A Dictionary of Common Chinese-English Words

Author: Sun Fuchu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Everyday words, also known as common words, refer to vocabulary used in daily communication, while common words denote ordinary vocabulary. The majority of them are basic words. Everyday words are not only the most frequently used words in daily interaction but also the most frequently appearing words in books and periodicals, as well as the words with the highest coverage (i.e., the area covered by these common words on each page). Linguists from around the world have conducted various statistics, which show that the coverage of the top 500 most frequently appearing English words is roughly between 75% and 80%, for 1,000 to 1,500 words, it is between 85% and 90%, and for 3,000 words, it exceeds 90%. On this basis, if the coverage is to be increased by 1% or even 0.1%, the vocabulary size would need to increase by thousands or even tens of thousands. The ratios in different statistics vary slightly. This also depends on the types, nature, and fields of the books and periodicals selected for the statistics, as well as the differences among authors. Although the above statistical figures are rough and imprecise averages, the conclusion that common words are both highly frequent and highly covered is undeniably certain. Some people say that if one truly masters 500 common English words, they can handle both spoken and written two-way communication in daily life. Therefore, to learn and master English, it is essential to focus on common words and first learn and master them well, as this is a very important basic skill. Everyday words, also known as common words, refer to vocabulary used in daily communication, while common words denote ordinary vocabulary. The majority of them are basic words. Everyday words are not only the most frequently used words in daily interaction but also the most frequently appearing words in books and periodicals, as well as the words with the highest coverage (i.e., the area covered by these common words on each page). Linguists from around the world have conducted various statistics, which show that the coverage of the top 500 most frequently appearing English words is roughly between 75% and 80%, for 1,000 to 1,500 words, it is between 85% and 90%, and for 3,000 words, it exceeds 90%. On this basis, if the coverage is to be increased by 1% or even 0.1%, the vocabulary size would need to increase by thousands or even tens of thousands. The ratios in different statistics vary slightly. This also depends on the types, nature, and fields of the books and periodicals selected for the statistics, as well as the differences among authors. Although the above statistical figures are rough and imprecise averages, the conclusion that common words are both highly frequent and highly covered is undeniably certain. Some people say that if one truly masters 500 common English words, they can handle both spoken and written two-way communication in daily life. Therefore, to learn and master English, it is essential to focus on common words and first learn and master them well, as this is a very important basic skill.