[Music]
hello everyone and welcome back to
english with lucy today i have got a
fluency test for you
you all seem to really enjoy the grammar
tests 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 i'm going to
talk about happen to you
it means that you are fluent so i think
it 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'll 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 the
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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
indicators of fluency 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
novio i imitated him a lot and
he used to swear a lot not in a bad way
um but then i would try and do it but in
the wrong situations and i would get
told off 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 i'm teaching students
when they say something and then they
say ah no i made a mistake there
and then they correct themselves because
that means that they know what they did
wrong and they are on their path to
fluency
if you realize that you're making
mistakes you're one step away from just
not making them at all
number three you sometimes don't even
realize
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
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 realize oh my god
i'm listening in another language and i
didn't even realize 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 then i can't because i
realize it's in spanish
and it doesn't translate into english
that well which leads me on to my next
one
number four you can understand and
participate in
humor so this was a big pain point for
me when i was learning spanish i once
went with a big group of friends to
watch
ernesto sevilla in seville
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 realized 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
it 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 are 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
it's very very weird
i actually have a lot of very confusing
dreams but we won't get into that
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 having to reach for words
so you stop having to say
how would you say it what's the word for
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
even in our native language 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 loose 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 oh 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
ten this is a big one
and i think it happens to a lot of
people without them realizing it it
definitely happened to me with spanish
you stop looking for opportunities to
practice
i remember being desperate to practice
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 in which i can practice so
it might be something that stops
gradually
and one day you'll realize hey i'm not
as desperate as i was to practice i
remember when it was the be-all and
end-all for me
and now i know it which of course
strictly 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 will 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 gobbledy goop
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 um
i'd have to talk to him about
translation services but don't worry we
all do it
and the last one number 12 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 where are you from i just can't
tell from your 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 any more to the list
that would be fantastic
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've got my
twitter and i will see you soon for
another lesson
which gives you unlimited access to
[Music]
and since skillshare i feel like i've
got a lisp
and i didn't understand
[Music]
people don't adapt to your level they
just
what do they do way
at a roundabout
[Music]
number nine hair on my
number nine something we all aspire to
do when we start learning
[Music]
you