<p>What determines fluency in a foreign language? I was in Spanish immersion since kindergarten
and I completed Spanish AP (score pending but likely 5), got a 790 on SAT II and feel quite
comfortable in any situation speaking reading or writing Spanish. So would my own subjective
sense of fluency be satisfactory for putting "Fluent in Spanish" on my resume? Then let the company
test me on it to verify the claim? Or is there some test or other bar that companies would expect
you to have cleared to claim fluency. </p>
<p>I will be completing Japanese AP this coming senior year and I will complete fourth year
honors Chinese as well (placed into the class through self-study and teacher evaluation).<br>
Achieving job-ready fluency would be a goal in addition to completing a degree in
Computer Science. What should I look for in colleges terms of getting to this level
of language preparedness? </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Can you hold a conversation with a native or heritage Spanish speaker on topics similar to the complexity of business topics? If an employer called you about a job and spoke to you in Spanish, would you be able to talk about yourself and job?</p>
<p>Can you read the news articles linked by these web pages:
<a href=“http://news.google.com/news?ned=es_us”>http://news.google.com/news?ned=es_us</a>
<a href=“http://news.google.com/news?ned=es_mx”>http://news.google.com/news?ned=es_mx</a>
<a href=“http://news.google.com/news?ned=es”>http://news.google.com/news?ned=es</a></p>
<p>Can you write an article or blog post, or your question, in Spanish?</p>
<p>Use similar tests to self-assess any other languages you may know.</p>
<p>Thanks much ucbalumnus. Those are helpful ideas - especially imagining getting a call from someone in Spain or Mexico to discuss a prospective job. For Spanish the answer on those would be yes or very nearly. Since I can’t replicate the years of immersion experience for my later-acquired Japanese and Chinese (started in high school) - what kind of courses should I look for in college that get me to fluency or near? Some colleges like Cal Poly only have years 1 through 4 or less <a href=“http://cla.calpoly.edu/assets/mll/docs/2148workingschedule.pdf”>http://cla.calpoly.edu/assets/mll/docs/2148workingschedule.pdf</a> </p>
<p>Berkeley seems to think that Chinese and Japanese require more instruction for English natives to learn than Spanish does. Berkeley lists 4 courses of a total of 20 units to gain Spanish fluency and literacy, but 7-9 courses of a total of 34-42 units to gain Chinese or Japanese fluency and literacy (see listings at <a href=“Courses < University of California, Berkeley”>http://bulletin.berkeley.edu/courses/</a> ). Note also that college courses are faster paced than high school courses; a year of high school language is often only a semester or less of college language.</p>
<p>The beginning levels of popular languages may be available at community colleges.</p>
<p>There may also be language courses available outside of colleges. You can try searching on the web for Chinese and Japanese language courses.</p>