Are you confident enough with your vocabulary before speaking German? How many words do you need to speak the German language?
Do you want to speak German?
The US Foreign Service Institute estimates that basic German language skills can be learned in 36 weeks or 750 classroom hours. With consistent practice, mastering the language will most likely take a couple of years.
To be fluent in German, a speaker must know approximately 10,000 words. Learning words out of context can be challenging. You can get by with just words if you don’t require lessons. Just pick up a word list or a dictionary and start memorizing everything. And only if you can.
Words on their own are challenging to recall. When information has context, we remember it much better.
For instance, if you overhear it being used in a discussion or, even better
if you use it yourself. Words taken out of context are dull. Learning should be enjoyable, but I don’t know anyone who would enjoy memorizing words merely for the sake of it.
Even if it were effective—which it isn’t—simply memorizing isn’t practical because you would quickly grow bored.
Without context, words are not very useful. In some circumstances, such as when navigating a simple text like a menu, words alone can be helpful.
You still need to put those words together if the goal of learning is communicating, but you are unable to do it.
German Grammar and Pronunciation
The request to study pronunciation frequently goes along with the request to acquire vocabulary only.
This is challenging because you’d think pronunciation instruction would begin with single letters (phonemes).
Every textbook begins with a chapter on pronunciation, complete with fancy symbols and images of tongues, teeth, and lips. So, disregard it. Learning pronunciation through listening and imitating is more enjoyable and effective.
These are the things you must do in order to speak German:
Learn easy/important words
Vocabulary expansion is essential for both comprehension and speaking. You can start learning new words even before you know how or why the phrases are formed the way they are, just to become acquainted with them.
Learn the basic grammar
Learning the parts of speech is important, but learning how they behave in different linguistic cases, conjugations, and contexts is a little more advanced, which brings us to…
Learn how sentences are constructed
Initially, your sentences will be very basic and limited in their expression of tense and mood (e.g. subjunctive, conjunctive, etc.). They will grow longer and more complex over time.
Which words do I need to learn?
A list of high-frequency vocabulary or a handy base vocabulary list for any language is a good place to start in any language.
In English, for example, 3000 words account for approximately 95 percent of everyday conversation—you’ll want to make sure you recognize words like “the,” “is,” and “goes” before you worry about learning the names of plants and animals or current slang.
There are a few categories of words in any language that will come in handy before others. Personal pronouns (I, she, you’re) and basic verbs, which typically include words like “to be,” “to have,” “to go,” and “to do,” will be some of your first linguistic building blocks.
Once you learn six personal pronouns and these four verbs, you’ll already have a plethora of useful words in your linguistic arsenal!
The purpose of learning languages is communication
Learning a language may be done for a variety of reasons, including those related to employment, school, hobbies, or loved ones. All of these objectives have one thing in common, though: they require communication.
Oral communication is more common than written communication. Simple statements can scarcely be understood by arranging words alone, but effective communication requires an understanding of grammatical rules and word usage.
You don’t need all those words If you don’t know enough words, you might say that you can’t merely communicate. However, how many words are necessary to speak German? Although not as many as you may expect, you do need some words.
For survival, a few hundred words are already sufficient, and with 2,000 words, you can essentially express anything (not in the most correct or natural way, of course). Words are always sufficient if your communication goals are realistic.
To introduce yourself and request your counterpart to do the same, for instance, you simply need a few words if you’re a complete beginner. I will go into detail on how many words and how long it takes to learn German on a different topic.
You don’t need all those words
If you don’t know enough words, you might say that you can’t merely communicate. However, how many words are necessary to speak German?
Although not as many as you may expect, you do need some words. For survival, a few hundred words are already sufficient, and with 2,000 words, you can essentially express anything (not in the most correct or natural way, of course).
Words are always sufficient if your communication goals are realistic. To introduce yourself and request your counterpart to do the same, for instance, you simply need a few words if you’re a complete beginner.
I will go into detail on how many words and how long it takes to learn German on a different topic. Many learning styles vs one method
The era of customization is here. We anticipate that the goods and services we use will be uniquely crafted for us and will complement our lifestyle and character. Advertising makes us feel good by recognizing our uniqueness.
This results in awful apps that are tailored to your “learning style” in the language learning sector. Do you believe that learning with a lot of words is better? Here is a wordlist and flashcard app!
Do you believe that visual learning is more effective? Here is a picture-filled app! Do you believe that being watched by an avatar will help you study more?
How to introduce new words
You ought to be persuaded by this point that context is necessary for word learning. What makes context, though?
If possible, you should be interacting and having fun with your German friends there.
However, context can be created with just a single sentence and has the following benefits: You see/hear how words are used and pronounced You can repeat the words and patterns in many small bits (sentences).
