abcnovels
Chapter 328: [Words Are Like Needles]
Chapter 328: [Words Are Like Needles]
Chapter 328: [Words Are Like Needles]
<Can you understand 80% of English with just 1000 words!? Then, my 4000-word answer is not even close!?>
<Haha. That’s right.>
<Oh, come on!>
Ilyena, realizing she was being teased, was cutely angry.
Maybe it’s a bit of an infection from the mischievous habits of Angu Ogu.
?1000 words, huh. Isn’t that about how many words you learn by middle school?
?Indeed, it seems like the number of words listed in vocabulary books was around that.
?So, if you can manage middle school English, does that mean you can actually speak English pretty well?
<Nowadays, with the revised curriculum, you’re expected to learn 2000 words by graduation, but… that’s correct. The vocabulary required for actual conversation is surprisingly small. Here’s the second question!>
<I’ll get it right this time! Leave it to me!><Now, for Japanese. How many words do you need to learn to achieve an 80% coverage?>
<Hmm. It seems like it would be more than English.>
?Twice as many as before, so 2000!
?It seems like it would be more. Maybe 3000?
?Or is it actually the same as before, just 1000? (Ukrainian)
<The correct answer is—5000 words>
<!?!?!? I can’t believe it! I’ve actually learned Japanese quite well!?>
<I really think it’s amazing. By the way, for Ukrainian, it would be around 2000 words.>
<The difficulty of learning varies so much by language. If you want to learn Japanese, it takes about five times the effort compared to English.>
<It’s not necessarily the case that the number of words is directly proportional to the difficulty, so you can’t generalize. But as an indicator, yes.>
There’s also talk that you can handle any language fully by learning 100,000 to 200,000 words.
Well, the truth of this is debatable.
After all, it’s said that the average Japanese person uses about 50,000 words in their lifetime.
So if that’s the case for the vocabulary-rich Japanese, it seems a lot.
Well, I don’t know which data is correct.
After all, I’ve never counted the number of words I know… or even the number of languages I know, so it’s impossible to track the exact number of words.
<By the way, this is trivia, but the kanji ‘?’ in ‘vocabulary’ means ‘hedgehog’, and it’s said that a hedgehog has about 5000 quills on its back.>
<That feels a bit fateful.>
<Yeah~>
<By the way, I also feel a fateful connection with meeting Iroha-sama! No, I can definitely assert that Iroha-sama is my destined partner!>
<We weren’t talking about that. Well, thanks.>
?Ah, Iroha-chan looked away. (Ukrainian)
?Iroha-chan was embarrassed just now, wasn’t she? www (Ukrainian)
?So cute. (Ukrainian)
<Sh-shut up!>
Also, the Ukrainian.S. Department of State estimates the difficulty of Japanese for diplomats in five levels, and Japanese is the only one designated as ‘Category 5+’, the highest difficulty level.
It’s estimated that 88 weeks–2200 hours of learning are required.
Well, this is likely influenced by the “distance” of the language.
In contrast, languages closer to English, like French, Spanish, and Italian, are expected to be learned in 24 weeks.
<But when you think about it… Ilyena-chan, you really learned Japanese quickly, didn’t you?>
<I don’t want to hear that from Iroha-sama!?>
?This is “you’re the one to talk” level www (Ukrainian)
?When Iroha-chan says it, it sounds like sarcasm. w (Ukrainian)
?So, in the end, it’s better to learn English than Japanese? QED? (Ukrainian)
<That’s…>
<That’s?‘No’!>
Surprisingly, it was Ilyena herself who denied that comment.
She had been recommending English all along until now.
I pulled back my earlier words and focused on her continuation.
<It’s true that English is easier to learn. On top of that, I’ll say this. If you have someone you like…>
<??You should choose a language based on ‘love’, not difficulty!>
<Learn the language of the person you like. After all, love is the strongest “original power” that surpasses everything!>
For some reason, I felt Ilyena’s gaze through the screen.
Her words made my heart naturally tremble.
?When Illysha says it, it has a different weight. (Ukrainian)
?I’ve decided. After all, I’ll study Japanese because I love Iroha-chan. (Ukrainian)
?Maybe I should try studying English one more time.
<Everyone…!>
<I-Ilyena-chan… hic, sob>
<What!? Even Iroha-sama!? >
?Iroha-chan is crying!? (Ukrainian)
?What’s with this sudden turn!? It was a good story, but that much!? (Ukrainian)
?Could it be that Illysha’s feelings have finally reached Iroha-chan!? (Ukrainian)
<Ilyena-chan, I’m… moved! I felt exactly the same way! After all, it’s best to work hard for the “one you love”!>
<…Ah, yes. That’s right.>
?This is Illysha’s defeat w It’s not getting through www (Ukrainian)
?It’s strange. Why does it sound like a different meaning when Iroha-chan says it? (Ukrainian)
?This kind of reaction only happens when VTubers are involved… I expected it. (Ukrainian)
<Anyway, for those who are here today, many fans of Iroha-sama… probably want to learn Japanese, not English.>
In the case of ‘Translation Girl Iroha’, she can speak English and other languages and does foreign language broadcasts.
However, the most common is still Japanese broadcasts.
<For those people, I’d like to talk about the parts I found difficult in learning Japanese!>