Well well well.
I have shifted to a new country, and I think it's important to learn the local language. The country I have shifted to is Germany and thus, the language I must learn is German. I have spent a good chunk of my teenage years trying to learn French. A lot of which I have since forgotten.
However, I got to apply my French knowledge when I had my semester abroad in Nancy, France. Even having forgotten a large amount of French, I was still able to speak at the level of a 5 year old (I believe). It was enough to be understood by locals, and it was enough that I could start to understand what I was being told. A lot of the communication was pattern matching with what I already knew and trying to fit the words in a schema I already learnt half a decade ago.
In that light, I have decided to memorize the 1000 most used words in the German language. The 1000 most used words would give me enough scope to be able to understand words in conversations or make enough conversation for simple everyday tasks. At the same time, knowing the 1000 most used words in a language will be a confidence booster enough to take up the rest of the 25,000 words.
How will I learn the 1000 most used words?
100 words at a time. I will memorize the first 100 words, probably through repetition, and writing. Test myself to get an accuracy of 95% or more, then move to the next 100 words and repeat.
How long will it take?
I suspect it will take me about 8 weeks if I go about it super diligently. However, I know I have to give myself some allowance for life coming in the way. 12 weeks should be sufficient. That means I have to learn ~85 words/week, which is ~12 words per day, that seems very reasonable. And getting a 100% accuracy on 12 words seems far more attainable than a 95% accuracy on 1000 words.
Is 1000 words my entire plan to learn the German language?
No, I also attend German class 2hrs/week. The 1000 words is in addition to the 2hrs/week. I still need to understand the Grammar and the pronunciation. (Though from what I understand, the way German is written is the way it is spoken, unlike English.)
So where's the 1000 words list?
Here!
What's next?
Learn.
