I recently read an interesting article that states that for each level of the European Language Framework, you should know approximately this many core words.
Note that a core word can have many words related, but only counts as one word. So in English ‘to sit’, ‘sat’ and ‘sitting’ would all be one core word (verb):
Language Level: Number of Base Words Needed:
- A1: 500
- A2: 1000
- B1: 2000
- B2: 4000
- C1: 8000
- C2: 16000
Basically start with 500 words at A1 and then double the amount for each level.
What are the official criteria for this? I’m hoping to hear from people at C levels to get an accurate, albeit anecdotal, answer.
Personal experience says yes (give or take 10/20%), I am at B1 with about 1,600 core words known. I do however, hope that I don’t need to learn another 14,000 words plus to get to C2 :)
