<p>on the app it asks what languages are you fluent in... I currently am takin french in school...... should I put down french or no?</p>
<p>can you speak it well?</p>
<p>if you were throw in France today without a translator, would you be able to communicate normally? can use french instead of english? </p>
<p>the question is asking if you have a second language (I'm guessing able to communicate at the very least). if you've taken are taking french immersion or similiar programs then yes but if you've only taken french in school for the past 2-3 years as a language class then no (of course there are those who can actually learn a second language in 2-3 years but for all normal people .. no)</p>
<p>they'll be able to see through you if you put it and can only demonstrate french in HS classes; if there's no french club, french emersion, trips to france or anything else, they'll know that you're assuming that you're fluent in it after 2 or 3 years in a french class which as lynda said, is highly unlikely</p>
<p>thanx for the input... i highly doubt id be able to communicate easily if I was in France today so I decided not to include it</p>
<p>I've been taking hebrew for 9 years, I wouldn't say I'm fluent, but I can carry on a conversation. You know, I know the basics, bathrooms, ice cream, cookies, cost, jewelry, shoes. How does that figure in?</p>
<p>I do believe that that's enough to put the language down; i'm an indian, and i speak an indian language here at home with my parents (deffinately fluent in that one...), but in addition, at my house, the television is always ON on an indian television channel (in the language of hindi specifically...). Although I can't write in either of my extra languages, I can communicate in one of them and understand/improvise in the other; i can basically communicate in both if i need to</p>
<p>the way i look at it, if you ever have an emergency in that other country, will you be able to speak that language and communicate enough to get through that emergency? probably not the best way of looking at it, but that's how i do it...</p>
<p>while asking yourself "could i survive in another country by myself with this language?" is a good indicator, the question i asked myself when figuring out how to answer this question was "if the admissions officer turns out to be from this country and during my interview wants to speak it with me, will i be able to have an intelligent conversation or will it be obvious that i was stretching it by saying i was fluent?"</p>
<p>I'd thought about that at one point too! But then, I thought that I'd be even more stressed if i'm experiencing an emergency in another country...maybe an interview is more stressful, though!</p>
<p>of course an emergency in another country is more stressful, and that's the whole reason you learn a language - not to impress some adcom. but it's <em>really</em> bad if you lie on an application, and saying that you speak a language that you really dont seems like a lie that would really put you in quite an embarrassing bind.</p>
<p>the point is if you do have a second language you are fluent in, I dont think the situation would be enough to make you "forget how to speak it". I'm chinese and natually I put down mandarin as another language, I can fully understand cantonese and somewhat japanses (not school level) but I didnt put these down because I don't think they were anywehre close to my mandarin level (I wouldn't call them my languages). I can survive if I somehow ended up in japan, and have minimum communication abilities but I still don't consider myself fluent in it.</p>
<p>many canadians can put down french since french immersion is availble in alot of schools and they are able to speak french in and outside their classes.</p>