If you cant speak fluent English, you might assume that you havent got large enough vocabulary.

Traditionally English learners think that English speech is formed by taking separate words and sticking them together while in fact any language is build from word chunks and phrases. In either case we can quite logically conclude that the more individual words or word combinations you know, the better and more fluently youll speak. So you may be focusing on memorizing large English vocabulary lists even before attempting going out there and starting socializing and communicating with English speaking folks. To a certain degree, youre absolutely right. You cant expect to speak fluently without having acquired minimum English vocabulary. There is a point, however, in English studies at which you can actually start speaking fluently even before youve learned advanced English vocabulary and sophisticated words Here it would be fitting to establish what actually fluent English speech entails and how you can know if you speak fluently or not. It will also help you set your English improving targets and realize what aspects of English you really need to improve upon. So heres how I define real spoken English fluency:
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easy communication in situations you find yourself in on a daily basis;

AND ALSO
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easy communication when speaking about topics you dont discuss every day.

Notice that Im not separating out correct grammar and sufficient vocabulary from easy communication. I think that one cannot communicate easily without those two, so easy communication quite naturally implies that you speak correctly on 95% of occasions and also have enough English words to use when speaking. So lets proceed further while keeping in mind what we just defined!

How Many English Words Are Enough

How many English words are there in your active vocabulary (active vocabulary words you CAN USE when speaking as opposed to words you only RECOGNISE)? A thousand? Fifteen hundred? Five thousand? In fact this question is rhetoric because you cant really tell how large your English vocabulary is. Purpose of this question was just to prepare you for more numbers that will follow. And this is where it gets very interesting because the first 100 most commonly used English words will enable you to understand around 50% of spoken English! Bear in mind that the English word list under this link pertains to written English, however, the distribution ratio remains roughly the same among spoken English vocabulary, too.

Please read an article HERE about English word frequency lists and their practical application very interesting! Lets go further if you know 300 most commonly used English words, youll be able to understand 65% of spoken English. You see only 300 words comprise nearly two thirds of English vocabulary! Do you start getting the point Im trying to make here? Then lets take it one more step further the General Service list of English words consisting of about 2000 words will take you very close to conversational English fluency 90 to 95%! The concept you have to learn from all these figures is that spoken English fluency begins when youre able to USE JUST ENOUGH English vocabulary to communicate easily IMPORTANT Im not advocating for settling for the mediocre and not improving English throughout your lifetime. Im advocating for going for conversational fluency FIRST and then improving other aspects of English language! How to achieve that? First get familiar with the following concepts: 1. Your passive (recognition) vocabulary is much larger than your active (spoken) vocabulary; 2. Conversational English fluency means conveying a message effectively to the other party as well as understanding your chat partner; 3. Any concept in English language can be described using other words. Logical conclusions you cant deny:
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You cant use all English words you recognize in your spoken English;

the next one, however, overcompensates for the previous one:

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You can do with a minimum amount of words to express yourself clearly speaking almost about any topic (were leaving aside specific areas of English like legal, highly technical, scientific etc.).

So how does this help you achieve spoken English fluency? OK, here comes the best part Most likely your vocabulary greatly exceeds the most commonly used 500, 1000 and even 2000 words because youre very comfortable reading this website. (Not that this article contains all 2000+ English words in it its all about the frequency rankings!) Of course, many words and phrases you come across wouldnt be in your active (spoken) vocabulary, but you can always say something using other words (later on Ill give you examples on this, too!) So we can assume on pretty solid grounds that your active English vocabulary is already sufficient enough for fluent English communication. The only issue you might be having at the moment is that you cant really use your vocabulary in a fluent manner.

Technical Aspects Dotting The Is And Crossing The Ts!

