2025-08-29
7 分钟When can we say that we know a word?
As you know, when I started LingQ,
I was convinced and I'm still convinced that the best indication of your potential in a language is the number of words you know.
However,
there are languages that I have learned at LingQ which show that I have this enormous vocabulary,
40,000, 50,000, 80,000 words.
And yet I know right now I would not be able to produce those words.
I may even have trouble understanding those words if I see them in a given context.
Should I go back in and adjust my statistics to reflect where I am today?
I don't think so.
Obviously, when we say we know a word.
It can mean that we are able to use it.
It can mean that we only understand the word in a specific context.
It may mean that we have a limited sense of the scope of that word and how to use it and what word it's used with,
or we have a more complete sense of the scope of that word.
Where I have tutored people in English,
I've often sensed that people have more trouble with sort of which words are used with which words.
In other words, that... better sense of the scope of the word as opposed to grammar, for example.
So understanding and broadening our scope of understanding of a word is extremely important.
And the total number of words, which usually reflects that we've read a lot and listened a lot,