this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2026
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Yup!
Fun thing but I had an eureka moment (hehe it's a romance language loanword) yesterday during French class. According to my Anki log I should have a French->English vocabulary of 1500-1700 of the most frequent words now... which if I got it correctly, is close to what is needed for reaching A2. Of course vocab alone wouldn't be remotely sufficient for language learning, research has shown that... but I realized that I have all the basic foundation for fully understand every single word in many news articles now; and the ones I don't understand, a good number of them I can probably guess my way around using English
I'm hoping to use this newfound insight to significantly increase the amount of reading and listening I do in French... hopefully that can help me with getting my language skills up to A2. Goal is still to reach B1 so I think I am making progress
Reading of true native books is also a great option. French in particular has "Le Petit Prince", an excellent book for the A2+ level or B1- level. 15000 words, pictures/illustrations to help you out. And a story that is simple enough for a child, but enough nuance for adults to have celebrated for the past century.
You'll see what I mean about "frequency lists" when you read any book. You'll have both common words, but also important "rare" words that you need to master to get through the book.
A2 is too early to completely understand the book. But you will get a better idea of how language is used by natives by reading native books.
This is where Anki's true superpower comes up. Building your own cards. If you set your goal as "Le Petit Prince", you simply put into Anki every card you don't know yet and feels important (don't aim for 100% understanding, its basically impossible at A2 level). Then you keep drilling until you can read the book. Easy and done. Its not as good as roleplay (where your brain starts to search for new words to continue a discussion). But its still better than a frequency list.
But yes, keep studying the frequency list! Its not bad. I'm just trying to say where you can get some "better" and more meaningful material.
Hmmm. As a beginner I overrated the frequency list.
Yes, a vocabulary is necessary to grow. But it seems more important to have complete conversations. And the only way you complete a conversation is with using the words specific to a conversation.
To complete your shopping list might require more rare words. Fish (common word) isnt useful at all, grocery stores don't sell "fish". Instead, they sell "tilapia". (Specific kinds of fish).
To complete a hypothetical grocery discussion to a realistic level.... even as a beginner.... requires study of words in the 5,000+ or even 10,000+ or less frequently lists. Just one or two such words, but yes it's important.
The A2 vocabulary lists in any test include enough vocab to cover the expected discussions on a test. It might only be top1000 frequent words, and then 500+ more rare words needed to cover trains, airplane travel, hotels and other key test-based subjects.
The frequency list is IMO, the default study when you don't know what else to study. But if you are seeking A2 certificate, study the A2 lists specifically.
The real life talking and roleplay is your best guide if you can get one. The rarer words pop up naturally as roleplay progresses.
But yes, we language learners need thousands of words memorized. So we must have default study options every day. Frequency lists are great for that. But try to seek out roleplay situations and get a feel for the necessary rare words.