About Us

Hi

Thanks for taking an interest in MostUsedWords.com.

Our Mission:

MostUsedWords strives to enable everyone to learn a language as fast and as efficient as possible.

 

Why did we start the Frequency Dictionaries?

 "I want to learn [a foreign language] quick and effortlessly. I want it, and I want it now."

 

Basically this.

 

I needed to obtain a conversational fluency level in Portuguese as soon as possible. I'm also a lazy person and I hate wasting time. Being obsessed with efficiency, and obtaining maximum results from minimal imput, I set out to decipher the language learning process.

 

Soon I stumbled upon how much vocabulary you actually need to know for fluency. Turns out that in pretty much any language, you only need to know a relative small amount of words to understand and be understood. 

Generally speaking, in any language, the most common 2500 words account for 95% of daily use. To increase your fluency from 95% to 99%, you need to know an additional 97.500 words!

According to our research, the practical cutoff for imput vs. output is around 10.000 words. By knowing the most used 10.000 words in a language, you are able to understand 98% of spoken language, and 97% of written language. Enough to learn the meaning of unknown vocabulary through context.

The frequency lists I encountered were either non-existant, incomplete or not up to standard.

I wanted the following in a frequency list.

• A thorough, modern, up-to-date frequency list
• Practical for both spoken and written texts
• Phonetic transcription (for languages that are phonetically very different from their written word)
• Parallel text showing word usage in context.
• A list of the most common nouns, adjectives verbs, etc.

 

Of course, the principles above have a scientific backing. Expanding a bit on the inner workings of the frequency dictionary: 

 

 

• By using a proper scientific basis on efficient language learning methods, we strive to give you the needed vocabulary in an orderly manner.
• A large source of subtitle data to analyze will present us with the most used vocabulary.
• Subtitle frequency amount to both spoken and written language. Two birds, one stone.
• We show you the most used words in descending order, with an example sentences. This way you master your language as soon as possible.
• Our products can be used as a standalone product for self-study, or as a handy supplement to any other language program.
• Language teachers use the MostUsedWords books to teach their students, with rapid improvements reported.

 

With these principles in mind, I set out to create the first frequency dictionary.

 

A lot has happened since.

 

At the time of writing, it has been almost 3 years since I started the first book. Over 40 books have been published, updated or republished. Many more will follow.

 

I like language learning and the theory behind it. I want to bring the world these practical frequency dictionaries in all major languages.

 

So everyone can learn languages fast and efficiently, and we can all understand eachother a bit better.

 

We hope we are helping you to achieve your dreams.

 

Thank you for reading.

Edmond @ MostUsedWords