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At what level do you say you speak (2) ?

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
Poll Question: At what level do you say you speak (2) ?
Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics
21 [17.50%]
13 [10.83%]
10 [8.33%]
50 [41.67%]
26 [21.67%]
You can not vote in this poll

118 messages over 15 pages: 13 4 5 6 7 ... 2 ... 14 15 Next >>
smallwhite
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 5313 days ago

537 posts - 1045 votes 
Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin, French, Spanish

 
 Message 9 of 118
15 July 2012 at 2:35pm | IP Logged 
I think
B1 = know and speak that language, but not very good at it.
B2 = know and speak that language, quite good at it, can use it for work and tertiary study.

Many immigrants speak broken English, etc, and you usually describe them as speaking poor English instead of as not speaking English.
7 persons have voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5014 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 10 of 118
16 July 2012 at 10:00pm | IP Logged 
I chose B2- because I think you can speak with a native comfortably if your speaking
skills are higher than B1, closer to B2, but under two conditions:
1.your listening skills are higher, at least the border between B2/C1. the native won't
have trouble understanding you but the other direction won't work and the monologue is
useless.
2.you are able to not look confused even when you are and to cover the pieces you don't
catch based on the context you understood. If you can't do that, you will seem to be at
much lower level than you actually are and you might not get the chance to prove the
truth.
3 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6602 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 11 of 118
17 July 2012 at 12:38am | IP Logged 
Cavesa wrote:
you are able to not look confused even when you are and to cover the pieces you don't catch based on the context you understood. If you can't do that, you will seem to be at much lower level than you actually are and you might not get the chance to prove the truth.
That's more of a social skill. I personally think it's normal to occasionally perform below your normal level, especially in a difficult situation. That's what truly determines the level, imo. For example, nowadays even at my worst I still sound like I have basic fluency in Finnish. When I was at basic fluency, at my worst I'd sound like an intermediate learner.
1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5014 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 12 of 118
17 July 2012 at 1:13am | IP Logged 
Sure, it is more of a social skill (and self-confidence) but it is part of what makes
people "fluent". Fluency is more about social skills than proficiency or a cefr level, in
my opinion. So, a person with high listening and social skills may be much more fluent
than someone with actually better speaking skills who lacks one of the other two parts.
5 persons have voted this message useful



Zireael
Triglot
Senior Member
Poland
Joined 4656 days ago

518 posts - 636 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, Spanish
Studies: German, Sign Language, Tok Pisin, Arabic (Yemeni), Old English

 
 Message 13 of 118
24 March 2013 at 5:15pm | IP Logged 
What's the difference between B2- and B2? My Spanish is somewhere between those two and I don't know which one to pick...

EDIT: And I'm seriously considering switching Spanish in my profile to "speaks", as I'm going to take B2 this summer.

Edited by Zireael on 24 March 2013 at 5:16pm

3 persons have voted this message useful



Emily96
Diglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 4433 days ago

270 posts - 342 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Spanish, Finnish, Latin

 
 Message 14 of 118
24 March 2013 at 11:42pm | IP Logged 
I said B2. I do not consider this fluent, but i would consider it "speaks".
1 person has voted this message useful



zerrubabbel
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4605 days ago

232 posts - 287 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese, Mandarin

 
 Message 15 of 118
25 March 2013 at 12:01am | IP Logged 
I chose B1 as my Japanese skill. I think My speaking is right around there, and I would also choose B1 to describe my
skills in general. I have plenty of opportunity to listen and comprehend things, and I think if I could speak as well as
I could understand, I would probably be pushing into a B2 level... but we all know you will never be able to say
everything you can hear, and I know especially for me, I have a lot of passive vocabulary that I should activate.
A quick note about my reading and writing: I would consider myself fluent in the Kana, and I can read about 300
kanji, probably can only right about 200 without help, and I would expect some to contain mistakes.
1 person has voted this message useful



Fuenf_Katzen
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
notjustajd.wordpress
Joined 4374 days ago

337 posts - 476 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans

 
 Message 16 of 118
25 March 2013 at 3:16am | IP Logged 
I'm surprised I'm actually saying this, but I'm going to choose B1. However, I'm not entirely sure how accurate that is, as a common observation I've noticed is people take CEFR tests when they're very safely within a certain range, if not actually above that level. There would be a big difference between a true B1 level learner studying for a B2 exam and someone who is taking B2 because they think that is the most realistic choice (I hope I'm explaining that clearly!)

Still, I would say B1 is the bare minimum because at that point you're out of "survival" mode, and can, at least in theory, understand details and context, and be able to contribute. This is around the point where I really began to feel that I was no longer going from keyword to keyword in a conversation.      


2 persons have voted this message useful



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