Funny - Language learning stages

1

Came across this and it made me laugh :slight_smile:

CEFR levels for dummies

A1: Beginner

  • Can ask for the purchase price of 7 different fruits. Can’t understand the response.
  • Can introduce self with the same register and word choice of a 1930s diplomat. Can’t understand the response.
  • Can say “Giraffes live on the plains of Africa”.
  • Believes true fluency will be attained after another 6 months of study.

A2: Waystage

  • Has 23 websites on language learning bookmarked.
  • Has 27,563 unseen cards in Anki.
  • When greeted by a native speaker can turn multiple shades of red and stand motionless with mouth open for several minutes.
  • Can start a Polyglot YouTube channel and teach others how to learn languages.
  • Believes true fluency will be attained after another 6 months of study.

B1: Threshold

  • Can have conversations with native speakers provided they speak completely in learner’s native language.
  • Can produce the first two words of most sentences before stopping cold and searching for a word for 2 minutes.
  • Can watch TV in the TL and tell people they got the ‘gist’, such as “there were three people talking, one seemed angry about something”.
  • The level language schools hide behind the word “advanced” in their advertisements.
  • Believes true fluency will be attained after another 6 months of study.

B2: Vantage

  • Can have conversations with native speakers provided they don’t say anything interesting.
  • Can no longer be considered by natives as the ‘cute’ foreigner who is trying hard to learn the TL, but as the annoying guy who asks the cashier to repeat everything four times.
  • Can understand that most TV shows are crap in the TL too.
  • Can try to read a news article in their TL only to stumble upon 3 incomprehensible grammar structures and 8 words that cannot be found in any dictionary.
  • Believes true fluency will be attained after another 6 months of study.

C1: Operational Proficiency

  • Can survive in a TL working environment and smile and nod foolishly whenever anyone says anything colloquial, slangy or related to pop culture.
  • Can understand and be exposed to the full brunt of any cultural discrimination in the TL.
  • Believes true fluency will be attained after another 6 months of study.

C2: Mastery

  • Can have a long effortless, complex conversation and be told that they really suck at speaking the language because they have an accent.
  • Can give a detailed account of the long, often difficult, multi-year journey to reach C2, explain the things tried, what worked and didn’t work, and have an A2 say their opinion on language learning methodology doesn’t matter because their success is clearly only due to their natural gift for languages.
  • Had the opportunity to say “Giraffes live on the plains of Africa”, but in the excitement of the moment forgot the verb for “to live”.
  • Believes true fluency will be attained after another 6 months of study.
6 Likes
2

Haha, this is AMAZING! I think we should re-classify all Flexi Levels according to this.

The whole post is pure gold, but one that most resonated (and pisses me off on an almost daily level) with me is:

3 Likes
3

Laughed out loud at this one! Very good

3 Likes
4

How is this so accurate :rofl:

2 Likes
5

This is me - :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: with all my languages.
On Sunday there were some Chinese scientists in a (Western) film and I understood one of the dialogues completely. The following ones - well, - got the gist, so did my husband just looking at the faces. :rofl:
I always love to tell my husband if it is true Chinese or just actors trying to sound Chinese. :rofl:

5 Likes
6

My favourite part is this, so accurate :joy:

2 Likes
7

Someone explain why the first four levels, A through B have taken me 18 months, while the next two final levels will take me the rest of my life?

It’s like HSK1, HSK2, HSK3, HSK4-5-6, HSK7,8,9 trot out in an orderly progression, unlike the exponential curve into infinity that I imagine.
HSK 4______________
HSK 5__________________________________________
HSK 6 _________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

HSK7 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

HSK 8 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
into the ether far, far away…
Where’s 9? I don’t know.

1 Like
8

Funny how Mandarin seems at first to be so simple and pragmatic, a business-like oral language for trading and very fast, efficient communication.

Then start appearing the multiple layers, mysteries, complications of many meanings for the same spoken sound, and the ways the radicals rearrange and recombine, and the subtleties in how hanzi can be written in that highly aesthetic 米 grid. Oh God. :frowning: It’s like entering the Matrix.

5 Likes
9

Hahah oh man, that Anki one hit me hard.
Been trying to get back on track with it this week, but I’m still 330 cards behind :skull: :rofl:

1 Like