Lets imagine for the sake of clarity that your active English vocabulary contains X amount of words and youre used to form your speech by sticking words together. Most likely youre doing something similar to a direct translation from your native language in your head whereby you form an English sentence in your mind first and then pick out relevant English words. This way of speaking English is fairly inefficient because you limit yourself with your native tongues means of expressions AND your need to find corresponding words in English. When you speak in this manner, your capability of speaking English is indeed limited because you constantly come across situations when you dont know certain words meaning in English. Also your English fluency is impaired due to the simple fact that you form English sentences in your mind as if writing on a piece of paper they dont come out of your mouth automatically So despite the fact that you have sufficient active English vocabulary you just cant use it in a natural way. And heres how a natural speech is formed. You just have to forget about translating from your native language if you want speak fluent English! You also have to speak straight out of your mouth without preparing a whole sentence in your mind beforehand! To achieve this, you have to: 1. Stop using your language as reference in everyday situations when you speak English; 2. Get used to paraphrasing using simpler words in case youre struggling with explaining a certain thing or concept; 3. Learn important word groups such as phrasal verbs, filler phrases and small talk phrases! The last two points might contradict each other, but you indeed have to become familiar with both to become conversationally fluent.

Stop Preparing Speech In Your Head Before Speaking!

Most of folks who learned English the traditional way have been using their language to translate new vocabulary words, and to form all kinds of written or spoken material. While in academic English studies it doesnt manifest itself as a hindering factor; in real life you cant get far with thinking in your native language and trying to speak English. And heres a good exercise to help you start thinking in English You definitely have some sort of a routine task that you perform on a daily basis. It can be a work or home related. For example, I work in a knitwear manufacturing companys dispatch and most of my time is spent entering customers orders and packing them. When I enter the

products on the computer or use the picking list to get them up, I have two options I can pronounce those product codes and colors in either my language or English. As you can imagine, Ive switched over to thinking in English ages ago, and its definitely helped me with English fluency. And so should you if you want to start speaking fluent English. Whenever you perform a mundane task use that time wisely to either comment on your actions in English OR think in English about something else if your particular activity doesnt occupy your mind. If you work at a manufacturing line your mind constantly wanders away so you can use that time to start thinking in English about things that are important to you. Its not easy at first, but youll be surprised how quickly you can substitute your native language for English

When In Doubt Put It In Different Words!

As we already concluded, chances are that you actually know all English words to express yourself in any day-to-day situation; its just that sometimes you come across a situation or concept that seemingly demands you to use more sophisticated means of expression. In fact you can always get by using simpler words but for the most part foreign English speakers are under big stress to get something said. Eventually their mind just blocks up and they just cant say a thing Foreigners also under impression that if they say something simple, theyll sound too simple and theyll be perceived as poor English speakers. At the end of the day, when they try to sound smart and use passive vocabulary (the one that theyre not really comfortable with when speaking) thats when the real trouble begins! Heres an example. Lets say you want to ask your team-leader at work if you can postpone a certain task because youve more urgent matters to attend at the moment. Your team-leader walks by and you stop him by asking: Sorry Mike, I just wanted to ask you if I can and then you get stuck all of a sudden! You know the word postpone, but you might have forgotten it, or its just that you dont use this word that often and its not really part of your active vocabulary. Instead of frantically trying to remember the exact word postpone you can simply say Can I do the report later? But quite often foreign English speakers are putting themselves under unnecessary stress when speaking so they end up struggling for words. But as you can imagine, theres ALWAYS a way of putting the same thing in different words Even if you find it hard to explain a fairly complicated abstract concept or a technical detail, Im pretty sure you can use other words from your active vocabulary that will suffice for getting the message across clearly and efficiently.

By the way, there a simple version of English language called Basic English created by a linguist C.K. Ogden consisting of 850 basic words. C.K. Ogden proved by scientific analysis that one can communicate successfully enough using vocabulary of such a small size! So if its possible to communicate efficiently using 850 English words, cant you do the same operating with a whole lot more words and phrases? Sure you can! Heres another example on how you can use simple English words to substitute verbs that you may have forgotten at the given moment, or if youre simply struggling for the right word to say. If youre struggling to produce a sentence I became extremely irritated because of my financial difficulties, youre most trying to build an ideal sentence in your head first and then speak it out. Stop doing it, take a short pause and speak using simpler words I got very nervous because I have money problems. Lets just have a quick look at the sentence. The verb got is among the simplest English verbs and can be used to describe nearly every action that involves change of shape and emotional state; you just need to attach the corresponding adjective to it. And if you were struggling with the word irritated, then nervous is definitely something you can use because its an international word. And of course, even beginning English learners would know words money and problems, so you definitely can use them with ease. IMPORTANT Never be ashamed of using simple words and sentence structures! If you have a choice between broken English and simple yet fluent spoken English I think any reasonable person would go for the second one! And as I already said in the beginning of this article Im not saying you dont have to improve your speech and add more active vocabulary words to it. Of course you can and you HAVE TO do it! Im just trying to hammer home a message that you can start speaking fluent English with limited vocabulary and you dont have to wait on some mystical day in the future when youll have acquired enough vocabulary to start speaking!

