How many words does the average person know Russian. A rich vocabulary is an indicator of human intellectual development
No doubt rich vocabulary is an indicator of high intellectual development of a person. If you have a beautiful speech, then in modern world you will be perceived as a person with a good education and culture, creative person. People who own an extensive vocabulary, in society, as a rule, cause more respect than those who cannot “link a couple of words”. Even if you are already out childhood, this does not mean at all that you cannot afford to enrich your speech - this is possible at any age. Read books that develop speech You probably know that reading books is beneficial for many reasons. This process can help improve memory, diction, and, of course, can positively affect the quality of your vocabulary. Start with those writers whose work is close and understandable to you. Over time, move on to more complex pieces. Pay attention to text containing interesting expressions that you would like to remember and use later. Reread these expressions by ear - so you better remember them. The most interesting of them can be written in a separate notebook. Expand your vocabulary with smart people If you want to replenish your vocabulary with interesting participle turns or just smart words, then, of course, you should not neglect communication with intellectuals. If you notice that the speech of the people who surround you is very poor, then, of course, you should understand that you will not gain the necessary skills from communicating with them. Moreover, you yourself can lose the acquired vocabulary. Do not be afraid to seem stupid by starting to communicate with people who know a lot interesting information- is one of the most effective ways increase your intellectual level, and it was unwise not to take advantage of it. Improve your speech and vocabulary by learning new words When you hear or notice a new word while reading, in no case try to “skip” it - look up the definition in the dictionary. In addition, it is important to note for yourself in which turn of speech this word is used. After that, try to mentally replace it with a suitable synonym. Subsequently, having fully understood the meaning of a previously unfamiliar word, you will be able to replenish your vocabulary with it. To make it easier to remember, try to visualize it in your mind by adding images related to this word. Let the picture in your imagination be as saturated as possible. What literature to read for the development of literate speech For our time, the reference can be called the speech of the middle of the twentieth century - it is as close as possible to modern, but has not yet absorbed various jargon and barbarisms that appeared later. Therefore, it is desirable to give preference to literature predominantly of this period. The books of Russian and English classics will be most effective. It is also worth noting that there are special books that help in the development of speech. Let's name some of them. First of all, pay attention to the "Mastery of the on-air performance" by B. D., Gaymakova. First of all, the book will be of interest to people who plan to work on television and radio. However, this work will be useful to everyone else. Includes three parts that tell about the rules public speaking, technique and culture of speech. We advise you not to ignore the book by N. Gal "The Word Living and Dead". The author is a well-known translator, but her work will be of interest not only to her colleagues. The work will help you find your own style, avoiding the "dead" language.
“William Shakespeare's dictionary is estimated by researchers to be 12,000 words. The dictionary of a negro from the cannibalistic tribe "Mumbo-Yumbo" is 300 words. Ellochka Schukina easily and freely managed thirty, ”this quote from Ilf and Petrov’s“ Twelve Chairs ”is familiar to everyone. The satirists, and with them the readers, laughed a lot at the narrow-minded and undeveloped, but overly self-confident and arrogant Ellochka, all of whose interests, thoughts and emotions easily fit into thirty words. Meanwhile, starting to write texts, many, without noticing it, turn into the cannibal Ellochka. Whatever they want to write about, the same “Ho-ho!” comes out from under the pen. and “Hamite, boy!”. In this lesson, we will talk about how to get rid of the problem of the cannibal Ellochka, expand your vocabulary. And in the next lesson we will learn how to learn how to use it correctly.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary (dictionary, lexicon) is a set of words that a person understands and uses in his speech.
Vocabulary is usually divided into two types: active and passive.
Active vocabulary are the words that a person regularly uses in oral speech and letter.
Passive vocabulary - this set of words that a person knows and understands by ear or when reading, but does not use them himself. You can check your passive vocabulary on this site.
Usually the volume of the passive vocabulary exceeds the volume of the active vocabulary several times. At the same time, the volumes of active and passive vocabulary are moving quantities: a person constantly learns new words and at the same time forgets or stops using words that he has already learned.
