The most critical vocabulary to learn German
At Refold, we’re focused on teaching you to understand real German. The biggest obstacle to understanding a language is vocabulary.
How much vocabulary do you need?
Some language learning sites like to say that you can get by with just 1000 words. That may be enough for a “survival-level speaking”, but it’s not enough to understand real German.
If you want to understand German, you’ll need at least 5000 words.
How to learn 5000 words quickly
- Study the most common words.
- Immerse in German content: expose yourself to the language to notice and reinforce the words you’re studying.
- Once you’ve studied the most common words, study the words you see most often in your German content.
Introducing DE1K
The DE1K deck is optimized to help you understand native German content as fast as possible.
We painstakingly analyzed and categorized the top 5000 words used across dozens of German TV shows to make sure you’re focusing on the most important vocabulary.
We rejected all words shared with English (i.e. cognates), all derivations, and all easily guessable words that you can learn directly from immersion.
According to our analysis, if you combine the DE1K deck and immersion, you should be able to learn 3137 words in about 4 months:
- DE1K Words: 1000
- Cognates: 857
- Derivations: 607
- Easy Words: 673
When combined with German immersion, the DE1K deck is the perfect tool for jumpstarting your German understanding.
