This is a strategy I learned from Tony Buzan, after reading his book “Using Your Memory” about 7 years ago.

Buzan claims that there are about 100 words that are being used at least 50% of the time in communication, and by learning these words specifically, as a part of your first few efforts in learning a new language, you can start communicating in that language much faster.

Buzan was right. For my Italian studies, I did just that. I learned these (below) 100 words and could mumble fairly well in Italian. Later on I had to learn also all the regular and irregular verbs, a whole lot of nouns, etc. But as the first few efforts, to understand people who speak to you and to be able to respond more or less intelligently, this strategy is priceless.

Most Useful 100 Words In Any Language

1. a, an

2. after

3. again

4. all

5. almost

6. also

7. always

8. and

9. because

10. before

11. big

12. but

13. (I) can

14. (I) come

15. either/or

16. (I) find

17. first

18. for

19. friend

20. from
21. (I) go

22. good

23. goodbye

24. happy

25. (I) have

26. he

27. hello

28. here

29. how

30. I

31. (I) am

32. if

33. in

34. (I) know

35. last

36. (I) like

37. little

38. (I) love

39. (I) make

40. many

41. one

42. more

43. most

44. much

45. my

46. new

47. no

48. not

49. now

50. of

51. often

52. on

53. one

54. only

55. or

56. other

57. our

58. out

59. over

60. people

61. place

62. please

63. same

64. (I) see

65. she

66. so

67. some

68. sometimes

69. still

70. such

71. (I) tell

72. thank you

73. that

74. the

75. their

76. them

77. then

78. there is

79. they

80. thing

81. (I) think

82. this

83. time

84. to

85. under

86. up

87. us

88. (I) use

89. very

90. we

91. what

92. when

93. where

94. which

95. who

96. why

97. with

98. yes

99. you

100. your