I am second generation Bangladeshi, so I speak fluent Bengali, but I don’t expect that to count for anything since it’s basically my first language. However, I’ve learned German since elementary school and speak a decent amount. I’ve passed the A2 test. They ask you, on the common app, which languages you speak, so I put down German. Does it really count for anything, though?
Yes.
After you list Bengali as your first language, English should be your second, with German the third.
Be sure to include if the language is spoken at home or not.
Being trilingual is an advantage as it demonstrate not just your facility with language, but your ability to
think and choose the correct words and phrasing in each language.
Actually, the question as listed on the CA is :
A2 is far from being proficient. In my mind, if you are willing and able to have your admissions interview conducted in German, then you are proficient. Will it hurt you in the admissions process? IMO, no. Will it help you? Same answer.
I will retell a story that I have told here before:
4 years ago, when I was applying to college, I indicated on the Common App that I am proficient in Italian (which although I’m not Italian and don’t live in Italy and did not study in HS, I am fluent). I had a couple of interviews where the interviewer did ask questions in Italian - nothing terribly profound, more like “Which region of Italy is your favorite?” Again, that experience is probably the exception, but just know that one should be prepared to back up what one lists on the application.
I’m above A2, because I passed that around four years ago. I just wanted to provide a base point to prove that I had actually done testing. I haven’t taken the B1 test and don’t think I will before college admissions, but I believe I am at that level. I could maybe not conduct an entire interview in German, but I think could come close.
The SAT subject test and AP test for German will rate your skill in the German language in a way that US universities will understand.
If you grew up in the US and have been fully educated here with all of your classes (other than foreign language classes) taught in English, do not list Bengali as your first language. List it as a second language. Putting it as your first language can trigger a requirement to take the TOEFL at some colleges and universities.
You don’t need to prove this via a test. Nor do I think OP means to use a subject test just for this. It’s a minor point on the app, a background question. And the CA defines proficiency as how comfortable using that lang as a form of communication (help box.) That’s a low bar, though you can’t pretend traveler’s skills are enough.
Your first language is literally your language at birth, the first lang you spoke. There are some kids who spoke two in their families, since infants, (eg, parents’ first languages were different,) and that’s fine.
I can’t think of a single university that would require TOEFL of a student that went to school in the US for 12 years, even if they were in a full immersion program in a language other than English. I’ll be happy to be corrected on that score.
And there are some, like me, that spoke 3; my father his native language to us kids, my mother spoke hers, and the language of my country of birth was the third. It raises no red flags at all, and the Common App allows selection of more than one “first” language.