Before knowing how many characters we need to know to be able to communicate in Chinese, first we need to understand why characters have an effect to speaking this language.

Why focus on learning characters?

Characters are not only important for reading and writing, in Chinese they are also important for us to identify and memorize meanings of words. More importantly, characters also help you to remember words based on their components.

How many Chinese characters are there?

There are roughly 50,000 characters in the standard national Chinese dictionary. One exciting fact about Chinese words is that you can combine two words together to create another meaningful word. For example, 好人 (hǎo rén — literally “good person”) comes from the word 好 (hǎo) — good combine with the word 人 (rén) — person.

So how many words do we need to know anyways?

The answer is 1,500 to 2,000 characters, the same number as the average fluent Chinese person.

What is the standards set to understand how your vocabulary impacts your fluency level?

Well, we would like to introduce you to HSK test.

If you can pass HSK level 1: You can use very simple words and phrases

If you can pass HSK level 2: You can exchange simple information

If you can pass HSK level 3: You can communicate at a basic level

If you can pass HSK level 4: You can fluently converse in Chinese

If you can pass HSK level 5: You can read Chinese newspaper

If you can pass HSK level 6: You can effectively express yourself

For the whole article go to: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/chinese/2018/09/19/how-many-chinese-characters-do-i-need-to-know/?fbclid=IwAR3se6IaelWbvrirxUJpqKSSa23YoHH7gdLl9n4JQXlqU_M52zIY9JFb5v4