Thread: Fluent?

Hi,

I have been studying Russian now for 4 years in August. I can understand almost all movies. I still have some trouble understanding Russian jokes, but I could definitely hold an entire conversation with a native Russian speaker. I can express just about everything I want to say, granted not without some mistakes now and then. I can think in Russian if I really concentrate.

Based upon the above, would you think that I could consider myself fluent? I ask because I would very much like to move on to studying another language, but do not wish to do so until I am certain that I have attained fluency in Russian. I would like to speak well enough to apply for a job in which Russian speaking ability would be considered a requirement.

I would very much like to hear from Russian who interact with people from other countries and those native English speakers who have attained fluency in Russian.

Thanks!

Fluency of any language requires a constant practice. You can't just gain a fluency level and put it on the shelf somewhere. In a couple of years you won't be fluent anymore.

THis is an interesting question. I studied Russian at uni, and consider myself to be pretty fluent, but even so, I seem to make too many mistakes, and say thinks incorrectly, and misunderstand inuendo etc, and that after having studied a language on and off for sixteen years!!

I wouldn't stop that from starting with another language though. You never know a language well enough.

Originally Posted by andrei_michaelovich

Based upon the above, would you think that I could consider myself fluent?

That all depends on what your goals are. You always know the language you've been studying well enough for something.

Давайте пишите посты на русском, и народ сразу выскажет свое мнение о вашем владении!

Об уровнях знаний можно заглянуть вот сюда --
http://studyrussian.com/MGU/intro/levels.html

If you can hold a conversation on general and work-related topics without stopping and asking people to repeat things (and without them doing the same to you), yes, I would call that basic fluency.
But there are different degrees of fluency, just like democracy
One, higher, important benchmark is being able to understand a conversation between native speakers, and generally to effectively participate in a discussion with several native speakers.

I agree with chaika that you should write something in Russian so people could see how well you speak English and how your writing compares with your goals. Although it might prove hard, since if you know Russian reasonably well, it won't be a problem for you to find a text which you are sure is entirely correct. Perhaps, you could even make a recording, so Russian native speakers could say how easy it is to understand you. I don't mean that your pronunciation should be close to perfect. I think there are a lot of people who speak, for example, fluent English with a mediocre pronunciation.

Perhaps, you will find a job where Russian's considered a requirement but this is only a possibility. It very much depends on what kind of job you mean. If you are going to work in the financial field, you'll most likely find that you can hardly handle the job due to not having the proper knowledge.

My advice is to take a number of online Russian tests which will show how good your Russian is.

P.S. I've always thought that fluency means that your level of knowledge is very close to a native speaker's one. Am I right here?

Привет!

Если ты сможешь полностью понять текст этой песни, можешь считать свое слушание fluent.

http://rapidshare.de/files/25217227/song.mp3.html

Удачи

не пугай его))
я раза три переслушивала начало песни только чтобы разобрать первые несколько строк)))
и кстати до сих пор не уверена что разобрала правильно

а что там? а то мне не судьба с рапиды качать.

я честно говоря точно не знаю, но очень похоже на КиШ. такой ррррррык если хочешь я могу выложить на другой сервер.
в любом случае, если он поймёт там все слова да ещё и с первого раза то он не просто флуент он гений!

Во-первых - уровень записи довольно хреновый, слова забиваются музыкой, во-вторых, даже при хорошей записи, слова будут плохоразличимы. Я с трудом несколько слов "угадал".

http://www.soliloquy675.narod.ru/song.mp3
для тех, кто не дружит с рапидом

Хреновый, но native-русский поймет её.

А иначе тогда какой разговор может идти о fluent?

если нам парят м0зги русским с хз какого возраста, то я сомневаюсь что подобный результат можно нащёлкать за 4 года
учитываем ещё огромный старославянский хвост, который неявно тащится за всякой классической русской литературой
агромадный пласт советской трескучей риторики и тд
Из явных шустроговорящих я могу припомнить только Виллэ Хаппсало, который получил русик вместе с Питером (соотв-но говорит на питерском, потипу Куваева)
Ну и всяких послов которые запали на русскую культуру ещё годах в 60х, навроде того бритиша у которого была собака Троцкий и бывшего посла США Джека Мэтлока.

короче, автору. Можно спокойно учить другой язык и не париться по поводу fluency. Тут как с японским - кушаешь местную действительность - получаешь fluency, не кушаешь - всё равно окажется что есть языковые дыры

I don't think starting another language will hurt... just keep up at least some degree of Russian as well. what language do you wanna learn next?

Originally Posted by Ramil

Fluency of any language requires a constant practice. You can't just gain a fluency level and put it on the shelf somewhere. In a couple of years you won't be fluent anymore.

That's what happened to me. I graduated in Russian 20 years ago and now I have to start practically from scratch.

Dorogie Chitateli:

Nu vot. Ya poluchil otvet drugim obrazom, chem ozhidal. To est', poluchil "kosvenno" tak zkazat'.

Delo v tom, chto QWERTYZ ostavil soobshenie, kotoroe ya prakticheski polnost'u ne ponyal.

Tak chto, na moi vsglyad u menya vse esche dlinyaya dorozhka vpered. (V amerikanskom smisle "u menya est' mnogo raboti ostalos'.")

A "schas" moya istoria:

Sovsem nedavno, ya stal zamechat', chto meksikanskie devchonki imeyut xoroshenkie popi, krasivie glaza, priyatnie ochertanii, i poetomu mne prisho v golovu poznakomit'sa c nimi poluche. oi meksikanskie seksualnie stervi mne tak nravatsa, predstavlyaesh'? Tak chto tak. Ya xotel bi viuchit' ispankii yasik.

No ochevidno, k sozheleniu, mne pridetsa zhdat' eshe nemnogo dlya togo, chtobi garantirovat', chto ya govoru po-russki svobodno. Nu nichego, mne tozhe nravatsa russkie devushki.

Konec.

Celuyu,

Andrei Michaelovich

Mezhdu prochim, esli vam hochet'sa znat: DA, ya umeu russkimi bukvami pisat'. Prosto u menya net "fonta." Yasno?

Почему ты не можешь заниматься обоими языками в то же время? Я например, учу не только испанский и русский, но еще и японский. Хотя свободно я совсем не говорю.