Recent Updates to Known Word Thresholds

We recently updated the Known Word requirements for each of our 6 levels (Beginner 1 to Advanced 2).

We did this language by language. It’s always difficult to come up with some sort of multiplier for word requirements, but we did our best by looking at the number of unique words used in some of our basic LingQ-produced courses.

We then adjusted the level requirements appropriately.

For many languages the result was an increase in the number of required words - For languages like Korean the change was quite drastic. For others, like Swedish, the change was fairly minor.

We feel that the newer requirements better fit the number of words one needs to learn to hit the various levels of proficiency. Don’t be dishearted by the fact that your Level goal seems further away than it was a couple of week ago - Focus on the journey!

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I have no problem with the new thresholds, since LingQ currently says I’m Intermediate 2, but I still feel like an I-1 at best. But since I just recently passed the old threshold, I’m now back to I-1 by word count, but my level still shows as I-2. Are our levels going to switch to match? Or did we just get grandfathered in?

Doing the math, I’m guessing 15,960 is the new threshold for Japanese Intermed-2, and 27,597 for Advanced 1?

i think I am also grandfathered in, as i am at 24,156 words in Spanish and it still says I am Advanced 1. While in french I’m around 17,000 and it says I need 11,000 to get to advanced one. Which would make 28,000 for Advanced 1 for French and Spanish should be similar.

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Thank you for the update!

Do you know when we can hope to see the list with the updated word counts? Or, if it’s already out there, can you please link it here and add it to the LingQ Support Center “How many words do you need to know to be fluent” page?

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Yes, you won’t have your current level decrease - This will affect new users or future increases in your level.

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I fully support this change.
Do you now feel that it more accurately aligns with the CEFR framework, so Beginner 1 = A1, Intermediate 1 = B1, for example?

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I asked North this question and he said that it’s the general idea and does not follow the CEFR system. Based on my experience with Italian, I would’ve hit B1 and B2 before hitting the Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2. This means that when I hit these new levels, I would’ve been more solidified at the respective CEFR levels.

I support the change.

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Ah, very interesting. Thanks!

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Hi guys!

Can we get an update when the updated chart will become available?

Thank you!

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Just bumping this back up, hoping for an update on the chart! Thanks!

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Hi Zoran/Mark! Just my weekly bump looking for the updated known word chart!

Thanks!

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Thanks, we will hopefully have it done soon.

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Hey guys, it’s Wednesday! :smiley:

Any update on when we can hope to see the new word count per level chart?

Thank you!

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For me Spanish still says I am Advanced 2, but now it just adds about 500 words to the known word goal for my all time learning of Spanish. I suppose 40.535 known words must then be the new threshold for passing Advanced 2 in Spanish?

I’ve been meaning to ask about the moving goalposts (I2 Ger is a 38% inc 12k-16.5); glad I checked first. Please do post the new table as soon as you can. I set my annual ling Q goals based on it; I’m sure others do too. Thanks, LingQ team

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I think psychologically this is a good approach to not demote. I support making tweaks to improve the product. Please do post the new table soon.

If anyone is doing French, it appears that 41,140 is the new target for A2. (unofficial)

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good to know, thanks!

I’m excited that the new charts will reflect our fluency more effectively. Kudos to you guys for doing such a fantastic job with this app. It keeps getting better!

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Since LingQ has not provided their updated table for Known Word Thresholds yet, I have created the following (rough) user-estimate - also called ‘guesswork’ for some languages:

Please note, that these were created somewhat ‘quick & dirty’ (based on rather few data points and extrapolated in rather simple ways).

I have taken into account the unique words of the LingQ Mini Stories and for some languages also looked at ‘Who is She’ and ‘Eating Out’.
Baring in mind that these kind of stories are at the beginner level, a ‘tail adjustment’ for higher levels might seem useful. However, I don’t have any data on this and decided to keep it simple.

Green Figures: Taken out of LingQ - these should be accurate
Black Figures: Rough estimate
Grey Figures: Very rough estimate

I suppose we could gather a much more accourate table by using the wisdom/comments of LingQ users. So feel free to comment, especially if some figures should be far off.

Hopefully LingQ will update their official table soon - which should make all speculations obsolete.

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