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Why do people lie about being fluent? | ||
Tags: Fake Reviews | Fluency | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5227 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 73 of 88 30 April 2011 at 10:39am | IP Logged | |||||
I can't believe so much has been said and yet the main point has been only barely scratched. I'll go ahead and believe the OP when she says the other woman lies, instead of simply being deluding herself, bending definitions or whatever; after all, I know neither of them so what do I care? The question is, why does the 'liar' lie? And it's really simple. In the immortal words of Homer Simpson:
People lie about fluency -and everything else- because a) it makes them feel better b) it gives them an edge until they're found out, and c) all of the above. Which reminds me what another poster said
that almost made me fall flat on my ass, laughing. Just in what cases exactly are you NOT expected to back up your claims at one point or another? Since there's a potential gain in lying, some people will do it. Since there's a potential loss in not checking out, you ought to do it sometimes. Is it really that difficult? Oh, I forgot - if worded so, the thread would have been closed for not being strictly language learning-related :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5227 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 75 of 88 30 April 2011 at 12:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I just read about a Scottish colonel captured in colonial India by foes, who pretended not to speak any local languages to avoid being taken for a spy and executed.
A convict suspect of murder will expectedly claim not to have killed the victims for the same reason, regardless of his innocence/guiltiness. So? Some people have good reasons to lie, some (most) don't, but they lie anyway, and that's why :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5227 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 77 of 88 30 April 2011 at 1:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Oh my God you must be right!
I just read about a Michel Thomas Russian course and now I feel I can say I'm fluent in Russian without lying :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5767 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 78 of 88 30 April 2011 at 1:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
Clever person - you don't have to prove yourself and you always have an ace in your backpocket that way. And people won't be able to pin you down on it because you can always say that you weren't that confident in your skills when they asked you. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 Mae Trilingual Octoglot Pro Member Germany Joined 4992 days ago 299 posts - 499 votes Speaks: German*, SpanishC2*, Swiss-German*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, ItalianB2, Dutch, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Swedish Personal Language Map | Message 79 of 88 30 April 2011 at 3:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Reasons why people would lie about their language skills? I often ask myself why do people lie at all, when it comes to their abilities. We all know a few persons claiming to speak 30, 40, 50 or even more languages fluently. I guess we all have different understandings of "being fluent in [language X]". (I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, ok? It's just my opinion.)
I know, meeting CEFR as a standard might not be the preferred option, but concerning fluency I would say that someone who has reached a proper B1-level is quite fluent in a language. It also depends on the goals of each pearson. A1/A2 is perfectly enough for a city trip; B1/B2 is well enough to speak about your personal matters and start studying at a university (I did, and my language skills increased dramatically, even if I had some difficulty at the beginning); C1/C2 would be necessary to have cultivated conversations about science, technology, whatever. Sincerely, I cannot understand why polyglots are supposed to slam somebody just because of "bad knowledge of [language X]", or because his/her skills do not seem to satisfy our own expectations. Language learning is not a competition! We all have our own expectations, our own understanding of language skills, our own methods for learning. We all may have different goals we want to achieve in language learning and with the acquired linguistic abilities. I prefer to profit from contacts with other language enthusiasts and help them reach their goals as they may be willing to help me. I came across people making the most absurd claims about [insert skill/s here], but I don't really care. Eventually what you really do is what counts, nothing else. I can persist in saying I'm the best cook in the world, but if I fail to fry an egg, of course nobody will believe what I'm saying. I don't think polyglots are willing to challenge or to test anybody's skills. It's just that most of us don't fancy bragging about our abilities. As I said before: language learning is no competition. So, why would anyone lie about this? I don't know... Maybe they overestimate themselves, the do not know any better, they are not being realisitc, they want attention or appreciation, ... We'll never know... Such claims might cause annoyance, but why get stuck into it? Edited by Mae on 30 April 2011 at 3:59pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6253 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical) | Message 80 of 88 30 April 2011 at 4:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
You make an excellent point. We should be prepared to back up any claim we make. That said, who makes you more curious, the guy who says he's a cage fighter or the guy who says that he took a few self-defense classes when he was 12? Are you more curious to taste the food of someone who claims to be a gourmet chef or that of a woman who says she spent some quality time in the kitchen with her grandmother? Obviously both may be expected to back up their claims but who do you think people would be more curious about? Who are people more likely to test, even secretly? Maybe I'm the only one but I would be much more interested to see how a third degree black-belt handles himself in a fight than a guy who boxed a little in high school. I suppose that's the point of some people lying about their fluency. I won't get much attention if I tell people that I struggle to hold a basic conversation in Italian but can get by okay if the other person knows a bit of English and is patient with me. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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