If
you are here, it’s because you want to verify if I’m really
capable of speaking in many languages. Here are some audios to show
only my oral skills, not other skills, like writing, reading, listening,
how good I’ve mastered the grammar and how much vocabulary I’ve
accumulated in any on them. Yet, even with certifications, it’s
still hard to believe for many people if that’s possible, so I
wanted to leave these samples as an evidence; and oral skills are
usually the ones that get more attention (albeit no necessarily the
most difficult, depending of the language) and they are faster and
easier to demonstrate.
It’s good to clarify the context
of what you hear and how good or bad it’s the level I’ve
mastered, how much I know and what I’m capable of. There’s a
script for each of the audios, which essentially says the same thing.
I personally wrote, translated and adapted the script for each of the
languages and they may have mistakes, since they lacked review from a
more expert speaker. I didn’t wanted to improvise and I wanted the
samples to be all of them alike.
There are certifications
for many of the languages I know and they are noted. These
certifications include all the skills (oral, reading, writing and
listening) and they might or might not be correct, but it’s as
close I can get to what those languages mean, and they are, after
all, official and valid, and they are my primary way to demonstrate
my proficiency, besides these samples. For those languages in which I
don’t have a certification, a possible level is noted, based only
on my own opinion.
I know many more languages, but I don’t have enough knowledge or experience in them, at least in terms of active skills, to write a coherent script and/or capable or speaking them at least on a decent way.
Here
is a list of the languages and the attained (official or presumed)
level:
Spanish (Mexican)
Mother
tongue. You may compare the other samples to this one, as a base line
of sorts, to hear the tone and pace of my voice and, obviously, my
accent.
English (North American)
Last certification C1 (Cambridge ESOL International). My actual level might be higher, or it might be not, since I tried a C2 level certification once for this language. If I had to improvise and be out of script, I probably will speak like that.
French (European)
Last
certification C1 (DALF). My actual level might be higher, or it might
be not, since I tried a C2 level certification once for this
language. If I had to improvise and be out of script, I probably will
speak like that.
German (Standard)
Last certification C1 (ÖSD). The oral skills are likely proper for this level, considering the challenges of this language, but sometimes it fluctuates and might be lower. If I had to improvise and be out of script, I probably will speak like that, although with some syntactical differences and typical grammatical mistakes, like wrong grammatical gender and case declinations.
Italian
Last certification B2 (CILS). My actual level might be higher, and I tried a C1 level certification many times for this language. If I had to improvise and be out of script, I probably will speak like that.
Portuguese (Brazilian)
Last certification CELPE-BRAS Intermediario. It’s is said to be a B1 equivalent, but I believe that my actual level is very likely to be higher. Unlike the other certifications, this level is assigned, not chosen to be assessed. If I had to improvise and be out of script, I probably will speak like that.
Russian
No certification. Likely a B1 level, but not necessarily in all of the skills. If I had to improvise and be out of script, I probably will speak like that, but with more grammatical mistakes, since I can’t control them when I speak as good as when I write. This is probably the only current language that I might consider to be completely intermediate. Definitively not advanced, but far from beginner.
Esperanto
Last certification C1 (KER). My actual level might be higher, or it might be not, but currently this is the highest level assessed on Esperanto certifications. If I had to improvise and be out of script, I probably will speak like that, but with some mistakes, like an occasional lack of accusative declination where it corresponds, probably the most common mistake among Esperanto speakers.
Catalan
Català
Last
certification C1 (Certificat de nivell de suficiència de llengua
catalana). My actual level might be higher, or it might be not, since
I tried a C2 level certification once for this language. If I had to
improvise and be out of script, I probably will speak like that.
Romanian
Română
No
certification. Likely an A2 level at best in most of the skills,
since this sample was challenging not in pronunciation but in script.
If I had to improvise and be out of script, I probably wont speak
like that, due to lack of active vocabulary, despite my passive
vocabulary being higher and the decent pronunciation that I delivered.
