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ellasevia
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2011
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5991 days ago

2150 posts - 3229 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian
Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian

 
 Message 49 of 71
12 March 2010 at 6:41am | IP Logged 
Thanks for the information. :)

yawn wrote:
^ Hi Philip! Nice to meet you too :) Just out of curiosity, how many languages do you consider yourself to be
fluent in?


Oh dear, I hate this question, but I'll try to answer it while not over-complicating it. So, I generally consider myself to have reached "fluency" when I get to my definition of advanced fluency, which is probably C1 or C2 level. As such, I would say that other than English, I have attained this is in Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Basic fluency for me is not really speaking the language fluently and it's more of a B2 level, I think. I would estimate that I am at that in Greek and Italian currently, perhaps a bit higher or a bit lower. For German I think I'm probably a high A2 or possibly a B1, but I might be underestimating myself. For Esperanto and Swedish I'm probably somewhere in the B's, although I can understand a lot more in reading than I can produce or understand when spoken. For Japanese I'm probably at somewhere between high A1 or a low B1. I just started Swahili a couple weeks ago, so most definitely A1.

I'm still not very familiar with these standards yet, so these are all approximations. I have educated myself on them a bit more this evening by finding THIS website which has speaking examples for A2-C2 and THIS webpage with written examples of the levels. For several of them I actually expected higher proficiency in the speaking portions than what I saw, so my estimates might actually be rather lower than what experts might judge them to be.

Well, it's late and when it's this time of night I never write coherently, so I commend you if you were able to understand all of the previous babbling nonsense. Good night and thanks for the information on the exams--I might take one or two this summer. :)

--Philip

Edited by ellasevia on 13 March 2010 at 10:51pm

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yawn
Bilingual Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5275 days ago

141 posts - 209 votes 
Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, FrenchC2, SpanishC2
Studies: GermanB1

 
 Message 50 of 71
12 March 2010 at 7:25pm | IP Logged 
^ Is that eleven languages in total? I'm extremely impressed! :D It certainly takes a lot of effort and dedication to even pick up one, so you're actually in a very good position right now. Have you lived in the U.S. your whole life, or have you had some international experience that might have helped in your learning? :)
1 person has voted this message useful



ellasevia
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2011
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5991 days ago

2150 posts - 3229 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian
Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian

 
 Message 51 of 71
13 March 2010 at 6:42am | IP Logged 
I have lived in the US my entire life, but I often spend half of the summer in Greece with my family. For example this past summer, I spent 6 weeks there, but this summer we're not going (Tanzania instead). I suppose that really doesn't count for much, but I like it. :) I have also traveled to a bunch of countries, mainly in Latin America and Europe. I've never been outside of North America or Europe though.

I really would like to do a exchange student program at some point, perhaps in Japan, Italy, or Sweden...
1 person has voted this message useful



yawn
Bilingual Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5275 days ago

141 posts - 209 votes 
Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, FrenchC2, SpanishC2
Studies: GermanB1

 
 Message 52 of 71
13 March 2010 at 10:55pm | IP Logged 
^ Very exciting stuff! This upcoming summer, I'm actually going to be traveling to Europe (touring several countries
including France, Germany, and Poland), so I'm incredibly excited! I really can't wait for school to be over, lol. Then
again, once junior year ends, I'll be a senior and will have to seriously start thinking about applying to colleges...
ugh. I think I've got a pretty good list so far. Have you had any post-high-school-graduation plans yet? :)
1 person has voted this message useful



ellasevia
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2011
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5991 days ago

2150 posts - 3229 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian
Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian

 
 Message 53 of 71
13 March 2010 at 11:11pm | IP Logged 
That sounds pretty fun. Have you been to Europe before? I really like it and I'm sure you'll enjoy being able to use your French and German during your stay. Will you study any Polish before you leave so that you can speak a little with people when you get there? I think that it would be an interesting experience--I'm currently doing exactly that with Swahili for my upcoming trip to Tanzania, although I do intend to continue studying after I return.

I am not really sure about after high school in that I don't know what college I might want to go to or anything yet. Hopefully I can find a good language one (or similar humanities or social science sort of studies) somewhere. Like I said, I would like to do an exchange or living abroad program of some sort either during high school or as a gap year...
1 person has voted this message useful



yawn
Bilingual Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5275 days ago

141 posts - 209 votes 
Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, FrenchC2, SpanishC2
Studies: GermanB1

 
 Message 54 of 71
13 March 2010 at 11:20pm | IP Logged 
ellasevia wrote:
That sounds pretty fun. Have you been to Europe before? I really like it and I'm sure you'll
enjoy being able to use your French and German during your stay. Will you study any Polish before you leave so
that you can speak a little with people when you get there? I think that it would be an interesting experience--
I'm currently doing exactly that with Swahili for my upcoming trip to Tanzania, although I do intend to continue
studying after I return.

I am not really sure about after high school in that I don't know what college I might want to go to or anything
yet. Hopefully I can find a good language one (or similar humanities or social science sort of studies) somewhere.
Like I said, I would like to do an exchange or living abroad program of some sort either during high school or as
a gap year...


I haven't been to continental Europe, save for a school trip during my freshman year to the French Alps (a week-
long immersion trip involving a LOT of skiing lol!). But this time, my family and I will definitely be visiting the
more urban areas of France, including Paris. So I'm anticipating that my French will be put to good use. :)

On the other hand, I actually never thought about learning a bit of Polish prior to the trip -- it certainly sounds
like an interesting idea though! Perhaps I should.

And about study abroad programs, I'm also seriously considering them, but probably won't get around to doing
them until I get to college. I did find this website though; it has complete lists of all study abroad programs
available to high school students: http://www.studyabroad.com/highschool/

If you want to spend a year of high school in a foreign country, I'd recommend applying to possible programs of
interest as soon as possible, because I often hear that your junior year is the one year when studying abroad is
actually feasible (senior year is overwhelming; there's college apps to fill out and all these annoying financial aid
forms to complete). Best of luck, and hope you have fun this summer! I know I will. :D
1 person has voted this message useful



ellasevia
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2011
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 5991 days ago

2150 posts - 3229 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian
Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian

 
 Message 55 of 71
13 March 2010 at 11:24pm | IP Logged 
I was thinking that if I were to spend a year abroad, I would just spend five years in high school instead of four (I don't really mind). For example, I would do my senior year in X country and then come back here and do it again...
1 person has voted this message useful



yawn
Bilingual Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5275 days ago

141 posts - 209 votes 
Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, FrenchC2, SpanishC2
Studies: GermanB1

 
 Message 56 of 71
13 March 2010 at 11:29pm | IP Logged 
Interesting idea. You should probably talk to someone at school (e.g. a teacher, your guidance counselor) about it
though; it would certainly be classified as a "special circumstance" in terms of applying to colleges...


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