So I’ve been looking at the Common App and it asks you to select what languages you are proficient in. I know English (reading, speaking, writing, spoken at home) and Tamil (Indian language that I can speak and that is spoken at home). Now, I’ve taken Spanish in high school. I know there’s probably going to be someone that says “don’t put Spanish since it’s high school and it doesn’t mean that you’ve learned the language, only the basics” but hear me out- last year, our final exam was a non-stop 5 minute speaking exam, literary analysis essay of a story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez with magical realism themes, reading comprehension of the poem Gracias A La Vida (http://www.musica.com/letras.asp?letra=127494) by Violeta Parra among other passages, and a grammar test to boot. I got an A. Doesn’t this mean that I’m proficient at the very least?
Also, I lived in Asia for many years and learned Mandarin Chinese. I’ve since forgotten how to read and write as I moved back to the US but I can speak in basic conversational situations such as in restaurants, school, etc. Do you think I can say that I’m proficient in speaking if I review my old Chinese notes and relearn my vocab over the summer?