How many words do you know? 500? 1000? 10000? Does it even matter? You’re learning a language…you just want to be able to speak. Well, if that’s the case, you’re going to need to know words. And let’s be real, if you’re not having fluent conversations, it probably has nothing to do with you not understanding English grammar. Besides, native English speakers use very simple grammar in daily conversations. More often than not, not being fluent is caused by the lack of words in that brain of yours. But not to worry, this problem is fixable. Modern language learning enthusiasts…you know, these Internet Polyglots, talk a lot about word frequency and this idea of your first 1000 words. Let’s talk a little about where that comes from.