how many words does one need to get started in a language
yored milim
it's raining words
so, how many words do we need?
of course this is a lot more complicated than it sounds and the internet abounds with discussions about how complicated it is.
Some will say that the question is stupid because the determining factor is the quality of the vocabualary and not the quantity and that of course the ability of the speakers to do something clever with the vocabulary they have at their disposition is the crucial factor.
but I don't think the question is stupid at all. Because we all need a milestone to work towards.
my reason for being so interested in this question is: I 've been watching srugim (see last post) and I understand a lot of isolated words but I cannot as yet make sense of what happens without the subtitles and I know about 800-900 words by now, which is is clearly not enough to be able to watch TV.
OK, so let's assume we have ideal speakers/learners who know how to suss out all the potential possibilities there are in the words they know and who are fearless and openminded and ready to just talk and accept that they will make quite a few mistakes
even they would need a minimum of vocabulary (and grammar I am sorry to say) to have a conversation or to watch TV or read a simple newspaper.
and here comes a very interesting estimate:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16959&PN=1
250 words constitute the essential core of a language, those without which you cannot construct any sentence.
750 words constitute those that are used every single day by every person who speaks the language.
2500 words constitute those that should enable you to express everything you could possibly want to say, albeit often by awkward circumlocutions.
5000 words constitute the active vocabulary of native speakers without higher education.
10,000 words constitute the active vocabulary of native speakers with higher education.
20,000 words constitute what you need to recognize passively in order to read, understand, and enjoy a work of literature such as a novel by a notable author.
750 words constitute those that are used every single day by every person who speaks the language.
2500 words constitute those that should enable you to express everything you could possibly want to say, albeit often by awkward circumlocutions.
5000 words constitute the active vocabulary of native speakers without higher education.
10,000 words constitute the active vocabulary of native speakers with higher education.
20,000 words constitute what you need to recognize passively in order to read, understand, and enjoy a work of literature such as a novel by a notable author.
or in %
the 75 most common words make up 40% of occurences
the 200 most common words make up 50% of occurences
the 524 most common words make up 60% of occurences
the 1257 most common words make up 70% of occurences
the 2925 most common words make up 80% of occurences
the 7444 most common words make up 90% of occurences
the 13374 most common words make up 95% of occurences
the 25508 most common words make up 99% of occurences
the 200 most common words make up 50% of occurences
the 524 most common words make up 60% of occurences
the 1257 most common words make up 70% of occurences
the 2925 most common words make up 80% of occurences
the 7444 most common words make up 90% of occurences
the 13374 most common words make up 95% of occurences
the 25508 most common words make up 99% of occurences
According to this estimate one would need about 2500-3000 words to become reasonably fluent.
And this is probably also the treshold that would allow a change in language learning in general and vaocabulary learning in particular:
from this point on it should be possible to learn through understanding and guessing from context and the ability to discuss unknown words and structures with native speakers, which
leads to a completely new level of language assimilation.
So, now I only have to learn 2000 more words...
only... 
