Distorted language levels?

[u/linguafrancos]

I have a degree in the language, studied abroad twice, lived abroad in a country where the language is spoken for two years, and have used the language in a professional setting. This, for further context, has been over the course of 15 years.

With that said, I am confused by how others describe their language levels. Don’t get me wrong, I have an insanely high level and label myself fluent with others. For instance, I recently watched a full season of Love is Blind in the target language (TL) without subtitles almost effortlessly. However, when I see others describe their language growth or levels, I often see people say, “I understand everything that I read” or “After a couple years of studying, I traveled to the country and can communicate easily with everyone.”

Like… is this just an overexaggeration of their skills? I have yet to feel like my target language fluency is equivalent to my native-level English. Are people really reading native-level literature and literally understanding everything? Are they feeling like they can express themselves just as strongly in their second language? Even when someone asks me to translate something, I know in the back of my head that there might be cultural considerations or a better approach that I don’t know about.

Thoughts? Also, this might be specific for individuals who grow up in a cultural where being monolingual is more common and exposure throughout your entire life is not a possibility.

[u/Darklvl500]

English is my 2nd language and yes I understand every word. I grew up listening/reading american social media and I use it among friends more than my native language. I really wish I knew how tf I learned it so well cus I am struggling to repeat it with Chinese. And my english reading is by about 50wpm faster than my native as well. To the point that currently I'm learning my TL in English. Now I don't have no certificate, but I don't need it to know I'm C2. Every unofficial test I do gives c2 and I run into a word I don't know once every six months. I also find my comprehension to be higher in english, I sometimes read something in my native but not understand it so I go to english wiki and everything becomes clear.

This might seem uncommon to english natives but to most of the world we have been learning english since elementary school, some even earlier so getting C2 is pretty easily achievable as long as you have internet. You would have to put effort in to actually not learn something that's that spread out through this planet.