Number Of Words To Be Fluent

[cmsally]

Interesting thread. Crikey some people have an idea of how many words they know.

I haven't got a clue!

My situation is maybe more complicated in that at home we speak Northern dialect a lot of the time. So I have effectively have had to learn 2 languages in parallel . That is the reason I learned to read; so I could sort out what was central and what was Northern.

There are often times when I have to stop and think of a word in Thai, but then that happens in English too.

[mynextgig]

News is much easier.

You've got a good point there.

The news is far easier to understand than say a sitcom banter type show. The presenters speak clearly and the sound is adjusted so all the important harmonics carry clearly from the TV's speakers to your ears.

IMO, and I'm only barely able to keep up with the news presenters, if you only sort of keeping up with the news, you are not much past half way from being fluent in the language. If one word throws you, you lose concentration, and you then lose the next sentence completely, how fluent are you? (Picture me in this last sentence! )

Refering to my earlier post on this subject, I'm not so sure that it is how many words to be fluent, more how well you use them and understand their different meanings. I have seen farung's over here, who I know the extent of their vocabulary range, who maybe have a few thousand words down pat and can conduct reasonable conversations at reasonable speeds. I have seen others with larger vocabularies stuttering and slurring over ordering a bowl of noodles.

Cheers.

So to the OP. To understand your Thai friends in everyday topical conversation, requires more than 3500 or so words i know and less than the 10000 or so that Rikker knows.

Hopefully that answers your question

Edited October 29, 2008 by mynextgig