Poll: How good is your Spanish?

[philamote]

I haven't seen too many threads on this question. Curious to know how you would rate your own Spanish-speaking abilities on a scale of 1 to 5. Ratings are totally subjective, but the idea is something like this:

5 = fluent: speaks at a native or near-native level, can pick up the slightest nuances in the language and use colloquialisms effectively
4 = advanced: can hold a conversation, but with some grammatical slip-ups and second-language tics
3 = intermediate: competent, but struggles occasionally to express certain ideas and concepts
2 = novice: knows how to introduce oneself, can "get by" well enough to order meals, book a trip etc.
1 = complete beginner: knows a few basic phrases but otherwise sticks to English (or other native language)

Other related questions would be: how much Spanish you use at home, how much at work, how much you rely on it with friends, and so on. (Quantity of the language used doesn't always determine one's quality in speaking it, but the general assumption is if you use it more in daily life you speak it better.)

My guess is that most on this forum will rate themselves at least 4, although recent arrivals/short-term visitors will skew lower.

There's also the somewhat related question "How good is your lunfardo?" but that need not get in the way. You can speak the language quite well and still get tripped up by the slang here...

Highly unscientific poll. Feedback welcome!

 

[PhilipDT]

There is a huge difference between fluency and speaking like a native in my opinion. I can hold a conversation about almost anything, have a very large vocabulary, don't have to conjugate in my head before speaking but still, I don't speak like a native. My accent kills me. I also slip up still on lunfardo a bit. For example, "que le vachache? " was the latest I learned.


Re: Las otras preguntas, I go to spanglish and meet foreigners, I go to frinks 1 or 2x a month, and I have the expat wine group, other than that the rest of my interactions are all spanish.

 

[Tangerine]

Fluent: I speak like a Mexican

 

[PhilipDT]

Fluent: I speak like a Mexican

ah que feo

 

[hannstew]

Fluent: I speak like a Mexican

Orale vato

 

[TrevorCito]

I'm fluent but it will be a lifelong journey for me, learned at LA UBA from scratch and still studying. My accent will always give me away but the kids speak like the natives. No me da bola.

The different accents really crack me up, especially people from the interior... the folk from Pergamino tend to drop the letter s' from the end of words.... for example, como estas vos? is spoken like this: como estaaah vohhhh.

For anybody wishing to learn or advance their Spanish... La UBA is very good! They won't teach you lunfardo you will gain a solid foundation in the language. Go here to learn some lunfardo online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iawShUo8H8U&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

 

[citygirl]

I put intermediate since it depends on the person with whom I'm talking and how many people are in the group. One-on-one, I can usually get by with a minimum of errors and have a full conversation. In a large group, though, I can very easily get lost as everyone is in full swing and the slang is flying!

 

[philamote]

Good point about the distinction between fluent and native. "Expert" would be a better way to label a 5, i.e. virtually no mistakes at all. Level 4 speakers can be perceived as fluent, but are still prone to errors and "Englishisms" (e.g. saying "significante", as I did the other day, when the word is "significativo").

I would place myself between 3 and 4 because even though I can coverse fine, I still have episodes where I have no idea how to phrase a concept. I live in a Spanish-speaking guesthouse, although my work as a freelancer is exclusively in English, and with friends I find myself using Spanish slightly more. So ultimately I went with "Advanced" -- and doubt that I will ever reach a level of native fluency. Most non-native speakers never will; there's no shame in that. Often I am reminded how lucky I am just to be able to speak comprehensibly at all.

 

[starlucia]

There is a huge difference between fluency and speaking like a native in my opinion. I can hold a conversation about almost anything, have a very large vocabulary, don't have to conjugate in my head before speaking but still, I don't speak like a native. My accent kills me. I also slip up still on lunfardo a bit. For example, "que le vachache? " was the latest I learned.

Probably worth mentioning that, according to a slew of research, phonology is the one area of second-language acquisition where most adult learners will never become "native-like." An adult can indeed master the language, and achieve native-like proficiency in basically all aspects... but, if they began learning it after the age of 12 or so, will always retain some kind of accent (some SLA researchers refer to it as the Schwarzenegger Effect.)

I'm probably a 4... I can speak Spanish all day long (with my little acentito but eventually I'll hit upon a word or concept I just don't know. And I get tired more quickly with portenos than with my Argentine family (who are from Quilmes and speak with a comparatively crystal-clear accent.)

 

[Hop]

For some reason, I've got the porteño accent down pretty well. People ask me quite frequently if I'm Argentine. But then once we get into a long conversation and they hear a slip up now and then, they realize something's not quite right!