Polish
Polski
No certification. An A1 level for sure, but not an A2
level yet, and not necessarily in all of the skills. This sample was
challenging in both, script and pronunciation, and you might hear me
struggling speaking it, not matter how good it sounds to an untrained
ear. It’s probably the sample that required most trials to get as
close as to what you hear. If I had to improvise and be out of
script, I probably wont speak like that at all, since I lack active
vocabulary and I’m still mastering some basic grammar rules.
Chinese (Mandarin)
Last certification HSK 1. The certification asses the most basic level in the language and only on the passive skills (reading and listening), and using pinyin, the romanization of the Chinese characters, in addition to Hanzi, the proper characters. By default, it is said to be an A1 level, but it's disputed.
Nahuatl (Classical)
No certification. Actually an A1 level or even below, but enough knowledge of the basics to write the script and speak it.
Now,
for those who want to still stay here and read my opinion about
certifications, language levels and what being a native speaker
means, you can read the following:
I
usually make the remark if the certification shows really the level I
have or not, either because I mention that it could be higher or
lower, because in my experience, after taking so many certifications,
not including the ones I noted for each language, but all the ones I
took over the years that I didn’t pass or that were for lower
levels before reaching the current ones, left me with the opinion
that every institution in charge of each certification have very
different ideas and methods of how to assess each level, and possibly
even what each level means.
For oral skills, for example,
the English C2 certification may focus on simple tasks, like
describing pictures, or express an opinion about a random quote. The
French C2 certification, on the contrary, asks you to prepare a
lecture about a topic you might not even know about, give you half an
hour of preparation, with some audio that you can’t hear beyond 2
times, without headphones (ambient noise is quite distracting and
sound quality is also different) and without access to resources to
know about the topic and expect to deliver as if you were an expert
on the matter.
The Catalan C2 certification may ask you to express, again, your opinion about a topic, assume a role (like being in charge of a public policy proposal) and try to convince the evaluator of your idea. The Italian C1 certification is very similar to the C2 Catalan task, but we’re talking about a supposed lower level. The German C1 certification, like the English C2 certification, may focus on simple tasks, like describing pictures, express an opinion, and assume a role as well, but for something rather simple, like making an appointment with your dentist or asking for information about a local plumber services. The Esperanto C1 certification also ask you for picture descriptions and convincing the evaluator of your opinion and proposals.
In
summary, at least for the higher levels of language certifications
(although this issue might happen in all the levels), either making
an appointment, convincing someone else, expressing an opinion,
talking like if you were an expert when actually you’re not, and
describing pictures are measured like if they were of the same
difficulty, which are not. Some are rather easy for the level in
particular, whereas others are rather more difficult for that level.
The impression that you can get of this, besides a disagreement on
how to assess, is that essentially for doing one thing in one
language, you will be granted a particular level, but doing exactly
the same thing on another language, you will be granted an ever
higher o lower level. In general, I think that each institution has a
cultural background of their own educational system, and they may
punish or praise a particular deliverance, like grammar mastery and
eloquence, or a functional and pragmatical communication skill, and
their own criteria of what a good note is.
The notes and
grades are very different. The English certification may ask you to
be over 85% of success to be granted, whereas the French may grant
you the level for having over the 50%. The German certification ask
for minimal success for each skill, around 50%, but if you manage to
pass all the skills with that minimal and individual 50 %, you wont
be granted the certification, which requires around 60% of the
total average for success, which can be frustrating. However, you can
keep the successful notes and try again for the next year. Some
Italian certifications also keep the successful notes for another
try. Then there’s always the incertitude if the evaluators do all
of the above on purpose, in order to force the failure rate and make
you pay for another certification. After all, the certifications also
function like a business model, but that’s up to you to believe.
Also,
some certifications have an expiration date, and others are valid for
life. While it’s true that keeping the same language level all over
the years is not possible if someone doesn’t practice them, keeping
a continuous expiration date also force people to coming back to
certify themselves, reinforcing this idea of a business model.
