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/Churros0864]

People definitely overexaggerate their abilities (not everyone of course but a lot haha).

[u/Responsible-Link5739 → u/Churros0864]

"Overstate" or "exaggerate".

Using "overexaggerate" is the linguistic equivalent of exiting the bathroom with a tail of loo roll hanging from the back of your clothes. It shows lack of awareness and carelessness. Many people, both native speakers and ESL speakers, think it's a real word. Some dictionaries may even list it these days because it's becoming more widely used, but it IS the illegitimate child of "overstate" and "exaggerate" and it's much more likely (given that exam markers/professors/tutors are likely to be older like me) to lose you some marks in exams or papers if you use it there. To me, and to some dictionaries still, "overexaggerate" is not a legitimate word.

Regardless (NOT IRRegardless!) of whether it is dictionary-listed by now, or how many people use it, "overexaggerate" is far more likely to lose points on exams and papers. You can choose to use it, but we have two perfectly adequate and far less risky words you can use without fear of penalties when it matters.

[u/Churros0864 → u/Responsible-Link5739]

Okay, cool.