When can you really say you know a language?

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Hey guys, I have a question whose answer would help me plan my courses and activities.

I took 6 years of spanish and 2 years of latin in high school. When you say you know a language on the amcas, must you have activities on your app that shows this like courses taken, extracurricular activities and volunteering where these languages were used like when you say you like research or helping people you give examples to show that or can you just say you know it based on your perceived knowledge of the language? Also what are the chances that you will have to do the entire interview in the language you say you know? I can test out of taking a Foreign Language for my GEP but not sure if i should.

Thanks.

 

[armybound]

if you show up to an interview and someone tries to hold a conversation with you in that language, how would it go?

your coursework or experiences don't matter at all.

 

[Jaqen Hghar]

You took 6 years of spanish in high school? How does that work?

 

[TipToad]

You really know a language when you can explain to somebody how to tie a shoe without using hand motions.

 

[hiyaman]

You took 6 years of spanish in high school? How does that work?

2 yrs middle school and 4 years high school? The schools I went to had spanish from grades 7 till 12.

 

[Jaqen Hghar]

You really know a language when you can explain to somebody how to tie a shoe without using hand motions.

Evidently, I don't know English that well.

 

[Vespertilio]

in b4 taco

 

[carnelian]

I'm pretty sure Latin doesn't count... No one converses in Latin anymore, and I think AMCAS asks about spoken languages (I could be wrong; haven't looked at it for a while). I took 3 years of Latin in HS as well, but I didn't include it. As to Spanish, you can put it as long as you'd feel comfortable interviewing with it. I don't think you need activities/classes to back it up per se, but just make sure you can actually speak it without pausing after every word. You can just put "basic" or "good" if you're not too comfortable; that's what I did, since I took about 6 years of Spanish as well, but I'd really rather not interview in it.

 

[Ironmandoc]

Hey guys, I have a question whose answer would help me plan my courses and activities.

I took 6 years of spanish and 2 years of latin in high school. When you say you know a language on the amcas, must you have activities on your app that shows this like courses taken, extracurricular activities and volunteering where these languages were used like when you say you like research or helping people you give examples to show that or can you just say you know it based on your perceived knowledge of the language? Also what are the chances that you will have to do the entire interview in the language you say you know? I can test out of taking a Foreign Language for my GEP but not sure if i should.

Thanks.

You aren't applying for 4 years. Why are you asking this question now? Things will change a lot in that time...

And this is a topic that has been covered multiple times...including last week. Use the search function.

 

[MedPR]

Hey guys, I have a question whose answer would help me plan my courses and activities.

I took 6 years of spanish and 2 years of latin in high school. When you say you know a language on the amcas, must you have activities on your app that shows this like courses taken, extracurricular activities and volunteering where these languages were used like when you say you like research or helping people you give examples to show that or can you just say you know it based on your perceived knowledge of the language? Also what are the chances that you will have to do the entire interview in the language you say you know? I can test out of taking a Foreign Language for my GEP but not sure if i should.

Thanks.

When you can speak to your interviewer in that language.

 

[MedPR]

You really know a language when you can explain to somebody how to tie a shoe without using hand motions.

I can say "loop swoop and pull" in 20 different languages. 👍

 

[Arbor Vitae]

Hey guys, I have a question whose answer would help me plan my courses and activities.

I took 6 years of spanish and 2 years of latin in high school. When you say you know a language on the amcas, must you have activities on your app that shows this like courses taken, extracurricular activities and volunteering where these languages were used like when you say you like research or helping people you give examples to show that or can you just say you know it based on your perceived knowledge of the language? Also what are the chances that you will have to do the entire interview in the language you say you know? I can test out of taking a Foreign Language for my GEP but not sure if i should.

Thanks.

You are fluent when you start to dream in that language. If you put down you can speak a language, be sure you can hold a conversation in an interview on any topic in that language otherwise it will look really bad.

 

[2tim17]

When you can speak to your interviewer in that language.

👍

i took 7 years of spanish...and i still cant speak a sentence lol.. wish i actually cared at the time

 

[Poetic Silence]

When you can visit your grandmother in Mexico for the first time and tell her all about your dreams and passions.

When a Deaf man becomes one of your best friends and you can tell him anything without ever saying a spoken word.

