What does 'fluent' mean?

Whenever i see, in a resumé (C.V.) for example, that someone is 'fluent' in a language other than their mother tongue. I think "O RLY". Color me skeptical, but I'd say 80% to 90% of the people who have said they are fluent, really aren't according to my standards.

Some years ago when I was working in a soul-crushing job for a Japanese company, I was introduced to this young American dude in a suit who said he was "totally fluent in Japanese".  I had to sit and talk to this dude for at least 10 minutes. Let me say, I understood him for about 60 seconds worth out of the 10 minutes. The rest I had to sort of extrapolate.

Eventually I gently maneuvered him into English because my head was hurting. (At least I think I was gentle. Or I may have said "Can we switch to English? My ears are bleeding." It was some time ago.)

Then there was another time when this man who a friend of mine was in love with (or, to put it another way, my friend had a man crush on the guy) brought his overly smart and slightly creepy kids to a group dinner. His daughter was seated next to me. At some point the girl (she was about 16) turned to me and started babbling. I remember staring at her blankly. Her father beamed at me, saying "Isn't her Japanese great?"  I think I nodded sort of semi-consciously, not wishing to offend him or crush her spirit, or whatever. It sounded as Japanese to me as Dutch sounds German. (If someone who speaks German listens to Dutch, it almost seems understandable, like if you listen hard enough you'll eventually get it. But you never do. There's a sort of similar-but-really-different quality like that with Korean vs. Japanese too.)

There are a couple of criteria that I think anyone has to meet before they can say with total honesty and without delusion that they are fluent. 

• You should be able to be understood by a native speaker. Kind of obvious.
• You should be able to converse more or less without thinking too much. You may get stuck on a few words but otherwise, it should flow.
• You should be familiar with at least some slang terms or idioms.
• You should dream in that language, at least sometimes.

The last one is the most important. Once you start to hear and speak that language in your dreams, it means that language has penetrated deep into your brain.

So, according to these criteria, I am really only fluent in Japanese, my native language, and English, though I do sometimes dream some German. When I'm in France for some length of time I dream a bit in that too but - no way am I fluent in French of German. I get by and that's it.

I am not sure that I helped that girl speaking gibberish to me by nodding when her proud parent said how great her Japanese was. I would think honesty would be better. But I wasn't about to ripple the waves with virtual strangers at dinner, especially with a kid.

Comments

[Max]

There are two more signs for fluency (which may be even more how much you are assimilated):

a) cursing in that language

b) counting money in that language when not being watched

[yoko]

There's a certain amount of cultural fluency involved in language, too. I guess that's inferred. It's not enough to be grammatically correct or to have flawless pronunciation-- one would need to know allusions to things like traditional children's tales, pop culture references, and so forth.

I can't say with confidence that I'm fluent in Japanese, much to my embarrassment. But I've been told that I sometimes talk in my sleep in Japanese. :)

[maki]

Indeed, I don't count having a flawless accent as necessary for being fluent - I have friends and acquaintances whose pronounciation is heavily accented, but who are very fluent indeed. Like, say, the Governator (he's not a friend, but a good example of someone with an accent!)

[Jessica D]

We are completely immersed in a world where lying on one's resume is taken for granted. It's too bad these people actually get away with it though. I personally am fluent in three languages and partially passable in another one... and I hate being bunched with these amateurs when folks do an express-judgement on my skills based on the majority of liers out there. Totally unfair to those of us who actually know what we're doing.

[Quindra]

Interesting post! I always hesitate to answer when I visit back home in the States and people say something like, "You've been in Japan for seven years so you're totally fluent, right?"

While I can comfortably watch Japanese TV and movies, read books and articles in Japanese (with dictionary help!), and do dream in Japanese about 30% of the time, it's still painfully obvious how much I still need to improve in just about every way. I wonder if this feeling will ever go away.

A friend told me that you'll know you're Japanese is good when people stop complementing you and instead are made uncomfortable by your near-native articulation. I'm prone to believe this.

[numaari]

My best friend had over seven years of instruction in German and has a bachelors degree in the language. She had hosted exchange students, been an exchange student, and visited German twice more whilst in college. I am constantly amazed by her, but she does not count herself as fluent.

When she was in Berlin, several Germans stopped to ask her for directions!

Perhaps fluency includes modesty as well. Because if native speakers stop you for directions on the street and then apologize sheepishly when you explain that you are NOT a Berliner, I would call that fluency. :)

[purpleshoes]

When people ask me if I'm fluent in my second language (Spanish) I tend to answer "for an American". It's mean, but it's more honest than the alternative. (I get encouraged, a lot, to say that I'm "fluent" or "bilingual", when frankly I only know three verb tenses well enough to use all the time. It's provoking, but in my part of the world saying "I speak some Spanish" means "I can order a taco and talk about the weather and that's it", so I'm kind of stuck.)

[keishi]

i am just now learning japanese. and its hard yet very understandable. i dont see myself as becoming fluent anytime soon. but then again i know that in a years time i will have a deep understanding of the language. tho i may not know everything nore all of the words memorized. but ill be able to catch on more and more as i go. wish me luck!!

( a week in and im getting the hang of putting sentenses together!!)

[Dries]

I never learned any German, but as a native Dutch speaker I understand German very well when trying. I can even read it at a reasonable speed.

I went on vacation to Munchen once and was speaking Dutch with my companion, some burschenschaften were sitting next to us and seemed to understand us. They actually tought we spoke a German dialect...

Oh yeah, and don't we all lie a little on our CV's?