When should we turn out account from speaking beginner to speaking intermediate?
Am still far from this point, I think. But what may be some good signs, away from lessons completed here, that we may recognize that we are making true progress and will be able to advance not prematurely?
9 Answers
Ditto webdunce's comments...
I think that if you are honest with yourself you will know when you are at a higher level or not.
You may be proficient in reading and writing Spanish but unable to carry on a conversation. I don't know what your goals are but if it is speaking the language, you know if you still a beginner or not.
You may be able to write essays and such all day long here on spanishdict.com and have perfect grammar, but if you can't step into a conversation on the street, you are still a beginner 
I'm really hard on myself though, my rules probably don't apply 
For me, I think that point would be when I can I could understand most of what people say, understand most of what I read, and express myself, for the most part, without grabbing a dictionary (in writing or reading). But maybe most would consider that advanced.
If there were a greater granularity to the rating: like beginner beginner, intermediate beginner, advanced beginner, beginner intermediate, and so forth. I'd rate myself intermediate beginner. I've got many of the basics like spelling and basic pronunciation out of the way, as well as a good many basic rules and common greetings and a good, solid basic vocabulary. But, I still need to look up words way too much and understand almost nothing of what I hear.
Conversations to me are like: blah blah blah está haciendo. Sí, en el camino, blah blah blah solo soy diciendo que blah blah blah. Pues, en realidad, no tengo un blah blah blah. (This just doesn't fit my idea of intermediate.)
A few times I heard a word and understood it as a word that I didn't know, which I could look up later (I heard a character in a movie say "Yo lo despacho" and I didn't know what despacho meant...in English the character says "I'll break his neck," which is actually somewhat different...but, for the most part I just hear gibberish and a few words I understand)
But, in the end, it's up to you and your personal view of what intermediate is. I may be overly harsh in my standards. But I'd rather someone think I should upgrade my status rather than have people thinking I should downgrade it (St. Luke 14:8-11)
There were actually some tests that you could take online that would rate your skill level, I remember someone posted them before. I scored intermediate, and I consider myself intermediate but tonight I was given the best complement by a Spanish friend. When someone asked if I was learning Spanish she said "Nah he already knows it." I spend my Friday and Saturdays working with two beautiful women that teach me Spanish those two nights. I save up all my lessons from the week and questions and they go over everything with me so I have an ace in the hole. As for rating myself...I hear all the words but I don't always put them together the right way. Unless the words are about something obscure I will generally at least get a good idea of what is being said.
Go to spanishpod.com. At the bottom of the page, under the resources section, select test.
It is able to rate you at five different levels of listening comprehension, so it's pretty good at letting you know where you are at..
When you get to the point you think you are intermediate, why not ask some of the native speakers on the forum?
I don't know, but I had mine on Intermediate for awhile when I was more full of myself, but I switched it back to beginner. I don't anticipate changing it any time soon.
HI simply, if you can do any of my killer threads, and undestand at least half without looking at the dictionary....you are intermediate
jejeje
Isn't there some kind of level exams to test yourselves? If not, I think it's a great idea for a new section in this forum, don't you think?
They are everywhere on the forum. Just involve yourself in some of these daily threads and they will be proofing your work every day.They will know your skill and will let you know what they think if you ask them.
