Learning the German language is of interest to many people, including travel enthusiasts and some of them who really want to master the Turkish language, and some of them travel to Germany for work or for any other reason, and in this article we will help you learn the basic and everyday phrases and words you need in the German language to help you get started with the professional language.
The number of German words in the „German Dictionary“ between the years (1852 to 1971) of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm is about 450,000 headwords. However, many of them are no longer used.
Also published in August 2020 final work „Duden – Die deutsche Orthschreibung“, which contains an expanded edition. With 3000 new words of German usage and a total of 148000 headwords of German word count, the new spelling dictionary is the most comprehensive ever.
German word count
Today there are over 5 million words in the German language. While the number of words for the Arabic language is 12302912, given the constant borrowing and the love of the Germans to create new lexical units by simple addition, it is not surprising that the German dictionary is constantly updated. But ordinary people, even educated people, use no more than 12-15 thousand words in everyday life. Read also: The 5 best German-English dictionaries without the Internet.
Is the German language difficult?
Experts say that it is enough to learn five hundred words to express yourself quite freely in ordinary everyday situations. The words that you need to know in this case are the most common.
Before starting to learn a language, it is natural and logical to decide what this language needs. Will you communicate in everyday life? Study in an educational institution? the work? In what course do you want to work or study? The answers to these questions will tell you in which direction you should go to learn the words you need to know.
What is the longest German word?
The longest German word is:
Beef Labeling Monitoring Task Transfer Act
What are the most difficult words in the German language?
The most difficult words in the German language are:
Matchbox;
compound words notorious;
Schleswig-Holstein;
Squirrel;
Bread;
Five hundred and fifty-five;
Ruhr area;
Rubber duck;
Skate.
Oral vocabulary when learning German
Conversation is one of the most difficult skills when learning a foreign language. When reading, we have the opportunity to think about the information for a longer time, and when speaking, we need to react quickly enough: learn a word by ear, try to remember what it means and repeat it over and over again. For example, learn the main conversational words of the German language and the frequency of their pronunciation.
It often happens that the word is audible and familiar and circles in my head, but it is not remembered in any way. The point is that this word is in your negative mind inventory.
Everyone knows a certain number of words, but some use them aggressively and actively, and the rest just “know” them. In addition, there are usually many more words in “Passive” than in “Origin”.
But what is the point of learning the endless hundreds of words that will be in your negative vocabulary? A lot of effort will be spent, and the effect will tend to zero.
To get the words out of the negative inventory, you can use some tricks:
Pronounce words out loud when memorizing, and then immediately make small sentences out of them;
Read books in German out loud and use all the new words you come across in your speech;
Speak German with other people;
Memorize songs and poems in German;
Watch TV shows and films, preferably with a simple plot and a lot of everyday dialogues, like sitcoms;
Try to keep the German language constantly in the background, that’s why radio and TV programs are played in German;
Integration for language learning
Try to integrate into the linguistic environment at the slightest opportunity (this can be done, for example, by studying at a German language school, where you will communicate a lot in German both in a group and after class with native speakers in everyday situations).
Information about the German language
When choosing the words to learn, remember that some lexical units are frequently used, while others are less used and common. By choosing the right words, you can understand most of what you hear even without an extensive vocabulary:
200 German words are enough to cover 80% of communication;
300 words provide an understanding of 85% of the meaning;
400 words are enough for the goal of making a connection 90% of the time.
Reading vocabulary
One of the best ways to improve your vocabulary is to read.
To learn new words more effectively, memorize not only words but also passages of text in German and use inductive learning.
What is the point of this?
As soon as you have a minimum vocabulary, start reading texts in German and do not rush to look in the dictionary for words whose meaning you do not know if there are no more than one or more words in the sentence. Try to guess the meaning of the unknown word based on the context of the sentence, and then check it with a dictionary. How much we advise you to watch films with German subtitles and also try to guess the meaning of unknown words. To significantly increase the speed and efficiency of memorizing words in this way.
80 correctly selected words will allow you to understand 50% of the uncomplicated text;
200 of these words are enough to understand 60% of what you read;
300 words are enough to understand 65% of the text;
400 words will translate 70% of what you read;
If you know 800 words, you will understand 80% of the text;
1500-2000 words are required to understand 90% of the text;
8000 words count German is the standard home vocabulary for native speakers, you will understand pretty much everything.
When you start reading a new text, you may already know the unfamiliar words used in it. Having learned at least some of them, you will easily be able to read and translate the text.
Vocabulary size
There is a certain gradation that allows you to understand what stage of vocabulary learning you are at:
400 words means that you have the basic level;
800 words are enough to explain yourself in a simple conversation or reading;
Up to 2000 words are enough for everyday communication;
With 3,000-4,000 words, you can freely read almost any literature, except specialized literature.
8000 words provide a meaningful connection.
Analysis of the number of words in the German language
With a few dozen commonly used words, you can understand the difficult and large part of what you read, German words to memorize.