This is the kind of sentiment I had when people ask me about 日本語 regarding: “do Japanese people memorize all 50000+ Kanji?” I’m like “NO” since they don’t know all characters as only a small percentage of that is taught & used, around 2136. Although, some people learn jargon catered to specific fields (science, medicine) leading to them knowing 3000+ Kanji.

The estimated count for the “number of words” in English is 1,000,000 but that’s not an exact answer. The thing is, how many words is a native English speaker expected to know & understand? How much vocab do they teach students at school (from spelling to grammar)? After learning the alphabet, what types of words are taught across schools in the Anglosphere to kids?

For perspective, kids in Japan only learn 80 Kanji in their first year (mainly common & easy ones: 犬、校、九、女、男、名、森、右 to list a few) but the number expands through their years. I mean, something “similar” exists in English with spelling being taught at schools (teachers give a list of words to memorize spelling followed by a spelling test later).

The vocab lists expand from elementary to high school with difficult words (there’s a difference in difficulty with trying to spell a word like “animal” to “conscientious”). It’s like how a Japanese kid knows how to handwrite 海外 but has a hard time on trying to understand 傭兵 (ようへい) since 傭 is a harder Kanji to write in comparison to 海.

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    61·
    1 day ago

    For perspective, kids in Japan only learn 80 Kanji in their first year

    Well…

    All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force—to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party; often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common councils and modified by mutual interests. However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

    —from George Washington’s Farewell Address, warning about political parties

    It is bad when groups try to stop our laws. It is bad when they try to tell our leaders what to do. This harms our country’s main idea. These groups make one part of the people too strong. They want their own ideas, not what all the people want. Sometimes, a small group of clever people can do this. Then, the country’s rules change all the time. This happens when different groups win. The government then acts on their changing plans. It does not act on good plans made by everyone. These groups might seem good at first. But later, bad people can use them. These bad people want to take power from the people. They want to rule the country themselves. Then, they will get rid of the groups that helped them.

    —the above text, run through this to target a first grade reading level.

    That’s a pretty marked difference in vocabulary.

    • MagicShel@lemmy.zipEnglish
      5·
      1 day ago

      The problem with George’s version isn’t the words — it’s that it’s three sentences. The words themselves are simple enough. I doubt there’s one I haven’t had cause to use within the past month or two. But Jesus Christ by the time you get to the seventh or eighth clause in a sentence it’s just a pile of puzzle pieces waiting to be painstakingly assembled into a coherent thought.