Learning Phrasal Verbs, Filler Phrases and Small Talk Phrases

You could be struggling with fluent speech because in real life (just try to analyze what happens when you speak your native language!) conversations are filled with plenty of filler phrases like on the other hand, Im not really sure, but I think, as far as I know and similar. They bind other bits of your talk together and will create the impression of real fluency.

By now you might have used eeeerrr and hmmmm to fill pauses between sentences and words, but if you learn at least a couple of dozen of typical small talk phrases, youll be able to speak more fluently. And of course most of them are made up of words you ALREADY know so theres no additional vocabulary acquisition required! Then there are phrasal verbs and theyre absolutely brilliant when it comes to described even quite complicated concepts. Phrasal verbs are formed by taking a simple verb such as put, bring, come and attaching a preposition to it like up, down, off, on and so on. While many of them are self-explanatory for example, put it down, theres a whole lot of them that have abstract meanings. For instance, you let me down means that you didnt keep promise and I got into trouble or lost out on something because of you. You see you can SAVE plenty of words just by saying You let me down! And if you learn at least the most commonly used phrasal verbs (which are made up from words that you ALREADY know!) you can give additional boost to your fluency! Of course, you CAN and you will use any number of words necessary to make your point thats what fluency is about and thats what I kept reiterating throughout this article. Using phrasal words, however, will enable you to start speaking and thinking like native English speakers do In the beginning you may use just a few phrasal verbs and explain other things using simple, basic English words. As you progress, youll add more and more phrasal words and ALSO new words to your active vocabulary thus enriching your means of expression. Imagine yourself saying to your friend I finally had enough time to finish the essay. You can also use a phrasal verb to get around to and the previous sentence becomes I finally got around to that essay. So as you can see phrasal verbs make your spoken English friendlier, more natural and thats where true fluency begins! And lets not forget the fact that using phrasal verbs enables you to get into the English way of thinking; you learn to express abstract concepts with a single phrasal verb instead of saying ten words. Its a time-saver AND steps up your fluency at the same time! AND phrasal verbs are made up from words you ALREADY know, so you dont even have to learn new words just abstract meanings! Just compare these two How can you put up with it? and How can you tolerate it? You see chances are that the verb to tolerate isnt in your active vocabulary so you may be struggling with it. But you definitely know words put and up so you just need to know that put up can be used to describe a situation when youre no OK with something but you allow it to happen for some reason or another And here are the most important links you simply need to look at if you want to ramp up your spoken English fluency:

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Small Talk Phrases Filler Phrases (dont mind the Czech translations the site is about improving Czech but the list of English conversational connectors is still relevant for us!) Phrasal Verbs

Thanks a lot for reading my website, and talk to you soon again! Robby

Most common words in English

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

The list below of most common words in English cannot be definitive. It is based on an analysis of the Oxford English Corpus of over a billion words, and represents one study done by Oxford Online, associated with the Oxford English Dictionary.[1] This source includes writings of all sorts from "literary novels and specialist journals to everyday newspapers and magazines and from Hansard to the language of chatrooms, emails, and weblogs",[2] unlike some sources which use texts from only specific sources.[3] The Reading Teachers Book of Lists claims that the first 25 words make up about one-third of all printed material in English, and that the first 100 make up about one-half of all written material.[4] Note that the items listed may represent more than one actual word; they are lemmas. For instance the entry "be" contains within it the occurrences of "are", "is", "were" and "was".[5] Note also that these top 100 lemmas listed below account for 50% of all the words in the Oxford English Corpus.[1]
Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 the be to of and a in that have I it Word

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

for not on with he as you do at this but his by from they we say her she or an will

34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55

my one all would there their what so up out if about who get which go me when make can like time

56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77

no just him know take person into year your good some could them see other than then now look only come its

78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

over think also back after use two how our work first well way even new want because any these give day most

100 us

Source: [1]

Contents
[hide]
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1 Parts of speech o 1.1 Nouns o 1.2 Verbs o 1.3 Adjectives o 1.4 Prepositions 2 See also 3 References

