Why you should never use a FREQUENCY LIST

Many language learning blogs and teachers suggest learning a "frequency list" for a beginning language student. The idea is that with a small number of words--learned by either memorization or flash cards -- that you can read a surprisingly large percentage of text.

Let's pretend for a second that the only words in English that you know are the top 1000 words based on frequency. Can you understand the following text?

||||| ||||| ||||| to get very ||||| of ||||| by her sister on the bank and of ||||| nothing to do once or ||||| she ||||| ||||| into the book her sister ||||| ||||| but it ||||| no ||||| or ||||| in it and what ||||| the use of a book thought ||||| without ||||| or ||||| So she ||||| ||||| in her own mind as well as she could for the hot day ||||| her feel very ||||| and ||||| whether the ||||| of ||||| a ||||| would be ||||| the trouble of ||||| up and ||||| the ||||| when suddenly a White ||||| with ||||| ||||| ||||| close by her There ||||| nothing so VERY ||||| in that nor ||||| ||||| think it so VERY much out of the way to hear the ||||| say to itself Oh ||||| Oh ||||| I ||||| be late when she thought it over ||||| it ||||| to her that she ||||| to have ||||| at this but at the time it all ||||| quite natural but when the ||||| actually ||||| A WATCH OUT OF ITS ||||| ||||| and ||||| at it and then ||||| on ||||| ||||| to her ||||| for it ||||| across her mind that she ||||| never before ||||| a ||||| with either a ||||| ||||| or a watch to take out of it and ||||| with ||||| she ||||| across the field after it and ||||| ||||| just in time to see it ||||| down a large ||||| under the |||||

If you were able to get the gist of this famous passage-- which is doubtful-- then, the only way you could have is if you had already read Lewis Carroll's famous ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

The point is simple... a list of the top 1000 words in any language will not allow you to capture the meaning of most texts. Why? Because the top 300 words in any language are generally what linguists call "function words." Function words are typically one syllable words that carry no meaning compared to "content words." Content words carry meaning in a sentence, where function words serve as the glue that binds the meaning words together. Content words are usually the nouns and verbs of a language... and, there are millions of them, and new content words are born each year.

But, function words are typically never added to in the language. They are what is called "closed," but "content words" (the nouns and verbs) are constantly added to every year.

So, why not learn a frequency list? First, although it's a great idea to learn all the function words in a language, the remaining nouns and verbs in a "top 1000" frequency list are going to be "context-specific." Have you ever noticed that language books are arranged in chapters based on location (At home, at the train station, at the market, etc)? It's because nouns and verbs (the content words) are highly dependent on the location in which they are used. The words you use in the bathroom are not typically used in the kitchen! The top 1000 words that you find on the internet will be from a very few limited contexts.

There's a second reason not to learn a frequency list. Typically, a frequency list comes from all the literary works in a language. If you are looking for a rapid method to get conversational, then the high-frequency words in literature, magazines, academic papers and newspapers may not have the nouns and verbs that you will need for "your" conversations. There are actually few frequency lists on the internet that are from actual conversations, and even then, they would be of limited use in a real conversation.

So, what's the third reason? They aren't "your" words! We discovered that the real reason language students rarely open their mouth in the beginning stages is because they've learned 1000s of words that they probably have rarely said in their native language. Sure you need to learn greetings, but it's very likely that the text book method is not how you actually greet your real friends. The dialogues that most text books have you learn are nothing like you have had with your friends during the last week. The bottom line? each of us-- in our native language-- uses only about 3000 words-- and they are very unique to us and our friends. If you learn those words first... rather than a textbook's words, you will be well on your way to opening your mouth in your new language. You will have something to say, because it's "uniquely you."

So, why do language teachers suggest learning a frequency list? It's because most students are overwhelmed by how many words and phrases that a native speaker knows. It seems a daunting task to the novice that they have to learn so many words. So, if the teacher can give some hope to the student that with minimal time, the student can start carrying on conversations or read the news, then the student will be excited enough to continue learning the language.

In our mind, it gives a student a false hope-- they spend the time learning the top 1000 words, only they are not able to read the news or read a magazine article or even carry on a simple conversation.

So, what's the solution? It's so simple, it may astound you.

The answer is called PERSONAL FLUENCY.