Importance of Word Frequency for Learning Vocabulary
About Word Frequency
Languages have lots of lots of vocabularies. In every language, there are words used more often than some other words. It is clear that more a word is used, more it is repeated. This is why when you learn vocabulary in a foreign language, you should regard word frequency. You hound know that for a foreign language learner, it is not really sensible to learn the vocabulary randomly. It is necessary to learn the relevant ones to your needs first. If you give priority to the words relative to your level and needs according to their word frequency, then you can learn them faster, recall and use them easier. Therefore, it is important to regard the frequency of the words that you want to learn.
High frequency words
High frequency words are the words which occur most frequently in written material. They make up a large percentage in any given material. Most of them are the words which have little meaning on their own, but take a grammatical function in a sentence. They can be hard for many students to remember because they tend to be abstract. However, they are essential in any language. Learning to recognize high-frequency words is critical for developing fluency in reading and overall comprehension. Recognizing high-frequency words involves memorization, and for this repetition is important. Language learners need to read them in different contexts in order to learn them.
Other frequently used words
Other frequently used words can be verbs, nouns and adjective. For example, the verb "go" will be more frequently used than the verb "acquaint" in English. Therefore, for an English learner, it is more sensible to learn the verb "go" first. Frequently used words are quite essential for understanding a language. In daily life, in any language, a random speech is mostly done with a couple of hundreds of words. These are in general words that are frequently used. When you learn a language, you should give priority to those words. For example, they can be the equivalent of some basic verbs such as "come", "go", "drink", "eat", can be also some basic nouns such as "water", "food", "person", "boy", "girl" or some adjectives such as "tall", "long", "short", etc. You can also guess if a word is frequently, used or not.
How to find them?
It is not that difficult to find frequently used words. In some dictionaries, the frequency of the words are given. So when you come across with a word, you can check out its word frequency from the dictionary and decide if it is worth learning or not. If it is not relevant to your level or needs, you can skip it for another time. It is also possible to use the internet to find the words frequently used in the language you are learning. When you run a search in any search engine, you can find some word lists, for example "top 500 words" or "the most frequently used 1000 words". You can select the one which suits your level and goal best. From there, you can begin to build up your vocabulary knowledge. As you learn more, you can learn from more frequently used words to the less frequently used words.
How to learn them?
If you have a list, say a list of 100 most frequently used words in Spanish, you can use flashcards. Flashcards make it easy to learn tens of hundreds of words easily. You can write down the words to one side of the card in the language you learn and their meaning to the other side in the language you speak. You can see the cards one by one and try to guess their meanings. When you cannot tell, you can turn the other side and learn the meaning. You can repeat this process until you master each word. Besides this, you should also use the words you have learned in sentences and examples. This will put the words into your long term memory. Another thing you should do is to listen to some basic conversation where those words are used in the language you learn. This will also improve your listening comprehension skills and help you understand conversations better in the target language.
Languages have lots of lots of vocabularies. In every language, there are words used more often than some other words. It is clear that more a word is used, more it is repeated. This is why when you learn vocabulary in a foreign language, you should regard word frequency. You hound know that for a foreign language learner, it is not really sensible to learn the vocabulary randomly. It is necessary to learn the relevant ones to your needs first. If you give priority to the words relative to your level and needs according to their word frequency, then you can learn them faster, recall and use them easier. Therefore, it is important to regard the frequency of the words that you want to learn.
High frequency words
High frequency words are the words which occur most frequently in written material. They make up a large percentage in any given material. Most of them are the words which have little meaning on their own, but take a grammatical function in a sentence. They can be hard for many students to remember because they tend to be abstract. However, they are essential in any language. Learning to recognize high-frequency words is critical for developing fluency in reading and overall comprehension. Recognizing high-frequency words involves memorization, and for this repetition is important. Language learners need to read them in different contexts in order to learn them.
Other frequently used words
Other frequently used words can be verbs, nouns and adjective. For example, the verb "go" will be more frequently used than the verb "acquaint" in English. Therefore, for an English learner, it is more sensible to learn the verb "go" first. Frequently used words are quite essential for understanding a language. In daily life, in any language, a random speech is mostly done with a couple of hundreds of words. These are in general words that are frequently used. When you learn a language, you should give priority to those words. For example, they can be the equivalent of some basic verbs such as "come", "go", "drink", "eat", can be also some basic nouns such as "water", "food", "person", "boy", "girl" or some adjectives such as "tall", "long", "short", etc. You can also guess if a word is frequently, used or not.
How to find them?
It is not that difficult to find frequently used words. In some dictionaries, the frequency of the words are given. So when you come across with a word, you can check out its word frequency from the dictionary and decide if it is worth learning or not. If it is not relevant to your level or needs, you can skip it for another time. It is also possible to use the internet to find the words frequently used in the language you are learning. When you run a search in any search engine, you can find some word lists, for example "top 500 words" or "the most frequently used 1000 words". You can select the one which suits your level and goal best. From there, you can begin to build up your vocabulary knowledge. As you learn more, you can learn from more frequently used words to the less frequently used words.
How to learn them?
If you have a list, say a list of 100 most frequently used words in Spanish, you can use flashcards. Flashcards make it easy to learn tens of hundreds of words easily. You can write down the words to one side of the card in the language you learn and their meaning to the other side in the language you speak. You can see the cards one by one and try to guess their meanings. When you cannot tell, you can turn the other side and learn the meaning. You can repeat this process until you master each word. Besides this, you should also use the words you have learned in sentences and examples. This will put the words into your long term memory. Another thing you should do is to listen to some basic conversation where those words are used in the language you learn. This will also improve your listening comprehension skills and help you understand conversations better in the target language.
