How to evaluate your vocabulary size?

[anna3101]

I wonder if any one you know a (more or less) plausible test to roughly evaluate how many words you know in a given language?

Have you ever tried such tests for English or other languages? If you know any sites or books that you can recommend, I'd be very grateful.

I'd love to know a (very) approximate amount of words I know in several languages but I don't know which source can be reliable in this respect.

Thanks in advance!

[宇崎ちゃん]

It's not possible to even get a very rough estimate on your vocabulary size.
In every language (even my native ones!) I keep discovering new words each day and besides that, not even one resource got every single word for any language.

If you really want to test it, you could find news articles in the language you want to test and keep reading until you find a word you have likely never heard about.
My rule of thumb is, once you can understand nearly everything (like 8 out of 10 articles or more/less, depending on the difficulty of the articles), you're good to go.
But don't go with anything too easy, because you could only trick yourself.
And don't go with anything too hard, because most native speakers don't understand super advanced stuff any way.

[Wanda Kaishin]

  On 1/13/2016 at 4:47 PM, Blaveloper said:

It's not possible to even get a very rough estimate on your vocabulary size.

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It is quite possible, and there are many free tests online that will help you do it. I don't really understand why you posted the rest of what you wrote here, because it doesn't pertain to estimating vocabulary size.

  On 1/13/2016 at 3:54 PM, anna3101 said:

I wonder if any one you know a (more or less) plausible test to roughly evaluate how many words you know in a given language?

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This is a good question, and one I can't answer. The tests are generally free and quick, so maybe take 2 or 3 and use the average? Sorry I can't be more help, but I'm interested in hearing recommendations from you if you do this.

[czarina84]

  On 1/13/2016 at 4:47 PM, Blaveloper said:

It's not possible to even get a very rough estimate on your vocabulary size.
In every language (even my native ones!) I keep discovering new words each day and besides that, not even one resource got every single word for any language.

If you really want to test it, you could find news articles in the language you want to test and keep reading until you find a word you have likely never heard about.
My rule of thumb is, once you can understand nearly everything (like 8 out of 10 articles or more/less, depending on the difficulty of the articles), you're good to go.
But don't go with anything too easy, because you could only trick yourself.
And don't go with anything too hard, because most native speakers don't understand super advanced stuff any way.

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I completely agree.  I am a native speaker of English and I'm either teaching other native speakers new words or learning them myself. 

[anna3101]

Ok, so I tried three tests, and here's what they say.

1. http://my.vocabularysize.com

This one is adapted to one's native language (by the way, I found numerous mistakes when it comes to Russian translation of the site, and it makes me wonder...)

You are given a bunch of English words, and you must choose 1 correct Russian translation out of 4 definitions.

This is a serious drawback when it comes to evaluating if you really know the words or not: some I wouldn't know how to use but I have heard them somewhere (or I know them from other languages), so it's easy to choose the correct definition.

I got "You know at least 20 200 word families" as a result, which is a bit too high. Besides, I most definitely do not think that this is "better than 50% of the native speakers taking this test".

2. http://testyourvocab.com

Here you have a list of words where you just tick those that you really know. Probably this is more accurate, and I got my vocabulary size estimated to be about 17 400 words. Definitely more plausible. I also like the statistics you get after the test, and according to this site, native speakers have about 20 000 - 35 000 words in their vocabulary. Yes, I definitely like this site better!

3. http://vocabulary.ugent.be

This test shows you a range of real and fake English words, you must mark those that you know for sure to be real. I've first seen this testing method in Dialang (my favourite language testing software), and generally it works quite well.

It says I know "69% of English words". I've heard English has more than a million words in it, so I'm guessing they mean I know about 69% of the most commonly used? So what, around 30 000? However much I'd like to believe that, I don't think it's true - or will ever be true in the course of this lifetime. Maybe in my next life, when I'm born as an English native speaker, I'll be able to use that many words... but certainly not now.

All in all, I think site nr 2 - testyourvocab - gives the best results in terms of their truthfulness.

Let me know if you find any other places on the web where people can test their vocabulary size. It was fun I'd like to try more tests!