What should be the volume of active and passive vocabulary? Surprisingly, this question turned out to be quite difficult to answer. The volume of the dictionary V.I. Dahl has two hundred thousand words, the academic dictionary of the modern Russian literary language - about one hundred and thirty thousand, the latest edition of Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary - seventy thousand words. Obviously, such meanings exceed the vocabulary of even the most erudite person. Unfortunately, there is no accurate scientific data on what the average adult's active and passive vocabulary is. educated person, No. Active vocabulary estimates range from five thousand to thirty-five thousand words. As for the passive vocabulary, the spread is from twenty thousand to one hundred thousand words. Most likely, the truth, as always, lies somewhere in the middle. It is reasonable to assume that the active vocabulary of an adult reaches about fifteen thousand words (as you know, the active vocabulary of such a master of the word as Pushkin was about twenty thousand words), and the passive vocabulary - forty to fifty thousand words (it is difficult to imagine ordinary person who would know all the meanings of words from Ozhegov's dictionary).
There is a simple way to help you roughly estimate the amount of passive vocabulary. Take an explanatory dictionary, for example, the same Ozhegov dictionary, open it on an arbitrary page, count how many of the defined words you know. Be honest with yourself: if a word seems familiar to you, but you don’t know exactly what it means, then you don’t need to count this word. Then multiply this figure by the number of pages. Of course, keep in mind that this result is approximate: you must assume that all pages contain the same number of articles from which you know the same number of words. For the purity of the experiment, you can repeat these steps several times. However, you still won't get the exact result.
If you are too lazy to mess with the dictionary and calculations on your own, you can use our test.
Ways to expand vocabulary
When writing texts, it is very important that the words used are as varied as possible. This, firstly, allows you to express your thoughts most accurately, and secondly, it makes the perception of the text easier for the reader. There are several rules to help expand your vocabulary. They were developed primarily for people learning foreign languages, but can also be used effectively for their native language.
Passive vocabulary
Read as much as possible. Reading is one of the main sources of income new information and, accordingly, new words. At the same time, try to choose literature as much as possible. high level- no matter if it's fiction, historical literature or journalism. The higher the level of the authors, the greater the chance that they use a variety of vocabulary, and most importantly, they use words correctly. So you will memorize not only new words, but also right ways their use.
Don't be afraid to appear ignorant. Many people feel extremely uncomfortable when their interlocutor seems to be very educated, well-read and uses a lot of unfamiliar words. In such a situation, many are afraid of being branded as ignorant, and therefore embarrassed to ask about the meaning of a particular new word. Never act like this. It's always better to ask about a word you don't know than to remain in the dark for the rest of your life. Don't think you'll look up this word in the dictionary when you get home. You will simply forget it. If your interlocutor is really smart, your question will never seem funny to him.
Use a dictionary. It is useful to have a set of academic dictionaries and encyclopedias at home that you can refer to when needed. Naturally, good dictionaries are not cheap, they are often published in small print runs and take up a lot of shelf space. Fortunately, with the development of the Internet, the problem of access to dictionaries has been solved. Now you can find dictionaries and encyclopedias on almost any subject. Portals are quite easy to use: slovari.yandex.ru and www.gramota.ru.
Active vocabulary
The above tips help to expand, above all, the passive vocabulary. However, the main theme of our lessons is effective writing of texts. Therefore, the goal is not only to learn new words, but also to learn how to actively use them in writing. Here are some exercises aimed at translating a word from a passive vocabulary into an active one:
note method. You need to take cards, leaflets or colored stickers. On one side you write the word you want to remember, on the other - its meaning, synonyms, examples of use. Such cards can be sorted out at home, in transport, at work. Fast, convenient and efficient!
Notebook of synonyms. You can take a simple notebook or create an electronic document where you will write down words and rows of synonyms for them. For example, take the word result. A number of synonyms for it: consequence, consequence, trace, fruit, sum, total, conclusion, conclusion. It must be remembered that not only synonymous words can be attached here, but also entire constructions: in this way, so, from this we can conclude that we have come to the conclusion that, etc. Also, in such a notebook, you can make notes about the nature of a particular word: obsolete, high, vernacular, pejorative. If you are using electronic document, then words on the same topic can be combined into separate blocks. In addition, such a notebook can also be supplemented with antonyms.
Thematic cards. They are convenient to use if you want to memorize and translate several words related to a common theme into your active dictionary at once. Write them down on one card and stick them in a prominent place. As a result, if you remember at least one word from the card, the rest will inevitably come to your mind.
association method. Try to accompany the memorization of words with associations: figurative, color, olfactory, tactile, gustatory, motor. The presence of such an association will help to remember the right word much faster. Moreover, you can rhyme an important word for you in some short rhyme or insert it into a stupid and meaningless, but memorable statement.
