I’ve been learning Spanish for a while but I’m curious how many multilingual people out here have more or less a true mastery of their 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th language.
In your other languages are you able to sound smart or funny in your other languages?
German and English. I’m not used to talking in French so i often struggle to remember the words but I understand everything, so i only put myself at a C1.
C2 in my native language (Romanian) and English. Embarrassed that it’s only 2, but I’m working on it! (Intensively studying Italian every day: Duolingo, grammar books, funny podcasts, thoughtful podcasts, reading a book in Italian.)
If I don’t speak at least 3 languages by my 30th birthday, the earth will crack open and swallow me and my shame.
C2? Not even in my native i guess. C1? English and Chinese.
deserve towering teeny angle deliver groovy versed coordinated sort literate
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
Hakka, Mandarin, Cantonese and English. I grew up learning and speaking all of them simultaneously, though.
Only two (Swe and Eng), the others are languishing in the dreaded B-level swamp or have slid back down into A2 territory due to neglect. Not counting Norwegian and Danish here as they are bonus languages, so to speak.
C2 in two languages I grew up speaking and work in/teach as foreign languages. Certified C1 in a third language and uncertified B1ish in a fourth.
I object to the concept that C2 is “true mastery”. I’m a native Spanish speaker, and most of my fellow countrymen wouldn’t pass a C2 exam. And I don’t think anyone would have the audacity to say they don’t master their native language.
In the same way, a non-native person can have a B2+ or a C1 level and speak quite like a native speaker. It’s not frequent, but it happens in some cases.
Answering to the question, as per learned languages, I’m only a C2 in Catalan. But I don’t sound smart or funny in any language.
Well , I’ve already published books in other languages and it was well criticized among the community , so I guess I do sound smart on them. I also don’t have any problem with getting , following and/or making jokes specific to the languages. It may be because I’m good at jokes , and not necessarily at the language , but still.
I’m not sure what is C2 or whatever number,
… but I think 3, which I use daily for years, Latvian (native), Russian & English (both without any problems, with slight accent while speaking);
Latvian was my native, I was born in Soviet Union, so - most TV, films were Russian, books some part were Russian, we have a large Russian minority, etc…
English came later - with self-study, internet, also I’ve been living in London 2 years & working there… also OK…
In school I was learning German, but I never had much to use that… but I understand a lot in German…
Also I self-studied Spanish, and I am watching youtube blogs in Spanish, I understand a big part, but never needed to talk…
Also - I can understand Ukrainian language - because it is very similar to Russian, and in 2014 when the conflict started there I was reading & watching a lot of Ukrainian news, I could understand almost all in some 3 months…
Italian, Spanish and English. I was raised between Italy and Argentina, and then I picked up English by extensive usage in my field.
4: Dutch, English, french and german
I absolutely do not. I’m practically a child who can speak French, Hindi I’m horrendous at- I’m only fluent in asl and my native language, english.
French and Tunisian are my natives, lit. Arabic and English I both learned from a very young age and I have a certified C1 level in German but ill hopefully be reaching C2 in a few months
True mastery, only two.
Finnish (native) and English. Here in Finland we have to leran Swedish but I’m more interestes in German. It is my optional language I took in school. (I actually just had an exam today)
I’m not sure that I know them in C2, maybe it’s C1, but I have C in Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Zero, one time I did one of those proficiency tests in my native language, and the result was more like a C1.
But I can communicate with people in 4 languages.
French is my native language, I guess the CEFR scale does not count for native language so I’m not going to include it.
I’d say English is between C1 and C2 for me.
Mandarin is definitely C2, I have been living in China for 10 years already, completed the entirety of my higher education in China with local students in a program taught in Chinese.
I’d like to add an other one, but honestly I feel like in order to attain C2 in a foreign language you’ll have to spend many years in the country speaking that language, otherwise there are just too many cultural concepts that you won’t be able to grasp. It just takes a long of work and perseverance but also immersion in the cultural environment.
I’m probably between A2 and B1 in Korean, but unless I get an opportunity to be transferred there for work for several years I don’t see myself even approaching C2 anytime soon.
I know someone who is mixed Chinese-Jordanian, born in Beijing. That person speaks both Arabic and Chinese at a native level. I’m so jealous. I feel like a lifetime wouldn’t even be enough to attain C2 in both these languages.