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When a language becomes "spoken"

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
14 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
kujichagulia
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 4849 days ago

1031 posts - 1571 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese, Portuguese

 
 Message 1 of 14
29 August 2014 at 7:56am | IP Logged 
I'm curious... Exactly when does a language listed in your profile move to the "speaks" section? I've often updated the questionnaires in my profile that ask you how well you speak, hear, read and write a language (e.g. "Can you read 80% of a newspaper?", etc.). I'm just curious about how "high" your answers need to be before your language moves from "studies" to "speaks".
1 person has voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4709 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 2 of 14
29 August 2014 at 10:42am | IP Logged 
I don't think people have set criteria for this. I do it when I can basically be treated
as a normal human being in conversation and people don't have to slow down for my benefit
(i.e. I can automatically enter conversations in both written and spoken form). The
reason I do not put Hebrew as "speaks" is because I can't read Hebrew very well, even
though I probably speak it well enough to be put at a B-level in oral environments. Once
I get around to reading Hebrew well I will put it as speaks.

For advanced fluency, I would add the capability to write longer texts in a professional
manner and to have very few or rare errors (and maybe a slightly noticeable accent). For
example, I have written more complex material in French, I have had to present in French
and so on. So here I use advanced fluency. Native/native-like is for something I speak
like I do Dutch (English).
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Ogrim
Heptaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 4641 days ago

991 posts - 1896 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian
Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian

 
 Message 3 of 14
29 August 2014 at 11:21am | IP Logged 
I asked the same question in this thread so you might check out the replies I got there.

My take is to list a language as "speaks" when I can have a meaningful conversation with a native speaker about everyday things. So I list German, although I do make mistakes, and I would not feel comfortable having an in-depth discussion about philosophy or astronomy in German. However, I list Catalan as "Studies", because although I understand everything and can read it without problem, I have very little speaking practice and would struggle hard to speak it well without mixing with Spanish. I can hardly say I study Catalan actively though, but as I wanted to include it in my profile I had to make a decision on where to put it.

As I said in the other thread, I don't find the classification "speaks" and "studies" very satisfactory, but as I don't expect any modifications to be done to this, you just have to make the call yourself as to whether you speak or study a language.

Edited by Ogrim on 29 August 2014 at 11:24am

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kujichagulia
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 4849 days ago

1031 posts - 1571 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese, Portuguese

 
 Message 4 of 14
29 August 2014 at 4:02pm | IP Logged 
I think I was misunderstood.

I'm not asking about the criteria that we use to decide if we can speak a language or not. I'm asking a technical question about the forum. What do I do in order for a language to go from "Studies" in my profile to "Speaks"? Does it have anything to do with the questionnaire that we fill out in the profile? Or is there a way to manually set it yourself when you feel that you are ready to say you "speak" a language?

Edited by kujichagulia on 29 August 2014 at 4:03pm

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rdearman
Senior Member
United Kingdom
rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5238 days ago

881 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin

 
 Message 5 of 14
29 August 2014 at 4:11pm | IP Logged 
Click on "My Profile" then go to "Languages"
Click on the language you wish to edit.
Click the "Edit Button"
In here you can change it to native language, studies, etc.


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kujichagulia
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 4849 days ago

1031 posts - 1571 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese, Portuguese

 
 Message 6 of 14
29 August 2014 at 4:13pm | IP Logged 
rdearman wrote:
Click on "My Profile" then go to "Languages"
Click on the language you wish to edit.
Click the "Edit Button"
In here you can change it to native language, studies, etc.

I see. So it has nothing to do with that questionnaire, then.
1 person has voted this message useful



Ogrim
Heptaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 4641 days ago

991 posts - 1896 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian
Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian

 
 Message 7 of 14
29 August 2014 at 4:14pm | IP Logged 
Yes, I did misunderstand you, so now I checked out how to do it technically, and I just "upgraded" Romansh in my own profile. Basically, you need to go into your profile, click on languages in the orange field at the top under your nick. You then choose the language you want to "upgrade" and click on edit. Here, in the drop-down menus you need to mark the language at least at the level of basic fluency, and indicate "not studying". Once saved, the language should appear under "speaks" instead of "studies".

Edit: beaten to it by rdearman...

Edited by Ogrim on 29 August 2014 at 4:15pm

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vonPeterhof
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4774 days ago

715 posts - 1527 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German
Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish

 
 Message 8 of 14
29 August 2014 at 4:40pm | IP Logged 
You don't have to indicate "not studying"; I've got "Studying on and off" for German and "Studying full time" for Japanese and they both appear in the "Speaks" category for me. It's determined solely by the "Level reached" setting: everything below Basic fluency is "Studies", everything else is "Speaks".


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