Are you fluent yet?

Question

I just read an interesting article about fluency I thought I'd share:

http://www.fluentin3months.com/how-many-words/

I found his definition of fluency interesting:

Actually, even if you knew every single word in a language, you can still be far from fluent!! Fluency to me means that I can live my life entirely through that language in the real world without natives needing to adjust for my benefit.

I love that site! Thanks for sharing... :) - NikkiLR, Jun 28, 2013

I know you are ¨getting your feet wet¨ to the site so remember to use this category for your vocabulary and grammar questions. Also, our site is for learning in both languages. When you indicate that in your introductory question the members will answer i - bandit51jd, Jun 28, 2013

....in both languages. It's one of the ways Spanishdict.com members learn. - bandit51jd, Jun 28, 2013

I was going to add a note that I didn't know what category this belonged to, so I was hoping the moderators would put it where it's supposed to be. :-S - tamaramarie, Jun 28, 2013

Answer 1

There are about 1 million words in English.

If Shakespeare were alive today it is estimated he would use about 50,000 of them.

Answer 2

Well, I have said here many, many times that I will never be fluent in Spanish, yet I live my life 24/7/365 in Spanish as no one in my circle speaks any English. I understand 98% of what is said to me and can respond 98% of the time without too much trouble. So am I fluent? I say no! Because inside there is always that tiny fear that I will mess up, and believe me I do, a lot. I get almost daily complements on my Spanish yet I know that I am far from being fluent.

So what's my point. Forget about fluency. You don't need it and few will ever attain it. Unless you are a diplomatic translator or such it doesn't matter. If you can live in the language day to day it doesn't matter one bit if you are fluent.

Could I tell you all this in Spanish. Yes, but there would be grammar errors that would drive some people here nuts. But in the real world people don't care about grammar they care about communication and understanding.

So I will never be fluent and I don't care.

You sould like a fellow perfectionist :-) Based on your 1st paragraph I would consider you fluent...but that's if you don't define it academically I suppose. - tamaramarie, Jun 28, 2013

..."¿That little? You are very fluent!! I get lots of compliments on my Spanish but that is the first "fluent" I have ever gotten. Wow! - gringojrf, Jul 2, 2013

Today I was at the hospital with my girlfriend. WHile she was getting the test done I was talking with a nurse and two other strangers. After a few minutes one of them asked me how long I had been in Mexico. I said six years and she said... - gringojrf, Jul 2, 2013

Answer 3

@Chileno - I agree, "having to adjust" is subjective, but ironically I think that's part of his point. How do you "measure" fluency?

When I was taking a Spanish class in Panama, the teacher (a native Spanish speaker from Panama) explained that if he were to read a medical journal in Spanish he wouldn't understand it, so context is very important.

Even the word "fluent" implies "flow" like water...as in being able to do something smoothly. That's what I would think is meant by a native speaker "having to adjust" -- if you don't understand the majority of what is being communicated to you, or if you can't respond back relatively easily, it doesn't "flow."

I would say if I could comfortably communicate in the language in the contexts important to me, I would feel "fluent" even if I still hadn't mastered the use of the subjunctive (not to mention my English grammar probably also sucks)

For example, I have communicated with many people for whom English is a 2nd language and consistently make the same grammar, spelling, pronunication, etc. mistakes over and over again, but I am able to understand them and they are able to run businesses, work at high paying jobs, and make small talk at parties. What more do you want out of a language?

This is a vote for your last paragraph. Indeed what more do you want or need out of a language? - gringojrf, Jun 28, 2013

Answer 4

To me, fluency means that if you were dropped side-by-side with a native speaker, a blindfolded person would have a hard time telling that you were not a native speaker.

Notice than this sets my bar for fluency much, much higher than many people's definition of fluency. Other people have looser levels of fluency (by one person's standard, my ability to converse with natives makes me fluent).

This also means that I value vocabulary a lot less and accents a lot more. While many people in my spanish class didn't care about their accents, I continue to work hard on my accent.

I think this definition makes a lot of sense because if I was talking to someone on the street who knew fewer words but had a solid American accent, I would subconsciously rank them higher than someone with an awful accent but who spent years upon years learning English. Regardless of how much English you know, people will automatically fault you and you will stick out for having an accent.

I've been told I only have a slight American accent, which gets me into trouble because people hear me talk and assume I can understand them when they speak to me at a normal pace for them. - tamaramarie, Jun 28, 2013

HackerKing, your comment about vocabulary is interesting. I think just the opposite. To me, vocabulary is by far more important than anything including grammar. Pronunciation is very important but iI think of that as different from accents. - gringojrf, Jun 28, 2013

@tamaramarie: Accent alone doesn't solve the problem. But since you've got the hardest part out of the way, you're on the right path. It's the same for me actually. My spanish accent is a lot better than when I started, but my comprehension lags behind. - HackerKing, Jul 5, 2013

Answer 5

It depends of what this person calls "having to adjust"....

it might mean different to different people. (subjective)

What does fluency means to you?

Answer 6

And sure enough, stuff like this begins to surface...and I am going to give my little "schpiel" here...but I hate to type, that's why I invite people to talk to me over a chat in Skype.

For some, the lack of accent, or the amount of words, grammar, the easiness in which people express themselves, etc. is what constitute "fluency".

What would you give to speak like a 10 years old kid, who does not know grammar? Albeit with an accent and even that can be softened and doesn't an extensive vocabulary, per se?