Foreign students often aske this question “How many Chinese words do i need to learn to become a fluent speaker?”  well there are no perfect metric to tell you the exact number of words you need to learn to become fluent. The number of words known is often used as a proxy for how well someone knows a language. However, there is a standard  for foreigners to measure their Chinese  language skills whether they can speak fluent or not! To be able to speak well not only vocabulary grammar and practice are obviously necessary too, progressing through the number of vocabulary words known, which should provide some clarity for students looking to know what to expect as they progress.

HSK1

HSK1 150 words which is considered as limited conversational ability. Technically you will be able to interact with people but in a very limited way. For example Hello (你好)，Okay(好的), No (不) . these types of word. Unfortunately your listening skill won’t be good.

HSK2

In this level you will learn 300 words and feel More comfortable with your conversational ability, but still struggling. This level you can make conversation with people little longer but you will adressed your listening skill is not developed well yet. Frankly speaking you won’t find the much difference between HSK1 and HSK2.

HSK 3.

By learning HSK3 (600 words) finally you will be able see the difference and you would be able to recognize the Chinese words and grammer patterns. In this level you will be able to communicate with varity of topics, which will gives you a wonderful energy to learn more.

HSK4

HSK4~ 1200 words your non native-speaking friends (foreign friends) will start referring to you as  fluent in Chinese language. In this level you will start feeling proud yourself  by being able to communicate with waide varity of people.  At 1200 words, you will see you already had learned more Chinese words than most “foreigners” learn.

HSK5

By learning 2500 words your vocabulary will be decent enough to express virtually anything.The question of “how many Chinese words do i need to learn to become fluent ” can probably be answered with “about 2,500”, as these are the most common words that you’ll be able to use with regularity.

 HSK6

While the HSK 6 only requires knowledge of 5,000 words, at this point you already found yourself in a very comfortable situation by knowing more than 8,000words. As your chinese skill increased you will enjoy more and more. You would be able to watch your favorit Chinese TV serise , hangout with chinese friends. Eventually this experience will lead nyou to a good future life.

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