<p>what about if my parent speaks a language to me, and i understand it 100%, but i respond in english?
the language is also one that is not written, only spoken (swiss german)</p>
<p>A native level would be fluent. Proficient means you could struggle to get by in a pretty basic conversation. My school district gives a language proficiency exam at the end of 8th grade which I aced so I could argue that I was proficient by my standards even then… since proficient seems to be a very subjective term. By now, hell yeah I’m proficient</p>
<p>^new York has a proficiency exam that I got a 100 on, as well as on the regents. I probably couldn’t read an entire book, but I would consider that proficient.</p>
<p>I would say that if you are proficient, I could drop you in a rural village in a foreign country that speaks your language, and you could communicate easily, and get back to a major city. I have taken Spanish since 6th grade, and could communicate in another country (I have), so I’m going to say I am proficient in reading, writing, and speaking. When I see an article/book/tv show in Spanish, I can understand it.</p>