Presentations and compositions. We are used to the fact that presentations and essays are school exercises, and after finishing school, you can never return to them. Meanwhile, they help to significantly improve your writing skills and expand your active vocabulary. The presentations are suitable for the situation when you read a text in which you came across a lot of unfamiliar but useful words. Make a short written summary of this text using these keywords and they will remain in your memory. As for essays, there is no need to write long treatises, a short five-sentence story in which you insert new words is enough.
Memory calendar. This is a repetition graph of the words you want to translate into the active dictionary. It is based on research into how human memory works. Scientists have long found out that after a week a person forgets eighty percent of all new information received. However, this percentage can be significantly reduced by repeating the material at regular intervals. Then it goes into long-term active memory. For this, the so-called rational repetition mode was developed. For convenience, here is a table:
- First repetition. Immediately after reading
- Second repetition. After half an hour
- Third repetition. In one day
- Fourth repetition. After two days
- Fifth repetition. After three days
- Sixth repetition. A week later
- Seventh repetition. In two weeks
- Eighth repetition. In a month
- Ninth repetition. After two months
To achieve the maximum effect, it is advisable not to deviate from the schedule. It is also best not to try to remember a large array of words at the same time. It's better to break the words into small ones. thematic groups and for each group to create their own calendar of repetitions.
Crosswords, language games and puzzles. A great way to combine business with pleasure: practice the learned words and play! Here are some of the most common language games: scrabble (in the Russian version - erudite, bulldozer), anagrams, antiphrases, burime, metagrams, hat, contact.
Test your knowledge
If you want to test your knowledge on the topic of this lesson, you can take a short test consisting of several questions. Only 1 option can be correct for each question. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question. The points you receive are affected by the correctness of your answers and the time spent on passing. Please note that the questions are different each time, and the options are shuffled.
which the person owns.
Classification [ | ]
There are two types of vocabulary: active and passive.
Active Vocabulary includes the words that a person uses in speaking and writing.
Passive Vocabulary includes words that a person recognizes when reading or listening, but does not use them himself in speaking and writing. The passive vocabulary is usually several times larger than the active one.
human vocabulary[ | ]
Russian language [ | ]
In Russian literary language about 500 thousand roots, and dozens of words derived from them. "Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language" by V. I. Dahl has about 200 thousand words. The most common words, according to "" under the editorship, are about 30 thousand words, and a little more than 6 thousand words have the highest frequency, covering more than 90% of the texts processed when compiling this dictionary.
However, the "alphabetic-frequency index to Lenin's PSS" has a controversial [ ] calculation method, as well as the vocabulary of the language of A. S. Pushkin. For example, in the PSS of V. I. Lenin: anarchist, anarchist, anarchist, minister-clown, absolutely necessary, parliamentary-impeccable, communist parliamentarian, socialist parliamentarian, etc. are taken into account in the calculation. The same "method" is used by Pushkin's Dictionary of Language. For example, "leaf", "leaf", "leaf", "leaf"; "king" and "king-cannon" are counted as separate words.
English language [ | ]
According to dictionaries Webster (Third International Dictionary) and Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition, 1993), English has 470 thousand words.
But some researchers argue that when counting English words all neologisms must be taken into account, including words from Internet blogs and other unofficial resources, as well as words used only in varieties of English, for example, in China and Japan.
is not a myth. At the time when I was at school, I did not know why we need such subjects as Russian literature. I was not interested classic books Pushnikin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and other Russian classics. To the same extent, such subjects as philosophy, rhetoric, Tatar language(I live in Tatarstan). And only when you become an adult do you understand that such things as a rich vocabulary are very important for achieving success in life and play, if not the role of the main factor in victories, but this is another contribution of your parents to your future competitiveness. When we become adults, we are ready to pay big money for learning what we were taught in school for free.
Vocabulary Shakespeare according to philologists, it was 12 thousand words. To communicate more or less freely English language, you need to know and understand about 1000 words in the lexicon and know some set expressions and constructions. But this vocabulary will obviously not be enough to speak fluently and have a rich speech.
You need to improve your vocabulary
To express your thoughts well, you need to have a serious vocabulary. Many experts agree on this. It often happens that successful man he shows himself well in business, but at a business meeting he cannot connect a few words. How to improve vocabulary? There is different ways. Many advise you to read more diverse literature and thereby you indirectly increase your vocabulary and literacy and the quality of your oral speech.
By the way , know a lot interesting words and talk nicely- it's not the same thing. Your vocabulary should be supplemented by a broad outlook and knowledge, beautiful speech, expressiveness. Here it is worth paying attention to such a thing as rhetoric. They are taught to speak beautifully. Try to listen to other people, and also try to speak in public yourself. Your speech quality will improve very quickly.
