Fluency. What a pain in the cheerios. 4 years in Germany and I am still hesitant to call myself fluent. But some people think it's ok to say it as soon as they can order a beer.
When do you/did you consider yourself fluent in your new language?
Today on From Away, Jillian is talking about her seven levels of fluency, which are not unlike like seven levels of hell.
From Away is a channel helping expats who moved to a new country for love.
Hey Jillian,
Another nice video! Totally with you on finding people who casually toss the word "fluent" around annoying! I lived in Sweden for 4 years and was proud of myself for having mastered Swedish to a pretty good level, then I met a Scottish bloke who was like "Oh yeah, I learned Swedish in like 2 weeks". Turns out he meant that he could introduce himself and ask for a beer. Grrrr! I think people who take language learning seriously are the ones who treat the concept of fluency with the respect it deserves. Like I met so many Swedish, Dutch and Austrian people with an amazing grasp of English who describe themselves as "beginners". The difference in perspective leaves one gobsmacked!
I don't have such a well-ordered system as you, but I think a big step for me in the road to fluency is when the person I'm talking to doesn't offer to switch to English for my sake. I HATE it when that happens! I'm trying my best with the language and it makes me feel like my attempt must have totally failed. Funny story: my current boyfriend did that to me the first time we met. Luckily I forgave him for it quite quickly :)
Totally with you on the part about staring at people's lips. I still can't handle situations with a lot of background noise, so I think that would be another important factor in my list. Last week I was at a Raclette party and even the hissing of the grill was too much for me to catch what people were saying in German. I also liked your comments about the highest level being when you can express your personality. I still totally feel like a dumb person in German because I can't say all the marvellously intelligent things that I'm thinking. Still, I know it's a process and I'm hoping I'll get there in the end.
Good to hear from someone with similar struggles!
On a side note, the moment where you were like "can't think of anything to say about sport" LMAO :D
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