levels of proficiency
In our profiles we can indicate that our level of proficiency is "beginner", "intermediate", "advanced" or "fluent". Could we add "native speaker"? One of our members thought that I was a native Spanish speaker because I show that I'm fluent in Spanish (which may be an overstatement in itself).
Also, could we make it a requirement for new members to show their levels, so we have a little better knowledge when we try to answer their questions? I often give a different answer to a beginner that I do to an advanced speaker (of either Spanish or English).
10 Answers
Even if a person learns Spanish (or any second language) to a point that he/she speaks with no accent and has a total command of the vocabulary, if she/he hasn't been raised in the culture, there are gestures, understandings and philosophies that are beyond the grasp of someone raised outside the culture. No matter how well I speak Spanish, I'll always be a foreign speaker.
It would defenitly be very helpful to make it a requirement to show the level.
And being able to put "Native Speaker" in your profile would make things more clear also.
you got my vote on this one, good idea ! 
I am now surrounded by native speakers, and fluent speakers of spanish and a few of us that struggle. Fluent speakers handle the language without problems, they can joke and understand jokes, they are not stuggling to find words. If the exact word they want doesn't pop into their heads they have several other words to use in order to maintain the flow of the conversation. Native speakers interact with them as equals and enjoy their company. I can, however, usually pick out non native speakers even fluent ones. Their rythum and sometimes their accent is a little differnt. The other day I was listening to a lesson (in Sunday School) by a very fluent and effective teacher but I said to the person next to me (Calvoviejo) she doesn't speak like a native but I don't think she is an english speaker either. I spoke to her after the meeting (in my halting very unfluent spanish) and ask her if she was a native. It turns out she immigrated from Germany when when she was 14. She has been here in Colombia for over 40 years. She speaks German and Spanish, so we conversed for a moment in my very unfluent German. At least for me there is difference between fluent and native.
...could we make it a requirement for new members to show their levels...
I agree completely.
I think it would be very helpful to know a members level of proficiency when giving and receiving answers.
If you are not a spy or working as a professional translator what does it matter what your level of proficiency is because how it is measured will give different results.
For example, how many americans could pass a written language test (grammer and vocabulary). Yet we all manage to communicate on a daily basis. Would you be rated as being fluent in English based on a test? Some would and some wouldn't. If it had a lot of grammer I know I wouldn't be rated fluent but I am a native speaker.
I know that if I were to take tests of my spanish proficiency it would probably say I am an intermediate level. Yet I lived in Mexico for four years speaking nothing but spanish all day every day conversing with everyone I met (all native speakers) and yes I had problems but I was understood and I understood them. Based on that I think I am functionally fluent. Is my grammer perfect? No. But its not perfect in English either. Is my vocabulary as large as that of a native speaker? No. But there are many people in the US with a bigger and better vocabulary than I.
I say quit worrying about tests and levels and just start talking and making mistakes. Yes keep studying as well. But as several people have said here and in other posts, if you are not raised in a culture you will NEVER be totally fluent. There are just too many nuances in any language.
There is major difference between fluent and native fluent. Being fluent doesn't = being able to speak like a native. My problem is that not everyone lists their level accurately. There was a guy just the other day asking very beginner questions that had listed his level as "intermediate" and people were treating him like a total beginner. I wanted to say "Hey this guy is the same level as me, he doesn't need that kind of help" but that wouldn't have been the truth. He was obviously embellishing his level to suit whatever odd purpose he had when he was still a beginner. I would love it if there was some way for us to have a number that accurately represented our skill level based on a series of constantely updating and rotating tests, but then that would be pretty difficult to achieve wouldn't it? 
Example: Jeezzle: Intermediate (782), CalvoViejoL Fluent (1221). You know, like in a chess league. Beginner up to 400, Intermediate up to 800, Advanced up to 1200, Fluent up to 2000, Native Fluent over 2000. There could be no possible way to implement this so it's just a little dream. "I need people that are rated over 782 to answer this question guys!"
HI -alba, thanks for adding Nicole's excellent post
Could we add "native speaker"
HI Calvo, I have tried to get this implemented many times, without success.
This was actually asked almost a year ago, since then I have been trying
It would be great to see the poster's native language and country of birth added to the header of each post.
I think it would be fabulous if we could use Nicole's post on levels of fluency to say what level we are in our profile and I agree with adding "Native speaker" to the list and having it be a requirement to say what level you are.
"Fluent" does the job fine, you should be able to speak like a native if you're truly fluent in a language.
Here is something that bugs me...
There are many new members who actually do fill out their English and Spanish levels, but it seems that some of them say they are at an higher level than they actually seem to be. I have seen people who claim to be intermediate (or even fluent) and ask very, very basic grammar and vocabulary questions. Some try to write their questions in Spanish too, but they cannot even conjugate verbs correctly or write a sentence with proper word order and spelling. =(
For me, if someone is an intermediate or higher, they should at least be aware of all the hard grammar topics and use them more or less correctly, know how to put sentences together and know how to conjugate verbs correctly...
I am all for adding "Native Speaker"... I think that is something we really need. It also would not hurt to add some more language levels...
For example: Intermediate Low, Intermediate Mid, Intermediate High... ect.
