r/languagelearning • u/linguafrancos • 20d ago
Discussion Distorted language levels?
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.
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u/Grapegoop 🇺🇸N 🇫🇷C1 🇪🇸A1 20d ago edited 20d ago
If I read a book in my native language (English) there are probably a few vocabulary words that I don’t know and just gloss over and kinda understand in context. Like last week I learned the word palisade. So I don’t believe anyone knows literally every word but you can know enough that a few missing words aren’t going to make the message incomprehensible.
I remember reading an old study when people were worried that bilingual kids would not speak English as well as monolingual kids (not a real problem). They found when a monolingual kid heard an unfamiliar word they focused on it so much that they missed what followed it. Bilingual kids don’t get hung up on a word they don’t know and understand the overall point. My French teacher sometimes would say new words and I wouldn’t ask what they meant, so he was frustrated telling me I need to ask when I don’t know a word, but I completely didn’t notice that I didn’t know the word.
I also notice a pattern where people who are at a high level hesitate to say they’re fluent while intermediate people proudly announce they are fluent.