People often ask this question when they start to learn English: how many English words do I need to study?

We think the right answer to this question depends on the English proficiency level at which you would ultimately like to speak. This means the scope of English vocabulary you need to have varies. Of course, the more the better.

Lower grade-level elementary school students in US have around 5,000 words in their vocabulary. This number expands to 10,000 ~ 15,000 when they graduate from high school.  Therefore, it is widely accepted that average adults with high school diploma in the US have 50,000 words in their vocabulary. People with bachelors’ degree usually have around 50,000 ~ 100,000.

If your goal to learn English is to be on par with native speakers, your vocabulary count must be similar to a native speaker’s vocabulary. If your dream is just to communicate in English for your business or travel, however, the requirements may be different.

We are going to see just how much vocabulary you need for varying situations in our next post.

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