Certifications are also taxing, both economically and mentally. The
exam sessions are tiresome, usually requiring a full day or two half
days to complete. This means that you might not be in optimal
condition after many hours of continuous evaluation and yet deliver
your best for that last task of the day. Logistics are also a
problem. Sound quality for the audio tasks may vary, doing an oral
task alone or with three persons when it was designed for only two,
having to do a task that requires to be connected on internet and
suddenly happening a connection problem, and so on, have undoubtedly
an impact on your performance and, most importantly, your note, and
all of them are beyond your control and have absolutely nothing to do
with you language skills.
Another thing to take into
account are language skills that are independent of fluency, notably
in the convincing tasks. Persuasion is something that you may be good
at or not, even in your own native language. No one is saying on the
street that you don’t speak well or know a language because you
didn’t sound convincing on a subject.
I completely disagree when the tasks are unnecessarily complex, that not even native speakers could deliver right if given the chance. And this is where I express my opinion about what each level means and what a native speaker means. Many people, including even language educators, believe that reaching a C2 level means to be like a native speaker, and that’s completely incorrect. A native speaker is someone who was raised on a particular culture attached to a particular language, either living on a place where that language is spoken (from as tiny as a neighborhood or a community to as big as a country), or at least learned it by one or both of his or her parents or tutors.
Yet, this individual will have to learn not only to speak it, but to write and read it as well, if everything goes well. No one is on the street saying that illiterate people aren't native speakers of their own native language. Another thing is age and development. Do you ever question if kids are native speakers of their own native language? I’m sure you don’t, yet these kids will have to master pronunciation and grammar over the years. Sometimes even adults make occasional mistakes of their own native language, and it might be funny, or at least curious, but that doesn’t make them less native speakers.
The closest thing I think of each level, in comparison with the native speakers, is how each level reflects a particular ideal phase on the life of a native speaker. An A1 level is like being a toddler, you manage to speak just the necessary words and use basic structures to get your basic needs satisfied and present yourself. An A2 level is like being a little child, already speaking the language, and possibly learning how to write and read easily, like in kindergarten, but you have yet to learn many verbs and tenses and to understand implicit meaning and subtext. An B1 level is like being a normal kid, like on elementary education, learning to write and read the language properly. A B2 level is like a teenager on pre-university education, managing to speak with no problem for everyday life tasks, doing homework, making presentations and exams.
So what does the C levels mean? A C1 level is like being on the university, studying for a grade, ready for doing dissertations and essays, using a formal and academical way of speaking. Many native speakers don’t go to the university, so they may not have the skills you’re evaluated for this level. After all, they also need to learn how to to write dissertations and essays, among other things. And C2 level is where I leave it open, no one knows. Some say it means virtually understand almost everything and being capable of almost everything, which is nonsense. I’m pretty sure that many of your own native languages have dialects, and I’m sure sometimes you don’t understand them as well, and yet they belong to the same language. If we use English as an example, this means that someone who knows North American English will be able to understand anyone everywhere, from Scotland to Australia, from Jamaica to Nigeria and to India, everything, local meanings, local jokes, local figures of speech. After all, they all belong to the English language, assuming they remain in English and not on other languages they speak. Also, that means that you will be capable to speak like them, right?
What
about writing? Will you be able to write like a scientist, like a
journalist, like a lawyer, like an economist, like a poet, like a
comedian, like a novel author, all at the same time, with talent,
flawlessly, are you capable of doing that? In your own mother tongue?
In theory, someone who is capable of everything with the language
will be capable of doing this and more, but it’s no possible, and
if possible, it will be one person in a million (or in millions, to
be honest), which still renders this level's interpretation still
unnecessary and pointless.
This might be another reason
why in the higher levels, and C2 in particular, it’s so hard to
know what to assess. The tasks might be unrealistic and difficult, or
rather easy, possible for the sake not of the person evaluated, but
for the evaluator, in order to lower the amount of evaluation work.
In conclusion, take with a grain of salt what a language level means. Overall, A levels are basic, B intermediate and C advanced, but performance and expectation of what to do in each of them varies a lot, and at the end, I suggest that it’s up to the evaluation institutions to take responsibility of what they grant. Your real level might still be different, but that’s the reason of the existence of this certification, to give them our own trust and accountability.
