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Julio de 2011
INGLS INSTRUMENTAL UPEL - BARINAS
VOCABULARY
Many people consider that vocabulary is the most difficult problem when learning a new
language. But is that really true?
For speakers of Spanish, the vocabulary of English can be divided into these major
areas: technical vocabulary, very frequent words, relatively rare words, cognates,
and non-cognates. These categories are not mutually exclusive the word
important is frequent and a cognate; the word most is frequent and a non-
cognate.
The technical vocabulary of English consists mostly of cognates. They very
frequent words are mostly non-cognates.
Which are the most frequent words in English? The words: a, an, he, I, in, is, it,
of, that, the, to, and was. These twelve words represent approximately 60% of all
reading in English.
In academic texts, cognates represent about 20% of the words. If you are reading
an academic text and you have a vocabulary of the 250 most common words, and
you know the technical expressions, and you can recognize and understand the
cognates, you will have solved 60% + 20% = 80% of the vocabulary problem.
Of course, if you dont know the 250 most frequent words, your problem is greater.
What is the solution to this problem? Some solutions are:
a) To learn the meanings of the most common words.
b) To use your knowledge of the subject, your general comprehension (using the
claves) to infer the meaning of the words you dont know.
c) To use a dictionary.
It is best for you to decide individually which of these alternatives you prefer.
In conclusion, it seems that vocabulary can be a problem but it is only one of the
problems. It is probably not the most difficult problem. The essential thing is to
learn strategies for reading. If you have the correct strategies, you will find the
problem of vocabulary is vastly reduced.
1. The text below suggests that vocabulary is the most serious problem in
language learning. TRUE _____ FALSE __X___
2. The text suggests that a small number of words represent a high proportion
of the words in a normal text. TRUE __X___ FALSE _____
3. The text suggests that technical vocabulary is generally similar in Spanish
and English. TRUE __X___ FALSE _____
Julio de 2011
INGLS INSTRUMENTAL UPEL - BARINAS
Personal summary.
Julio de 2011