[Trellum]

I tried the number 2      It sounds like I got to read even more books, because I only scored 16,600 words   Thanks for sharing, I liked that test the most, it sounds like a really feasible test, specially if compared to others I have tried.  I hope I can get out of this laziness rut soon, so I can start learning more words in English and learn more dutch >_<

[lushlala]

  On 1/18/2016 at 2:10 PM, anna3101 said:

Ok, so I tried three tests, and here's what they say.

1. http://my.vocabularysize.com

This one is adapted to one's native language (by the way, I found numerous mistakes when it comes to Russian translation of the site, and it makes me wonder...)

You are given a bunch of English words, and you must choose 1 correct Russian translation out of 4 definitions.

This is a serious drawback when it comes to evaluating if you really know the words or not: some I wouldn't know how to use but I have heard them somewhere (or I know them from other languages), so it's easy to choose the correct definition.

I got "You know at least 20 200 word families" as a result, which is a bit too high. Besides, I most definitely do not think that this is "better than 50% of the native speakers taking this test".

2. http://testyourvocab.com

Here you have a list of words where you just tick those that you really know. Probably this is more accurate, and I got my vocabulary size estimated to be about 17 400 words. Definitely more plausible. I also like the statistics you get after the test, and according to this site, native speakers have about 20 000 - 35 000 words in their vocabulary. Yes, I definitely like this site better!

3. http://vocabulary.ugent.be

This test shows you a range of real and fake English words, you must mark those that you know for sure to be real. I've first seen this testing method in Dialang (my favourite language testing software), and generally it works quite well.

It says I know "69% of English words". I've heard English has more than a million words in it, so I'm guessing they mean I know about 69% of the most commonly used? So what, around 30 000? However much I'd like to believe that, I don't think it's true - or will ever be true in the course of this lifetime. Maybe in my next life, when I'm born as an English native speaker, I'll be able to use that many words... but certainly not now.

All in all, I think site nr 2 - testyourvocab - gives the best results in terms of their truthfulness.

Let me know if you find any other places on the web where people can test their vocabulary size. It was fun I'd like to try more tests!

Expand  

Wow, thanks for posting this, @anna3101 I'm not even going to lie, I never knew there were tests of this nature. I find it very interesting and will be sure to take one of them. I think I'll probably go with test 2 since it's the one that seems to me to have the best logic. That third one sounds to me like it's trying to trip you up LOL I'm quite busy with work right now, but as soon as I have a little window, I'll be sure to take it.

[anna3101]

For those who are learning Russian, here's a test to estimate your Russian vocabulary size. Short and sweet, I enjoyed it:

http://www.myvocab.info/

[Benoit W]

Thеrе's nо shоrtсut / timе-еffiсiеnt wаy tо lеаrn nеw wоrds. 

In my еxpеriеnсе, thеsе thrее stеps hеlp imprоvе yоur vосаbulаry: 

1.       Rеаd, rеаd, аnd rеаd sоmе mоrе...

2.      Writе, blоg, аnd twееt

3.      Rеpеаt dаily

Rеаding: I'm соnstаntly аmаzеd аt timеs whеn I pull thе right wоrd tо еxprеss а situаtiоn whiсh mаy hаvе bееn lоdgеd in my mind, bесаusе I rеаd it in multiplе соntеxts whilе rеаding а bооk оr аn аrtiсlе. 

[Lingua Franca]

I think if you look at a movie and you are able to keep up with it and not have to always look down at the subtitles, it could be a good indicator that you have a decent amount of vocabulary. Besides this I don't know of a lot of tools out there that could really measure the extent of your vocabulary. 

[sillylucy]

The last time I evaluated my vocabulary size was when I was in high school and I was told that I was reading at a grad student level. Other than that I never felt the need to figure out what reading level I was at. I find it very pointless to keep learning new words when most people don't even understand what I am trying to convey at times. I always have to stop and define the words that I am saying and it is very frustrating. 

[lingualbabe]

Hi! Here's a few more that I found online:

• http://www.insightin.com/test/test.phtml
• http://www.majortests.com/word-focus/vocabulary-tests.php
• http://www.learningspanish-spain.com/spanish-vocabulary-test.aspx 
• http://www.practicerussian.com/Tests/TestWords.aspx
• http://www.teeveetee.com
• http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/classical-studies/greek-vocab.shtml
• http://www.javacamp.org/misc/VocTester.html
• http://learnersdictionary.com/quiz/vocabulary-start
• http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r21270/levels/

I hope this helps! Some of them are in other languages like Greek and Russian though.