[edit] Parts of speech

[edit] Nouns person year way day thing man world life hand part child eye woman place work week case point government company number group problem 24. fact 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

[edit] Verbs be have do say get make go know take see come think look want give use find tell ask work seem feel try leave 25. call 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

[edit] Adjectives good new first last long great little own other old right big high different small large next early young important few public bad same able 26. many 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

[edit] Prepositions to of in for on with at by from up about into over after beneath under 17. above 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Post reading time: 15 minutes. Language learning need not be complicated. Principles of cognitive neuroscience and time management can be applied to attain conversational fluency (here defined as 95%+ comprehension and 100% expressive abilities) in 1-3 months. Some background on my language obsession, from an earlier post on learning outside of classes: From the academic environments of Princeton University (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Italian) and the Middlebury Language Schools (Japanese), to the disappointing results observed as a curriculum designer at Berlitz International (Japanese, English), I have sought for more than 10 years to answer a simple question: why do most language classes simply not work? The ideal system and progression is based on three elements in this order 1. Effectiveness (Priority) 2. Adherence (Interest)

3. Efficiency (Process) Effectiveness, adherence, and efficiency refer to the what, why, and how of learning a target language, respectively. In simple terms, you first decide what to learn, based on usage frequency (priority); you then filter materials based on your likelihood of continued study and review, or adherence (interest); lastly, you determine how to learn the material most efficiently (process). Lets cover each in turn. This post will focus on vocabulary and subject matter. For learning grammar, I suggest you read this short article. For reactivating forgotten languages like high school Spanish this sequence will do the trick. Effectiveness: If you select the wrong material, it does not matter how you study or if you study practical fluency is impossible without the proper tools (material). Teachers are subordinate to materials, just as cooks are subordinate to recipes. Adherence: Review, and multiple exposures to the same material, will always present an element of

monotony, which must be countered by an interest in the material. Even if you select the most effective material and efficient method, if you dont adhere with repeated study, effectiveness and efficiency mean nothing. In other words: can you persist with the material and method youve chosen? If not, less effective materials or methods will still be better. The best approach means nothing if you dont use it. By analogy, if sprinting uphill with bowling balls in each hand were the most effective way to lose body fat, how long would the average person adhere to such a program? If you have no interest in politics, will you adhere to a language course that focuses on this material? Ask yourself: Can I study this material every day and adhere until I reach my fluency goals? If you have any doubt, change your selection. Oftentimes, it is best to select content that matches your interests in your native language. Do not read about something that you would not read about in English, if English is your native language (e.g. dont read Asahi Shimbun if you dont read newspapers in English). Use the target

language as a vehicle for learning more about a subject, skill, or cultural area of interest. Do not use material incongruent with your interests as a vehicle for learning a language it will not work. Efficiency: It matters little if you have the best material and adherence if time-tofluency is 20 years. The ROI wont compel you. Ask yourself: Will this method allow me to reach accurate recognition and recall with the fewest number of exposures, within the shortest period of time? If the answer is no, your method must be refined or replaced.
An Example of Effectiveness (80/20) in Practice

Paretos Principle of 80/20 dictates that 80% of the results in any endeavor come from 20% of the input, material, or effort. We can adapt this principle and prioritize material based on its recorded likelihood and frequency of usage. To understand 95% of a language and become conversational fluent may require 3 months of applied learning; to reach the 98%

threshold could require 10 years. There is a point of diminishing returns where, for most people, it makes more sense to acquire more languages (or other skills) vs. add a 1% improvement per 5 years. To see exactly how I deconstruct the grammar of new languages, I suggest you read How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour. Now, on to the meat and potatoes of communication: words. If you were a student of English (though the list can be adapted to most languages), the following words would deliver the greatest ROI per hour invested for the initial 1-3 weeks of study:
The 100 Most Common Written Words in English

1. the 2. of 3. and 4. a 5. to 6. in 7. is 8. you 9. that 10. it 11. he 12. was 13. for 14. on 15. are

16. as 17. with 18. his 19. they 20. I 21. at 22. be 23. this 24. have 25. from 26. or 27. one 28. had 29. by 30. word 31. but 32. not 33. what 34. all 35. were 36. we 37. when 38. your 39. can 40. said 41. there 42. use 43. an 44. each 45. which 46. she 47. do 48. how 49. their 50. if 51. will 52. up 53. other 54. about 55. out 56. many 57. then 58. them 59. these 60. so

