin's Language Dictionary", which includes all the words used by the great poet in his works, contains about 20 thousand words.

Passive vocabulary is those words that a person does not use himself, but understands if he sees or hears them. As a rule, there are many times more of them than the words included in the active vocabulary. These include various terms, the words limited use(slang, archaisms or neologisms), just quite rare and unusual words.

It's funny that when vocabulary of the Russian language of about half a million words, are actively used by all of us no more than 6 thousand, which is about 90% of human speech, and only 10% are rarely used.

The concept of active and passive vocabulary is used in linguistics and literary criticism, as well as in pedagogical and clinical psychology. Teachers also use it. At school, they teach that vocabulary needs to be replenished, and for this, read more. It's true. Reading - The best way replenish your passive lexical baggage. Moreover, the most pleasant, because a person follows the twists and turns of the plot, while the words themselves are remembered. But not every book is suitable for this. We must take good literature, you can use the classics, otherwise there is a risk of running into the author, who has the lowest vocabulary: there is nothing to learn from him, you can teach him yourself!

Another way is to search unfamiliar words in dictionary. In principle, it is not necessary to rush through the Ozhegov dictionary in search of the right word- There are resources on the Internet that are very convenient to use. But, although you will learn the meaning of the word anyway, you are more likely to remember it when using a paper dictionary. The search itself, which will take more time and effort, will more firmly fix the word in, because it will be constantly repeated mentally while a person is in search.

Each 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 that fill the dictionaries and heads of students. But before starting to speak directly about the English language, I would like to start with our native language - native for me and for you reading this article - and the great Russian language.

Answer the 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 way is to take the most big dictionary and begin to put a tick 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 what), 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 a little later. The second way - we do not take a dictionary, we do not count anything, because we, personally, do not need this and we have good arguments. Why this is still necessary, I will also tell in this article. And finally, the third way - we find a definition test on the Internet, go through it and know exactly to what extent 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 the theory and figure out what the vocabulary is and why I decided to talk about it today.

In simple unscientific language, vocabulary is that specific set of words that a certain person owns. It owns, and not just “I heard a ringing, I don’t know where it is.” Those. understands the meaning of a word, knows how to apply it orally and writing, perceives it in live communication. The whole vocabulary specific person can be divided into active and passive. The active vocabulary is the set of words that he uses in speech and writing when he is the source of this speech. Passive vocabulary is a set of those words that a person recognizes when reading this or that literature, or hearing them in oral speech, but he himself is not the source of these words, i.e. does not use in his own speech. This distinction applies to both your native language and the language you are studying as foreign language, since in both cases there are those words that we 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, the last time an official count was carried out in 1999, and according to his data, there are just over one million words and vocabulary units in this language. Therefore, we can safely rejoice that we are studying English, because a million is not so much. And speaking seriously, then from this "a little over 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 despite the fact that English is his native language. If we are talking about English as a foreign language that we study, then the highest rates for an active vocabulary are 8-10 thousand words, and for a passive one up to 15 thousand. Those. you see that the indicators are not so great and scary as it might seem at first glance.

Now it’s worth talking about how to calculate the very cherished figure that you reach with your amount of knowledge. There are many various ways, tests, calculations. I suggest you pay attention to two of them, and I will argue why I chose these options. You can find the first of these counting options on the site, 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 really truthfully choose the words you learn. 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 levels and specifically see what 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 put an end to and continue learning. Each version of the test consists of 6 levels, and you need to take 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? Here is a question that many of you are now concerned about. After all, numbers are not important to anyone, you think. But it's not. Firstly, such a calculation allows you to objectively assess your level of knowledge, and secondly, when passing certain tests of British and American schools, I will ask you to indicate the results of the calculation of vocabulary. And I do not advise any of you to do this offhand, because after testing, there may be an embarrassment of inconsistency between the data you specified and the test results. Therefore, knowing your vocabulary (especially active) is not only useful, but in some cases necessary.

• vocabulary in the amount of 350-700 words is an active vocabulary necessary for the initial (basic) level of foreign language proficiency.
• a vocabulary of 700-1300 words - enough to explain yourself (if it is active for you); and for reading on basic level(if this is your passive vocabulary).
• vocabulary in the amount of 1300-2800 words - an active vocabulary sufficient for everyday everyday communication; in case 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 8000 words is enough for normal full-fledged communication of a person studying 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 is the active vocabulary of a person with high level education that learns English as a foreign language.

But even if you passed this test successfully, you should remember that only the words fixed 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 chosen 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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