<p>On the common app, there's a section where you say what languages you speak, and how good (first language, speak, read, write, spoken at home).</p>
<p>Do they ever want proof that you really speak what you say you do? How fluent do you have to be to claim to be a speaker?</p>
<p>If you took a spanish in high school do you say you speak spanish?</p>
<p>boomp</p>
<p>How well do you think you speak that other language?</p>
<p>Colleges often have foreign language graduation requirements. Native or heritage speakers of foreign languages are often allowed to fulfill them by taking placement tests in the language and placing higher than the highest level required for the foreign language graduation requirement.</p>
<p>I’m just asking if someone says they speak a language, are they going to make sure they really speak that language?</p>
<p>And the other question is that I have 3 years of high school Spanish. If I say I speak Spanish, are they going to think, “he’s probably lying, he only took 3 years of Spanish”?</p>
<p>For school-learned foreign languages, they will probably estimate your proficiency from the highest level you completed (or scores on any SAT subject or AP tests in that language, if you take them).</p>
<p>they want to know what languages you’re fluent in, and how fluent. I would not list Spanish because you are learning it in school and it is not one of your “native” languages. You do not need to prove proficiency when applying except english for some internationals.</p>
<p>IF you think your application will get “brownie points” because you put down that you speak a foreign language–which is what I think you are getting at-- being that you have 3 years of Spanish on your high school transcript will quickly negate the impression you are trying to make. It would be very rare for a high school to place a fluent Spanish speaker in Spanish 1! or else it would speak exceedingly poorly of the academic rigor of the high school. Is your ability to speak Spanish ahead of those others in your class?</p>
<p>Of course, if you are not a native speaker, but have done something outside of your Spanish classes to increase your fluency to native levels, then you should say you are fluent, and also have some information included to bolster your claim–perhaps a letter of recommendation from your Spanish teacher specifying how your fluency is so far advanced compared to other third year students, and why/how.</p>
<p>Maybe you can answer your own question this way: if you showed up on campus for an interview, and the school’s interviewer was a native Spanish speaker who chose to interview you in Spanish based on your claim of fluency, how would you do? Could you keep up with her speed of speech and vocabulary, and would you be able to respond equally quickly with correct grammar, etc?</p>
<p>If you had three years of Spanish on your transcript and then listed it as a fluent language I would seriously question your integrity and judgement. Don’t do it.</p>
<p>Woujf it be believable for someone concurrently in ap Spanish?</p>
<p>Fluency doesn’t come even with three, four, or five years of high school study… I’m not sure why that’s such a difficult concept for some.</p>
<p>What benefit would it be to you to say fluent in Spanish? It’s not uncommon, and there are a zillion people who are Spanish-first or concurrent with English. And no, like others said, even AP Spanish doesn’t mean you are fluent. The more time you spend speaking only Spanish with many people, especially native speakers, will increase your fluency to the point that you could be considered fluent.</p>
<p>I took five years of a language, and I would list that I could read it, but I was not fluent speaking or interpreting spoken word. Five years = 45 minutes/day * 180 days/year * 5 years = 675 hours. Three months speaking only Spanish 8 hours per day would be around 720 hours, and I don’t know anyone who would consider three months speaking a language fluent.</p>
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<p>…and how well.</p>
<p>If you reach level C1 on Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, you can say you are proficient in Spanish. As AP Spanish tests to the B1 level, getting a 5 does not demonstrate proficiency.</p>
<p>Whether you choose to list it on the common app is your choice, but bilingual English/Spanish applicants are a dime a dozen, do it’s hardly going to boost your application.</p>
<p>No, just by taking a language (even at the AP level) in school doesn’t mean that you can write that you speak multiple languages on college applications; otherwise practically every student would able to write that as taking a foreign language is a typically a graduation requirement. The only circumstances that a school learned language should be listed is if you have extenuating circumstances that developed your language skills beyond the classroom - living abroad in a Spanish speaking country for the summer, ect.</p>
This is pretty old, but for anyone that happens to look at this question I’d say it’s okay. It doesn’t matter how many others are fluent, it’s your application. If you’ve taken several years of classes it’s possible you’ve achieved a level of proficiency in one, if not all of the areas (reading, speaking, and/or writing).
However, as others have said, years of classes, even if you are at the AP level don’t necessarily equal fluency or proficiency (which is what the common app asks for and in my opinion this wording gives more leniency than fluency), but it depends on you. Some of my classmates learned in Spanish II, what I learned in Spanish I. In addition, I studied outside of the classroom and in the classroom, my teacher was a native speaker which I feel was a big advantage. If you studied on your own and had a good teacher it’s possible you’re proficient, but you know whether or not that’s true. If you’re unsure you should watch and read something entirely in Spanish and see how much you understand before marking proficient because it’s possible they might check, who knows.