- Hello everyone, and welcome back to English With Lucy.
Today, I have got a fluency test for you.
You all seemed to really enjoy
the grammar test that I posted for you last week,
so today I've got a fluency test,
but it's a little bit different.
Basically, if these things that I'm going to talk about
happen to you, it means that you are fluent.
So I think will be really interesting for you guys
to see how many of these situations have happened to you,
and also to give you something to look forward to.
I know that a lot of you are learning English right now,
with the intention of one day becoming fluent,
so it'd be really nice to keep a record of these things
and work towards achieving the next one.
Before we get started, I would just like to thank
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Right, let's get started with the lesson.
So, how do you know when you are fluent in another language?
Well, I'm going to talk to you about 12 situations,
and if these situations have happened to you,
it means that you are on your way to becoming fluent.
If all of these situations have happened to you,
congratulations, you're fluent.
So I would love you to comment down below
with how many of these situations
have happened to you and which ones.
And also, if you can think of any other
Number one, you know how to swear appropriately.
So when I learn a language, pretty much the first thing
I want to learn are the swear words.
But when I was just starting to learn Spanish,
and I was with my ex (speaks foreign language),
And he used to swear a lot, not in a bad way.
But then I would try and do it, but in the wrong situations,
So you know that you are fluent not only when you know
how to swear, but when you know when to swear.
Number two, you are aware of the mistakes that you make.
That's something that I love hearing
When they say something, and then they say,
"Ah, no, I made a mistake there,"
and then they correct themselves,
'cause that means that they know what they did wrong,
and they are on that path to fluency.
If you realise that you're making mistakes,
you're one step away from just not making them at all.
Number three, you sometimes don't even realise
that you are reading or hearing the language,
you're just understanding it without focusing.
I would consider myself to be fluent in Spanish,
and sometimes I find myself doing this
on the London Underground when I travel in
to record the podcast on Tuesdays.
Sometimes I just sit there, and I overhear conversations
on the tube because I'm a little bit of a creep. (laughs)
Well if we're going to be honest,
it's because British people don't talk on the tube,
but when a Spanish family comes along they talk a lot.
Which is no problem, I think it's weird that we don't talk.
I'll listen to them, and then about a minute later,
I'll realise, "Oh my god, I'm listening in another language
and I didn't even realise it."
And it feels really really good,
so the next time that happens to you,
you should feel really really good about yourself.
Also I might see like a meme in Spanish on Instagram
and I'll be like desperate to show it to Will,
next to me, and I can't, 'cause I realised it's in Spanish
and it doesn't translate into English that well.
Which leads me onto my next one, number four,
you can understand and participate in humour.
So this was a big pain point for me
I once went with a big group of friends
to watch Ernesto Sevilla in Seville. (laughs)
And he's a Spanish comedian with a very thick accent
and he speaks really really quickly
and I sat there thinking I was fluent,
ready to have a laugh with everyone and fit in,
and I didn't understand a bloody word.
And I realised, I'm not fluent yet.
Now, this one's a difficult one, because some comedians
speak really really quickly, so I'd take this one as,
you know you're really really fluent when you can sit
through a comedy show and laugh at all the jokes.
But I would say you'd need to live in a country for like
10 years and get married and have children there
to even have a chance at understanding
a comedian in another language.
I sometimes don't understand jokes in my own language.
The next one, number five, you know you are fluent
when people don't adapt to your level.
They just go with the flow and use their normal
native vocabulary, including slang, expressions,
figures of speech, the whole hog.
The whole hog, that's a figure of speech, means all of it.
So this is more about sounding like you're fluent.
If people think that you are completely fluent,
they'll start speaking in a really relaxed way
and expect you to understand, but you can start to feel
really really good about yourself if you actually
do understand everything they're saying.
The next one, number six, you know you're fluent
when you have a dream in the language that you're learning.
This has happened to me and it's been really really weird.
I've had dreams about my own family
and close friends speaking in Spanish to me,
when in reality, they don't speak Spanish.