When you are able to connect to people who use that language primarily on an emotional and even spiritual level.

 

[Badger MD]

Hey guys, I have a question whose answer would help me plan my courses and activities.

I took 6 years of spanish and 2 years of latin in high school. When you say you know a language on the amcas, must you have activities on your app that shows this like courses taken, extracurricular activities and volunteering where these languages were used like when you say you like research or helping people you give examples to show that or can you just say you know it based on your perceived knowledge of the language? Also what are the chances that you will have to do the entire interview in the language you say you know? I can test out of taking a Foreign Language for my GEP but not sure if i should.

Thanks.

Let me just say this - I was fairly confident that my German was extremely good. Well.... I listed myself as "knowing German" for a scholarship interview and I ended up receiving the chair of the German department. She conducted the entire interview in German and it went pretty well until she started using Southern Bavarian.

That little anecdote aside, I actually ended up asking her what she considered "knowing" a language. She basically told me she wouldn't consider someone fluent in a language until they could pass a national certifying exam such as the Zertifikat Deutsch or Großes Sprachdiplom (in the case of German). If a student was able to do that, it would be likely that they knew enough of a foreign language to hold discussions with academic/enlightened company.

I have only heard of one student from my college who had to use their foreign language in an interview, and apparently the interviewer only used it briefly because she immediately stopped when it became clear the person being interviewed had a greater command of French than they did.

And just a note of caution from someone who is majoring in linguistics, many people perceive their language abilities to be much greater than they really are. I can't even begin to tell you how many people claim to "speak" Spanish but are forced to resort to mangled Spanglish with every verb in the first person singular. American public school linguistic education is terribly inadequate. In my experience, taking 5-6 semesters of a language (and actually devoting yourself to it) is enough to start considering yourself decent. I had maybe four semesters under my belt when I visited Bonn and a two week long intensive language course had me conversing perfectly with locals.

In the end, just appraise yourself honestly! If you can't pull up a Telemundo clip on Youtube and understand it, you don't speak Spanish 🙂

 

[lobo.solo]

When you can visit your grandmother in Mexico for the first time and tell her all about your dreams and passions.

When a Deaf man becomes one of your best friends and you can tell him anything without ever saying a spoken word.

When you are able to connect to people who use that language primarily on an emotional and even spiritual level.

+1. Definitely connecting with others....

 

[aposkaha]

when you can bargain in tacobell.

 

[HurricaneKatt]

Evidently, I don't know English that well.

Yeah and how would you manage that in ASL???? 😕

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

when you can bargain in tacobell.

Nice.😀 But like the above poster said, if you go in hoping someone doesn't ask something that you don't know how to explain fluently in that language, then I wouldn't list it. I can usually speak and read German without much effort, but I wouldn't list it because I don't use it on a day to day basis.

 

[Renaissance Man]

You are fluent when you start to dream in that language. If you put down you can speak a language, be sure you can hold a conversation in an interview on any topic in that language otherwise it will look really bad.

+1 this is always what I heard. When your brain no longer needs to translate to your native language before comprehending, that's when you are fluent.

 

[BABSstudent]

And just a note of caution from someone who is majoring in linguistics, many people perceive their language abilities to be much greater than they really are. I can't even begin to tell you how many people claim to "speak" Spanish but are forced to resort to mangled Spanglish with every verb in the first person singular. American public school linguistic education is terribly inadequate. In my experience, taking 5-6 semesters of a language (and actually devoting yourself to it) is enough to start considering yourself decent. I had maybe four semesters under my belt when I visited Bonn and a two week long intensive language course had me conversing perfectly with locals.

In the end, just appraise yourself honestly! If you can't pull up a Telemundo clip on Youtube and understand it, you don't speak Spanish 🙂

👍

I thought I had decent Spanish skills until I went and lived in a Spanish speaking country for 3 months. My Spanish improved a lot, but I am nowhere near fluent. I can say whatever I want to say and understand almost everything said to me, but that doesn't mean I am fluent. I work my way around words that I don't know and pick up meaning about others in context. I will probably never be fluent, but I will be able to talk to patients about medicine and answer their questions without an interpreter. On the AMCAS, I only listed myself as good at Spanish. I figured it was better to underestimate myself than to go into an interview and speak solely in Spanish. While I am sure I could do it without problems, it would be difficult.