How to learn a language in a day, Part 1: The 200 most important words

What if there was a simple list of the 200 most important words to learn in any language? What if by learning the words on that list, you could have a conversation about almost anything?

What if there was a really smart guy out there who created such a list?

You're in luck pal...there am such a smart guy. And that smart guy am me.

THE 200 MOST IMPORTANT WORDS TO LEARN IN ANY LANGUAGE

A few folks have attempted to compile such a list in the past. One of the most well-known lists was published by Tony Buzan in his book, "Using Your Memory." Unfortunately, Buzan's list of 100 words is very Anglocentric. It includes many words that do not exist in other languages.

As a person who speaks ten languages, I have figured out a thing or two about what words and concepts are the most important.

Of course, it's impossible to claim that this list is universal. That's the beauty of linguistic diversity--certain languages have words, concepts, and structures that don't exist anywhere else in the world. Still, if you can learn how to say these 200 words in a language, you'll be well on your way to speaking it.

It goes without saying, learning these 200 words is just the beginning. It's not enough to just translate an English sentence word-for-word. In addition to basic vocabulary, you'll need to learn:

1. Grammar
How do you conjugate verbs? Do adjectives change? Are there genders? Are there declensions and grammatical cases? (These can make one noun change, depending on where it is in a sentence.) Does the language use certain articles before or after words, to show how the word is being used?

2. Sentence structure
Word order can vastly vary from one language to the next. If you don't believe me, watch an old kung fu movie with a very literal translation.

3. Certain concepts aren't contained in just one word
I've singled one of them out in my list: the idea of possession, "to have." In many languages, there isn't a simple verb to say "to have."
EXAMPLE: In Russian, to say "I have a cat," you literally say, "By me [genitive case] there is a cat."
Many indigenous languages of the Americas are the same.

4. Tonal languages
Some languages, like Mandarin Chinese, Mixtec, Barí, are tonal. The tone (musical note) you give to a word will change its meaning. This means you don't just have to learn the words and grammar--you have to take a music lesson as well.

* * * *

Without further ado, here's the list, with words roughly arranged by category. I'm always open to suggestions for perfecting it.

THE LIST 

Greetings, courtesy 

hello

goodbye

yes

no

not (negation)

please

thank you

Question words

who

what

where

when

why

how

because

Prepositions

with

on

under

in

out

next to

here

there

up

down

before

after

for

from

now

Pronouns

I
you
you (formal)
he
she
you (plural)
we
they (male, female, both)

possessives - my, your

Verbs

use

have

see

hear / listen

be able to (do something)

say

speak

find

to be

to like

love

come

go

take

bring

make / do

to exist, be around ("there is / are" in English, "haber" in Spanish)

think

know

sleep

eat

drink

work

Adjectives

comparisons: more, less

good

bad

large

small

hot

cold

old

new

pretty

ugly

fat

thin

clean

dirty

strong

weak

alive

dead

Basic nouns

person
man
woman
friend
house
town / city
animal
tree
water
food
thing
time
sun
moon
land / earth
sky

Body parts

body

head

eye

mouth

nose

hair

arm / hand

leg / foot

stomach

back

Other random common words

if

also

but

either / or

other

different

same

this

that

all

none

always

often

sometimes

never

more

less

a little bit

much

again

and

almost

only

Basic colors

white

black

green

blue

red

yellow

Numbers, one through ten

Watch me learn a language in a day

That's right. I plan to learn a language in one day.

This Sunday, February 21, is "International Mother Language Day." It's a holiday established by the United Nations in 2000 to promote linguistic diversity, multilingualism, and to rescue and promote languages that are in danger of going extinct forever.

How will I be observing this holiday?

I plan on learning an entire language in one day.

"Monumento a los Mazahuas"
Image courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Why am I doing it? 

For one thing, I'm extremely vain. I already speak ten languages, and I think I'm up to the challenge. I have what it takes to learn the basics of a language in just one day.

More importantly, I'm doing this to promote the "International Mother Language Day" and to raise awareness about dying languages.

In the past few centuries, hundreds of languages have died out. Humans currently speak between 6,000 and 7,000 languages, but at least half of those languages are in danger of disappearing in the next century.

When humanity loses a language, we don't just lose a different set of words and sounds--we lose all the knowledge and wisdom that language contained. We lose a different way of thinking, of perceiving the world, of solving problems. It's like setting fire to an entire library of books that have no other copies.

At least 13 languages have died out in the past decade alone. These include:

- The Klallam native language of the northwestern United States. (Last speaker died in 2014)

- The Livonian language of Latvia (2013)

- The Pazeh tongue of Taiwan (2010)

- Nyawaygi, an aboriginal language of Australia (2009)

The UNESCO established the International Mother Language Day in 2000. The date commemorates a massacre that took place in Bangladesh in 1952, when students were killed by the police for demanding the right to speak their own language.


What language will I learn? 

I thought about doing Portuguese, since it would be an easy one. I already know Spanish and French, and Portuguese is somewhere in between these two languages.

But then, I decided to go for one of the languages that is actually endangered. I will be learning Mazahua, one of the indigenous languages spoken in Mexico.

There are currently between 150,000 and 170,000 people who speak this ancient language, but the numbers are going down at a rapid rate. Mazahua native people who are younger than 40 are switching almost exclusively to Spanish. This is the case with many indigenous languages, both here in Mexico and across the world. When the younger generation forgets how to speak a language, they are no longer able to fully communicate with the elders. Their cultural identity becomes endangered. All the traditions--legends, wisdom tales, songs, myths, folk memory--could be lost forever.

After I've learned Mazahua, I will do what I can to promote and protect it, to keep it from dying out forever.


How will I do it? 

I was going to learn Mazahua on the 21st of February, since that's the actual U.N. holiday. But then I realized I'm going to have guests in town that day, so I don't think I'll have time to learn a language. Instead, I will be doing it tomorrow, Thursday. If all goes well, by this time tomorrow I should have a basic knowledge of Mazahua.

Of course, I'm not silly enough to claim that I can become fluent in a language in just one day. However, I do plan on knowing enough Mazahua to have a basic grasp of it. I will be able to carry on conversations with native speakers. After studying ten languages, I've learned one or two tricks about how to quickly learn a new tongue.

So how will I do it?

I'll be explaining my strategy in upcoming blogs. Stay tuned for more...