What defines fluency in a foreign language?

Question

In order to be fluent in another language, do you have to know every single word of that language? To me that doesn't seem reasonable because there are some english words that I don't even know. How many words should one know of a foreign language to be consided fluent? If you can carry on a conversation with a local, does that mean you are fluent?

Answer 1

Good question!

The ability to carry on a conversation with a local could be the first mark of fluency. People hardly learn languages to speak with themselves, and one of the greatest challenges for a foreign speaker would be to get used to the tones and speed of a native speaker ("please slow down, I am not fluent in your language" might be a good phrase to begin with). Once you have graduated from that and put the problem of comprehension and timely response behind you, you can move on to honing your usage of the language.

When I teach myself a foreign language, my aim would always be to get to the point where I can crack jokes and write good poems in that language.

My definition of fluency in any language is being able to duck and weave between literal and figurative meanings at will (which will require a relatively good grasp of the vocabulary), and between various levels of formality, especially with a language where honorifics are involved. Many new speakers of a language tend to be dead formal - I've been through that myself - and while there is nothing wrong with that, it might be a hindrance on your ability to mingle with the local crowd.

Being fluent in a foreign language also means being able to think in that language about a whole range of topics. The feeling is amazing when you realise you no longer have to think in your native language and translate what you need to say before voicing it in your acquired language. When you have become accustomed to thinking in your acquired language, it won't be a surprise to find yourself dreaming in that language too!

Of course, there's always the pronunciation to perfect and the grammar. It is very important to get the grammar right when you first start out to get yourself understood at all, but moving on you will find that being able to wriggle out of grammatic laws and still be understood - in a poem for instance - would epitomise an even higher level of fluency.

Answer 2

A good question! It depends. I would say , for example; if your work requires you to be fluent in both oral and written work then then that would be their definition of fluency. However, if it is just to react with people in a social gathering, one should know enough to be able to laugh at jokes and understand most of a conversation and get thoughts across but not neccessarily fluent in the written language.

Answer 3

From an educational viewpoint, the highest (note: not "complete mastery") mastery is when you can use listening AND speaking simultaneously with reading AND writing, fully conveying your ideas and thoughts to your target audience in comprehensible speech AND sensible and logical writing, most ideally in a grammatically correct manner.

Generally speaking, if you can converse with a highly educated native speaker using FORMAL language which includes good vocabulary in comparision to other local native speakers, you can safely say you've reached a high level of fluency.

Of course, if you are competent in the abovementioned, the fluency in writing would have been acquired automatically because the 4 processes of listening, speaking, reading and writing are inseparable.

Answer 4

No, you can never know all words in a language. I think that fluency in a foreign language is ability to speak that language in such a way as to make oneself readily understood, choosing one's vocabulary from a wide base.

Mastery of a foreign language, on the other hand, is ability to speak it so well that nobody suspects that you are not a native.

Answer 5

I have heard that you can consider yourself fluent if you can dream in the language.

On a related note, I once read that even if you are fully fluent in another language, you will always do math in your head in your native language. You automatically think of the names of numbers in your native language, especially if it is more complicated arithmetic, like "389 minus 212 plus 168 equals ?". Yoy may be able to force yourself to do it in the second language, but you will always be much much faster and more accurate in your native language.

another little trivia tidbit. Polite ways of talking about going to the bathroom. Think of what we teach small children to express having to go to the bathroom. If you are a native speaker of English, maybe "Number 1" and "Number 2". If you are a native speaker of Russian, "little ones" and "big ones". Supposedly, you always revert back to the native expressions in your head, even if you are fluent in another language.

Answer 6

Being able to speak the language with ease, not pausing a lot in your speech, and knowing how to discuss a range of topics. My dad speaks Dutch well, but he doesn't tell people he's fluent, because he knows he woudl be stuck on certain areas.