General vocabulary includes words useful to all speakers of a language, such as food and weather. It is usually learned in a classroom and is too basic for higher education. Topics include travel essentials, basic knowledge, and age-specific words. However, some words may not be useful for daily conversation. A functional vocabulary is more helpful for language learners.
General vocabulary is best thought of as the set of words that are useful to all speakers of a given language. This could include words about food, weather and colors. Most people learn general vocabulary before words specific to a given industry or context, but the line between what is general and what is specific is often quite blurry. Usually, this term is simply a useful category to use when learning or teaching languages.
When people learn to speak a language as children or through immersion, vocabulary is usually supplemented as it is used rather than via lists. Therefore, when people talk about general vocabulary, they are usually talking about learning a language in a classroom or other context. General vocabulary is almost always too basic to be useful in testing or higher education, so this term rarely occurs outside of language learning contexts.
The word types included in general vocabulary lists are usually highly functional. Words related to food, directions, and other travel essentials are usually considered part of this type of vocabulary. Conversely, terms used in science and literary terminology are generally not considered general. While many general vocabulary lists are broken down into topics, these topics themselves are almost always topics that come up on a daily basis. These words are important for daily life, not for professional or academic purposes.
Of the topics typically included in the general vocabulary, some are more general than others. Numbers, colors and other words that refer to the description of the fundamental states of the world are almost always included in this type of vocabulary. Animals, furniture, and clothing items are more specific, but are also usually considered basic enough to include. Broad categories of knowledge may also be included, such as words relating to history, weather, and mathematics, although for travelers this may not be very useful. Different age levels may require different basic vocabulary, and younger students often learn words related to games and play, while older students learn about shopping or asking for directions.
On the one hand, it is helpful for any language learner to establish a basic set of vocabulary that can be used to build sentences for practice and actual use. Even so, many of the words often included in basic vocabulary lists are not useful to people who need these words to speak. Animals, for example, are often included in general vocabulary lists, but most people don’t discuss geese and goats on a daily basis. A real and functional vocabulary can help keep language learners interested and is also easier to remember because it is used more frequently.
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