61. some 62. her 63. would 64. make 65. like 66. him 67. into 68. time 69. has 70. look 71. two 72. more 73. write 74. go 75. see 76. number 77. no 78. way 79. could 80. people 81. my 82. than 83. first 84. water 85. been 86. call 87. who 88. oil 89. its 90. now 91. find 92. long 93. down 94. day 95. did 96. get 97. come 98. made 99. may 100. part The first 25 of the above words make up about 1/3 of all printed material in English. The first 100

comprise 1/2 of all written material, and the first 300 make up about 65% percent of all written material in English. Articles and tense conjugations that can often be omitted in some languages or learned for recognition (understanding) but not recall (production). Most frequency lists are erroneously presented as the most common words in English, with no distinction made between written and spoken vocabulary. The 100 most common words as used in speech are considerably different, and this distinction applies to any target language.
The 100 Most Common Spoken Words in English

1. a, an 2. after 3. again 4. all 5. almost 6. also 7. always 8. and 9. because 10. before 11. big 12. but 13. (I) can 14. (I) come 15. either/or 16. (I) find 17. first 18. for 19. friend

20. from 21. (I) go 22. good 23. goodbye 24. happy 25. (I) have 26. he 27. hello 28. here 29. how 30. I 31. (I) am 32. if 33. in 34. (I) know 35. last 36. (I) like 37. little 38. (I) love 39. (I) make 40. many 41. one 42. more 43. most 44. much 45. my 46. new 47. no 48. not 49. now 50. of 51. often 52. on 53. one 54. only 55. or 56. other 57. our 58. out 59. over 60. people 61. place 62. please 63. same 64. (I) see

65. she 66. so 67. some 68. sometimes 69. still 70. such 71. (I) tell 72. thank you 73. that 74. the 75. their 76. them 77. then 78. there is 79. they 80. thing 81. (I) think 82. this 83. time 84. to 85. under 86. up 87. us 88. (I) use 89. very 90. we 91. what 92. when 93. where 94. which 95. who 96. why 97. with 98. yes 99. you 100. your Individual word frequency will vary between languages (especially pronouns, articles, and possessives), but differences are generally related to frequency rank, rather than complete omission or replacement

with a different term. The above two lists are surprisingly applicable to most popular languages. Content and vocabulary selection beyond the most common 300-500 words should be dictated by subject matter interest. The most pertinent questions will be What will you spend your time doing with this language? If necessary, the most closely related rephrasing would be What do I currently spend my time doing? It bears repeating: do not read about something that you would not read about in your native language. Use the target language as a vehicle for learning more about a subject, skill, or cultural area of interest. Poor material never produces good language. Feed your language ability foods you like, or you will quit your diet and cease study long before you achieve any measurable level of proficiency. As a personal example, I used martial arts instructional manuals to compete effectively in judo while a student in Japan. My primary goal was to learn throws and apply them in

tournaments. To avoid pain and embarrassment, I had tremendous motivation to learn the captions of the step-by-step diagrams in each instructional manual. Language development was a far secondary priority. One might assume the crossover of material to other subjects would be minimal, but the grammar is, in fact, identical. The vocabulary may be highly specialized, but I eclipsed the grammatical ability of 4 and 5-year students of Japanese within 2 months of studying and applying sports-specific instruction manuals. The specialization of my vocabulary didnt present a single problem in communication, it is important to note, as I was spending 80% of my free time training with people who also used judo-speak and other vocabulary unique to sports training and athletic development. Once the framework of grammar has been transferred to long-term memory, acquiring vocabulary is a simple process of proper spaced repetition, which will be the subject of a dedicated future post.

In the meantime, dont let languages scare you off. Its a checklist and a process of finding material you enjoy with a good frequency ROI. Ganbare! ### Odds and Ends: Giveaway and USC Video Ill be giving away some very cool stuff this week on Twitter (electronics, my favorite bags, etc.). Just click here and follow me to see the goodies. The Cisco-sponsored video about my house by the USC team is in the final 24 hours of competition and needs a few more views to win. Unfortunately, none of the embed views counted last time due to bad code. Please click here and wait a few seconds to help these kids get their big break!