How many words do you use in English and does it make sense to learn 5-10 thousand of the most common words?

Question

English learning tools

https://www.memrise.com/course/332202/12527/
1) The first 3-5 thousand words can still be understood, but is it worth memorizing super rare words?
2) As you teach, everyone has their own method,
Unacceptable , it was difficult to remember this word, stumbled upon this video, I remembered it instantly, my method is to create an insane image for the word

Answer 1

I think the language is worth learning as needed. What matters is the basics. Take some textbook and understand the grammar of the language, along with some basic set of words. Now there may be web services for this. For example, at one time I just started watching TV shows in English, I didn’t memorize words, but as I met them, I remembered them if I met them often enough. If not, then forget accordingly. It's the same with books. I read, I see an unfamiliar word, I remember if I meet a few more times.
Most importantly, it still seems to me to do the basics. Maybe it's boring, but it's important. I don't see the point in sitting and just memorizing 3,000 words (or 10,000 words).
If, however, you already know the basics of the language, and just ask if it is worth memorizing another 5 thousand words? Then again, I would say no. Words will be remembered as they are used.

Answer 2

From experience I can say that the purposeful study of words does not make sense. Such words are both remembered and forgotten (although it may be different for others). A more reliable way to learn words is to constantly read literature, in the process you will often come across unknown words and refer to the dictionary, and this is how vocabulary is gradually developed.