Difficulties in English pronunciation

[Jamie (K)]

I don't know how many words a typical American high school student knows. I have heard estimates ranging from 10,000 to 26,000. Probably nobody knows for sure.

Everything depends on who you're talking about. Some culturally deprived kids start kindergarten with very tiny vocabularies, and don't even know the names of colors like red or blue -- some don't even know their own names. Other kids that age have vocabularies of easily 7,000 words. I run into 7-year-olds who express themselves verbally better than many adults do.

Even among adults it varies a lot. In college ESL classes I give vocabulary lessons out of a book that contain words I think any American would know by high school. In a typical semester one or two students will come back to me and say, "Why are you making us learn this?! I showed this to the people at my job, and they hardly know any of these words!" Or they'll say, "My boss says he doesn't know any of these vocabulary words!" The same thing happens with idioms.

Keep in mind that American schools are locally controlled, and the local people basically get the schools they ask for. In my town, where the citizens keep a close eye on the schools and their administration, the kids finish high school with the equivalent of two years of university education, so their vocabularies are quite large. Across the border, in the big city, the citizens don't pay much attention to what goes on in the schools, and they let incompetence and corruption run wild. Their kids graduate from high school with a literacy level approximately the same as that of an average 8- or 13-year-old's.

[Tom c]

Hello Infinity
Thank you hope to talk to you later. I know its late as my wife will be in bed now hope you sleep well good night.

[Kitosdad]

Infin1ty ..... Hello my friend, Well I don't know the answer to your question, and quite frankly, I don't really care.

I only care about you, and your ability to communicate with me in a manner which I can understand.

I am absolutely CERTAIN that you can communicate, in writing, far better than 30% of the entire British population.

Do not get too wrapped up in what others can do, and what others expect of you.

It is far better to approach a subject with a relaxed mind, than to worry about grammatical errors.

The IMPORTANT point is that I understand what you are writing.

My aim is to correct you wherever I can, and for you to read and digest my corrections.

Nobody can ask more from you, and no-one has the right to expect more from you.

You have a duty only to yourself, and you DO have the ability to advance. It's all on your shoulders.

All that we can hope for is to see a steady improvement in your posts, and that we don't get any feeling of wasting our time. Make us proud of you. Just DO it.!!!!!
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Keep it simple ... Keep it interesting.

[Infin1ty]

Thank you Jamie, for such an excellent response and thank you bill, for this encouragement. I'm so impressed by both of your replies that I don't have words right now. I don't know what to say. Thank you is all what I can think out now.
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Please feel free to correct me if you find any mistakes in my posts.