Having a rich vocabulary you will become a stronger negotiator. This is a real business skill that exploits philology for capitalist purposes. You will really easier when you finally learn how to link together at least a few words, and not talk in abrupt sentences.
Ways to improve vocabulary
3. Read specialized and fiction as well as non-fiction books. It doesn't hurt to study something from the non-fiction series
Sidebar: non fiction - nonfiction- this is a special genre of non-fiction, where the presentation is based on real events. Documentary prose. Quantity fiction in this genre is small and only needed to give more brightness to the presentation. The style of presentation is journalistic. The story is told from the words of eyewitnesses, on the basis of real documents. The subjective view of the author can also be traced in documentary prose, which may not coincide with the generally accepted point of view.
4. Watch cultural St. Petersburg authors on Youtube. In general, the fact that in such cities as St. Petersburg, human capital is more developed, and therefore speech, is true. I watch Konstantin Zarutsky, a famous auto video blogger, and it turns out that familiar words can be used in very interesting formats. Recommend.
5. Each new word - type in google and see, what does it mean. This will help in the development of vocabulary. For example, I have just learned what non-fiction is and have become the owner of a slightly richer speech.
6. They say vocabulary can be upgraded by writing articles or by listening audiobooks. Useful for those who have a long commute to work. Player in your ears. I think that to enter a graduate school, start writing a dissertation, or at least study for several years in good university- Great for expanding vocabulary.
7. Study of foreign languages also greatly expands your ability to speak beautifully, for example, using borrowing.
8. Use in speech new phrases, words and sayings. It is good to study poetry.
In the dry matter rich vocabulary is of great importance for a person and his success. This is an indicator of the intellectual and social level of your personality and your professionalism.
A person may well serve as a very objective indicator of his intellectual development, high level of culture and good education. Society, as a rule, perceives such a person as intelligent and creative. It is initially easier for such a member of society to find a good and more promising job, he moves up the career ladder faster and more successfully and has a reputation as a person whose advice and recommendations should be listened to more often and more carefully.
What does the term human vocabulary mean?
Simply put, it is a set of words that a particular person owns. According to modern scientists, the human vocabulary is of two types: active and passive. The first consists of words that are used both in writing and in oral speech. Passive, in turn, is the set of words that is recognized and understood, but not used by a person. As a rule, the latter is several times greater than the former.
What is the vocabulary of the Russian language?
According to recent statistics, our language has almost 500,000 words, but in everyday speech only 3000 are used. An ordinary student operates with 5000 words, and the vocabulary of an adult is 8000.
In other languages, the situation is almost the same.
Is it possible to increase the used set of words?
Very often in everyday conversations one has to hear about the tongue-tied tongue of one or another mutual acquaintance. You can often find the opinion that the gift of oratory is given to us at birth and subsequently the human vocabulary (as a predisposition, for example, to some bad habits or diseases) cannot be corrected. This is nothing more than a delusion! Can! You can add, correct and improve! And to do this is not so difficult, the main thing is to set a goal.
How to improve a person's vocabulary. List of simple tips
- Make a list of words that you will definitely use every day. Let this list be as long as possible. Ready? Now, using explanatory dictionary or a dictionary of synonyms, next to each word, write several of its alternative options. For example, "interesting" - remarkable, entertaining, curious, noteworthy, noteworthy. Try to remember them and use each of the options listed at least once during the day. Only in this way can they be deposited in our memory.
- Read as much as possible. Start with the books of those authors who are close and pleasant to you. And only gradually it will be possible to move on to more serious literature. If an unfamiliar word is found in the work, it is recommended that you look up its meaning in the dictionary, and if you want to remember it, read it out loud and mentally repeat it several times. Why exactly? - Modern scientists have proved that in human memory it is better to store what has been uttered at least once.
- Write. If you have no one to write long, warm and filled positive emotions letters, use the example of Demosthenes: rewrite other people's articles, favorite works of art, write out in a special notebook poems or great sayings that stirred something in the soul.
- Crossword puzzles are also quite useful for developing vocabulary. But in this case, I would like to warn you - the publications that print them must be known and verified.
- If you have to most spend your time on the road or driving, and for the above, well, there is simply sorely not enough free time, you can resort to the help of audiobooks, the choice of which is now quite large, and the quality is quite decent.
In these proven ways, you can gradually increase your vocabulary: English, Chinese, French and any other. But we should not forget that without making an effort, you are unlikely to be able to make your speech more melodic, informative and expressive.