I actually have a lot of very confusing dreams
But if you dream in that language,
or dream about your close friends and family
speaking to you in that language,
you know you're well on your way to fluency.
Number seven is a pretty general one,
but you know that you're fluent in the language
when you can do all of the things in that language
that a native person would be able to do
without even thinking about it.
Like going to the doctors, going to the bank,
ordering stuff in a bar or cafe,
giving directions, and that one is something
that I still struggle with because
I just really find it difficult
to tell the difference between left and right.
It's something in my brain, I don't know why.
Sometimes, if I'm driving, and I'm at a roundabout,
it takes me like a couple of seconds too long
to work out which car should be allowed to go first.
Left and right, it's an issue.
Does anyone else have that problem?
Number eight, now take this one with a pinch of salt,
but you know you're fluent when you stop
So you stop having to say, "Mm, how do you say it,
and like waiting and reaching for words.
Now obviously we are all human, every now and again
we are going to have to reach for a word,
But you'll notice that once you reach fluency,
the rate at which you do it will decelerate.
And sometimes you will even surprise yourself
by knowing words that you didn't know you know.
I sometimes do this in Spanish.
I'll come up with a word, and then I'll be like,
"Go Luce, I didn't know I knew that word."
It's a really weird sensation.
Number nine, something we all aspire to do
when we start learning another language,
it is to watch a film without subtitles.
It feels so good and it means that you are fluent
and you also have a whole new world of art opened up
in front of you and it's fantastic.
And then you can learn so much more about the culture.
Number 10, this is a big one, and I think it happens
to a lot of people without them realising it.
It definitely happened to me with Spanish.
You stop looking for opportunities to practise.
I remember being desperate to practise
my Spanish at any opportunity.
I was desperate to meet Spanish people,
I just wanted to talk in Spanish.
And now I'm really happy if I meet someone
in Spanish so I can have a chat
and kind of brush up on my rusty skills.
But I'm not actively looking for opportunities
So it might be something that stops gradually,
and one day you'll realise, "Hey, I'm not as desperate
as I was to practise, I remember when it was be all
and end all for me, and now, I know it."
Which of course really isn't true,
we can always learn more, but your priorities change.
Number 11, this one is such a good one
and it is you know when Google translate is wrong.
Maybe I shouldn't say Google translate,
all electronic translation services.
They don't get everything right.
They are not perfect and when you know
the language fluently, you can correct them
and you can see the amount of errors that they make,
and you'll probably feel embarrassed about
all your homework that you did in the past
using Google translate and how your teacher
really knew that you were using Google translate.
When I was teaching, I used to love it
when students would hand me essays that they'd written
obviously using Google translate,
but without wanting to tell me,
but they would misspell a word in their own language
and so that wouldn't translate, and there would just be like
this random gobbledygook in the middle of a sentence
and the whole sentence wouldn't make any sense
and I just kind of would put like a little red cross
and be like, "See me after class."
And I'd have to talk to them about translation services
but won't worry, we all do it.
you know that you are fluent in another language
when people can't tell where you're from.
If somebody has to ask you, "Where are you from,
I just can't tell from you accent?"
Or if they ask you that you're from the country
of the language that you are speaking,
you know you're fluent, you do.
My Spanish accent is not perfect,
but people do have a hard time
guessing that I'm English because I've worked hard
to lose the majority of the pronunciation errors
that speakers of English usually make in Spanish.
Right guys, that's it for today's lesson.
Don't forget to comment down below
with which of these situations have happened to you.
And if you can add anymore to the list,
Also, don't forget to check out Skillshare.
Remember that the first 500 people
that click on the link in the description box
will get their first two months free.
And you can connect with me on all of my social media,
I've got my Facebook, I've got my Instagram,
And I will see you soon for another lesson.
Muah!
Which gives you unlimited access to (blows raspberry)
And since Skillshare (blows raspberry)
And I didn't understand a (speaks foreign language)
When people don't adapt to your level they just...
Way at a roundabout...
Number 9, something we all aspire to do