How fluent is fluent?

How fluent is fluent? When do you speak a language?

 

When is it time to say you speak a language as opposed to saying that you are learning it?
That is a question that is not as simple to answer as it seems as this implies that at some point, for whatever reason, you stop learning.

This, however, is not the case. Even in my native language I still learn every day, but it’s not as if I would tell anybody that I am “learning” Dutch.
So when do you say that you speak a language. Is it when you are able to sustain a conversation? Literally be able to speak the language? When you are able to read literature with no problems whatsoever? When you are able to write a coherent text?

The competences of knowing a language are rather vague. One might say that you speak a language fluently when you have all of these, others might think one is more important than the other.

“Fluent” is a rather vague term anyway. What is fluent? Being able to make a coherent text with no pause, perhaps? Maybe speaking a language without any accent? But then again, natives have accents too. Here again, some people think this and some people think the other.

Some of you may have heard of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, commonly known as the CEFR.
It is a noble attempt to define fluency.

The common references are:

A Basic User

A1 Breakthrough or beginner

A2 Waystage or elementary

B Independent User

B1 Threshold or intermediate

B2 Vantage or upper intermediate

C Proficient User

C1 Effective Operational Proficiency or advanced

C2 Mastery or proficiency

 

Each of these references comes with a range of competences a learner will have when they reach this stage in their study. This gives you a way of giving someone else an idea of how well you know a language. But at the same time it also puts a stop to gradation. It is as if you stop learning when you get to C2, where in fact you never actually stop learning a language.

At some point language learning becomes different though. It is no longer about studying vocabulary or grammar and applying this in your dialogues. When you know the grammar rules and making a dialogue with no hesitation at all the learning becomes more passive and slower. In fact, you might not even know you are learning.

Maybe this stage is where we can speak of fluency?

With all that said, I think the most important thing is that to say that you speak a language has much more to do with confidence than competence.

When you say you are learning a language, you are telling someone that you have knowledge of some sort but they can expect you to make mistakes in this language. It’s almost as if you excuse yourself for the mistakes you are about to make. Or excuse yourself for not knowing some things when asked.

When you say you speak a language, however, you are saying that your knowledge is beyond a learner’s and you should have no trouble at all communicating in this language.

When you say you speak a language, it usually means you are comfortable with using it. Whereas when you say you are learning one, it usually means you feel a little awkward using it.

I’m not saying, however, that there is no standard. Of course there is a standard.
Communication with natives is key here. The best judges of fluency are those who have reached this fluency, of course. In my opinion, the only competence that is required to be able to say you speak a language, is communication with natives. They are the standard you ought to live up to after all.
So I guess, if someone asked me when I would say I speak a language, I would say that would be about the time I would be able to easily communicate with natives, understand them and express my own thoughts.