What It Really Means to Be Fluent

The hidden message behind this word

I hate the word “fluent” for all the fuss about it.

I love it for what it’s brought to my life.

Your definition of the word fluent is certainly different from mine and the rest of the world. It means a whole lot of different things for each of us even though the word stays the same.

How can so many different meanings be contained in a word of 6 letters?

The reason is hidden behind each letter. Each holding an unavoidable part of what it means to be fluent.

Forever

You can’t become fluent and sustain your level without any effort. That’s a common misunderstanding about what fluency is.

Many think that once you become fluent, you can check a box and move on to some other challenge. For better or worse, it isn’t the case.

Becoming fluent, whatever that means for you, is only the start. There’ll always be more to learn. As you improve, you notice all the parts you’ve overlooked.

You find patterns that still make no sense to you. You discover terms that sound like another language altogether. You lose track of a conversation as more people join it.

You understand you’ll always have to learn.

When I became fluent in Spanish in 2011, I stopped practicing it entirely. The result? I lost most of my level throughout the years after. I had to study and practice it again for a while to revive the language. If I wanted to stay at least at the same level of Spanish, I’d have to keep studying on a regular basis. Forever.

To be fluent is to realize there’s no end. That you’ll have to study forever. And be fine with it for one simple reason.

Love

Nobody becomes fluent in a language they hate.

Try it and see what I mean. It’s awful. Your brain refuses to retain any of the information you study. After all, why remember something you hate?

It goes even further. Everybody can reach an acceptable level in a language they don’t have any feelings towards. To become fluent, though, is another beast. It takes time and effort. Time and effort you gladly spend if you’re in love with the language.

To be fluent is to love the language. It’s to have trouble explaining what is so extraordinary about it.

I started learning Japanese because of my curiosity for its pronunciation and Kanji, as well as for my interest in manga. Today though, I couldn’t put in specific words what Japanese means to me. It’s engraved deep into me. There are too many things, most of which everybody would consider pointless.

To be fluent is to develop a deeply private relationship with the language only you can understand.

Utility

Try becoming fluent in a language you have no use for and tell me how it goes. I’ve tried.

I’ve studied Indonesian when I had no interest in the country or anything related to Indonesia. I had heard it was easy and thought “Hey, why no then?” Long behold, a month later I had already dropped it. All I remember now is that “orangutan” is a combination of “man” and “forest” in it.

What “utility” means varies a lot based on who you are and what your life is like.

Maybe you want to use Vietnamese for your work. Or love Mexican TV shows. Or you want to exchange with your partner’s Czech parents. Or you’re amazed by Russian literature.

It doesn’t matter what “utility” means to others. When you learn a language, you should consider it as useful by the time you become fluent.

I am currently learning Burmese to make part of my speech in Burmese at my brother’s wedding so it is useful to me. I started learning German as a challenge to myself by am also starting to enjoy German songs and TV shows.

To be fluent is to find the language useful in your life.

Entertaining

I loved the challenge of studying Ainu (a disappearing dialect of Hokkaido, Japan). I almost never had fun studying the language and never found any activity I enjoyed in the language. Guess what. I never became fluent in it.

On the contrary, I had many incredible experiences with Korean and Japanese, and have fun with both on an almost daily basis. I reached much higher levels in both.

Maybe you can be disciplined for a long time and learn a language you don’t have fun in. Chances are, though, that you’ll never reach a level you are satisfied with. Even if you do, you’ll relax in your chair and tell yourself something in the lines of “Phew. Finally. That’s it. I’m putting this language behind.”

Would you call that being fluent? I sure wouldn’t.

To be fluent is to have fun with the language.

Sometimes you’ll study it. Sometimes you’ll have fun with it. Sometimes you’ll do both at the same time. And one day you’ll look back and have forgotten all the tough sessions. All that’ll be left in your memory will be how freaking awesome the language is.

Enjoy your time and you’ll enjoy the language. What you enjoy may be different from what I find fun, but what matters isn’t my opinion. It’s how wide your smile is when you think about the language.

Noob

Can I tell you a secret? I suck at Japanese. No, really. Even though I got the highest level of the Japanese proficiency test (JLPT N1) and I work in the language, I make mistakes often. Sorry, I lied. I make mistakes all the time.

Don’t get me wrong. I know I’ve reached a level many dream of. But I also realize how awful I can be. People understand me. I understand people. I use the “foreigner” card and that does the trick. My interlocutors don’t think about it further. As long as they don’t have to make too many efforts, that’s fine by them.

Me, on the other hand, I often simplify my sentences to avoid mistakes and still make some. Hell, even in English I sometimes go around a word because I’m not sure about how I should insert it in the sentence. And I consider myself near-native in English.

To be fluent is to know you’re only a noob.

It’s to know you’re still thousands of hours away from being “good”, and be fine with it. Loving it even, because it also means you can get better.

I love that I make mistakes in my languages. It’s a daily reminder there’s a lot more out there to learn. There’s a lot more fun to have with the language. And I love fun.

Transcendent

This might be might favorite part of being fluent.

When you start learning a language, you study, you review, you have bad days. You sometimes procrastinate. You sometimes wonder whether you should even continue.

When you’re truly fluent in a language, the question doesn’t even exist anymore. How could you stop something that’s within you?

The language isn’t its own thing anymore. The language is part of your life. It’s part of You. Try getting rid of it and it’ll come right back at you.

Learning a language to the point of fluency means changing your life. You’ll learn about the country’s culture. You’ll meet people. You’ll be amazed many times. You’ll find different ways to think and change your view of the world. You’ll change.

To be fluent in a language is to have the language transcend the borders of language.

I love every single language I speak because they’ve all added so much to my life. They have shaped me. They have made my life what it is today. And they will continue to transform my life until the end.

The same language impacts each person differently. You could start learning a language at the same time as your buddy and improve at the same speed. By the time you’re fluent, the language will have different meanings for both of you.

I’ll never say it enough. I wish everybody could be a polyglot. Until then, I wish everybody could become fluent in one foreign language. The experience is so mesmerizing, it’s impossible not to become curious about what another language could do to your life.

We all live different versions of fluency. We will never have the exact same experience. The basics of what it means to be fluent stay the same.

Remember these keywords.

Forever Love Utility Entertaining Noob Transcendent

Find your own meaning for each. Once you realize they’ve all happened, you’re fluent. Congrats. One down, a few thousand to go now!

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