[djordje87]

First of all you need to be realistic and honest about it. I have several people that I know who claim that their English is perfect. Remember, we are talking about a person who's native tongue is Serbian like mine. I have a decent vocabulary and I am an English teacher ... Almost. I have some few more exams to take. He, on the other hand is not even close to be a teacher of anything but he claims that he is very fluent and I assure you he is not. His vocabulary is not vast and it is only good for the job he does. It is limited. He is not being honest and it is not letting him learn and develop his vocabulary.

If you want to check yourself go outside of your speciality. Something that has nothing to do with something you like or your job.

[darkchild]

I only did this once for my son who delays in making English sentences and more comfortable with baby sentences. I learnt a child needs a speech therapist if he cannot say up to fifty words. I realized my son can say over a hundred words and a dozen sentences which means he must be taking his time to speak English sentences all day.

The same applies to learning a language, identify fifty words you know and keep challenging yourself to learn more. Then let it grow and apply the same to sentences.

[Teira Eri]

I believe the best way to self-evaluate your vocabulary is to pick up a book in your chosen language and attempt to read it.  You will soon be able to ascertain your level of vocabulary.  Also listening to the radio or watching the news helps you gauge your level of comprehension.  Another method worth looking into may be Skyping with someone of your target language to see if you can truly carry conversation.  They will probably say you're great, but you will internally know how much you understand.

The other way is to take comprehension tests like the TOEIC or JLPT.  Depending on the language you want to test, ability tests may or may not be available. 

[宇崎ちゃん]

  On 4/15/2016 at 8:47 AM, Teira Eri said:

Another method worth looking into may be Skyping with someone of your target language to see if you can truly carry conversation.

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I did that recently with my Japanese teacher, a full hour exclusively in Japanese.
Even when I didn't understand a word (and I believe it was just 2 of them), explanation had to be given in Japanese or through Google images.

Funny was that we both almost used an English word, although he did it more often than I did.
But sometimes it felt like loan words in Katakana were forbidden too (unless there is no native Japanese word for it).

But in the end we were both quite surprised by how well the whole conversation went and were both happy about that.

So indeed it does work and I would recommend everyone to do so, but only if you're at least a mid-intermediate speaker.
Otherwise you're sure to fail this 'test'.

[FenWoFon]

  On 1/18/2016 at 2:10 PM, anna3101 said:

Ok, so I tried three tests, and here's what they say.

1. http://my.vocabularysize.com

This one is adapted to one's native language (by the way, I found numerous mistakes when it comes to Russian translation of the site, and it makes me wonder...)

You are given a bunch of English words, and you must choose 1 correct Russian translation out of 4 definitions.

This is a serious drawback when it comes to evaluating if you really know the words or not: some I wouldn't know how to use but I have heard them somewhere (or I know them from other languages), so it's easy to choose the correct definition.

I got "You know at least 20 200 word families" as a result, which is a bit too high. Besides, I most definitely do not think that this is "better than 50% of the native speakers taking this test".

2. http://testyourvocab.com

Here you have a list of words where you just tick those that you really know. Probably this is more accurate, and I got my vocabulary size estimated to be about 17 400 words. Definitely more plausible. I also like the statistics you get after the test, and according to this site, native speakers have about 20 000 - 35 000 words in their vocabulary. Yes, I definitely like this site better!

3. http://vocabulary.ugent.be

This test shows you a range of real and fake English words, you must mark those that you know for sure to be real. I've first seen this testing method in Dialang (my favourite language testing software), and generally it works quite well.

It says I know "69% of English words". I've heard English has more than a million words in it, so I'm guessing they mean I know about 69% of the most commonly used? So what, around 30 000? However much I'd like to believe that, I don't think it's true - or will ever be true in the course of this lifetime. Maybe in my next life, when I'm born as an English native speaker, I'll be able to use that many words... but certainly not now.

All in all, I think site nr 2 - testyourvocab - gives the best results in terms of their truthfulness.

Let me know if you find any other places on the web where people can test their vocabulary size. It was fun I'd like to try more tests!

Expand  

I actually tried the second site and it was pretty awesome, I did not even get to achieve 30 percent of the words that appeared on the test, seems like I will have to go get a dictionary and start looking for new words.