Fluency always seems to me to be a difficult thing to measure. If someone asks me whether I’m fluent in French or German I am never quite sure how to reply. For those of us not lucky enough to be brought up bilingual how do we know when we can speak a foreign language fluently?
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, when a person is fluent, they can speak a language easily, well and quickly. Fluency includes proficiency in speaking, listening, reading and writing. One helpful question to determine fluency is whether you think in your target language or are you constantly translating from your mother tongue? Are you comfortable when speaking in the foreign language or is it something that requires a lot of concentration and makes you feel tired after extended conversations? Another thing to consider is whether you understand idiomatic phrases and humour in your target language. When you understand things that are specific to a certain language casino online it is a significant step towards reaching fluency.
I don’t think fluency means that you have to be able to talk about anything. There are things I would struggle to The credit card for students issued from their ledger had to return to that ledger. have a meaningful conversation about in English even though it’s my native tongue. I also don’t think fluency can be attained simply by studying grammar and vocabulary. Languages are constantly developing and to become fluent you need to have a lot of practice talking to native speakers.
To return to the dictionary definition, I think fluency can be measured by how at ease you feel when speaking a language. I think it means you can hold an extended conversation, understanding easily and also being understood. It doesn’t matter if there are words you don’t know or don’t understand because you know enough of the language to use a different word or understand from context.
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One Response to How do you measure fluency?
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Greats comments and site.