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Old 08-17-2011, 10:11 AM   #54
Thierry.C
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Thanks for this nice test!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrmls View Post
I took this test last week and it was around 7'000. English is my second language.
I equate this, a bit more than 7k. My mother tongue being French.
As I never went in an English-speaking country until now, it seems I can be "statistically" happy.
Besides, the positive side is I'll improve since I use English more and more for both professional and personal matters.

There are however a few thoughts I would like to share about such a test:
  1. First, it's obviously just a statistical screeing (prediction) of one's vocabulary based on a few sample words.
  2. Then, knowing the meaning of a word (or more precisely, believing we know it) doesn't imply that one is able to use it adequately, nor that one is able to define it accurately. Writing definitions is not an easy job at all.
  3. Last but not least, one's vocabulary includes every signification of a word, which is not accounted for in that test (for the sake of simplicity, of course).
Some people here already pointed out the apparently narrowness of technical English. Taking into account my third point, I would rather say technical English uses a limited number of words, but with lots of different, specific significations, usually unknown outside of the field.
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