How do you know if you are fluent in French?
TLDR: Fluency is a fantasy. Let’s talk about fluidity instead.
I really like the word "fluid" instead of fluent. It conveys a kind of ease of expression, and doesn't mean perfection or nativeness. I think this is a good target when learning another language because it does involve the ability to function in the language and allows for a lack of perfection, like not getting the perfect accent, or failing to conjugate the subjunctive properly, and these errors don't stop the conversation.
Fleuncy implies perfection and nativeness. I am a native English speaker, and many would say that I am fluent in English. Despite being fluent in English, I am not always perfect. I once said “infarction” when I meant “infraction”. I sometimes don’t know how to pronounce a new word, or I realize I have pronounced a word incorrectly my entire life. You’ll hear newscasters talk about a war, saying the population was “decimated,” which means “to reduce by 10%” but it has come to mean to destroy completely. Even those who are paid to talk well and impart information are not perfect. Are they thus not fluent? Who judges fluency? Who is the perfectly fluent person to determine who is—or is not—fluent?
Fluency, as a goal for language learners, is a minefield and can hold them hostage as they learn. French “fluency” is a moving target; like any topic, the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know. For example, think about how much slang changes from year to year, or even from month to month. There are new social media trends that bring new words and concepts into the language, and the same is true for all languages. While slang is mostly a young person’s game, for adults, there is jargon, especially at work. You can learn business French, but that is also a moving target, though one that doesn’t evolve as quickly as slang. If fluency were perfection, you would have to know medical terminology, TikTok slang, sports terminology, and so on.
For me, fluidity implies an ease with the language, not perfection. This is the word I would describe my ability in my native language, though there are degrees of quality. As language learners, we should strive for fluidity, not fluency. Working toward fluidity will ease many frustrations people have when learning to speak a language. Fluidity can look like saying, for example, “i got a new sweater made of…. ummm…uhhhh…the hair of a sheep.” The person you are speaking to understands exactly what you are saying and might helpfully tell you the word you forgot. We do this in our native language, so why not do it in your target languages? It’s kind of like you are speaking by any means necessary.
When I teach French conversation, I encourage learners to talk to themselves, narrate their date (in the present, past, and future), name things in their house, have chats with their pets and plants, and ask themselves questions. The idea is to let your mouth produce the sounds and words, play with the language, and do the best you can with the words and tenses you know even if you have to say “hair of the sheep”. Keep talking, even if you sound like an illiterate toddler, because you are building confidence in your ability to open your mouth and talk. That leads to fluidity, a journey, not a destination.
