Fluência com Inglês Nu E Cru - {Parte 3 - Avançado}

"Hello, sweet people, and welcome to another episode of Inglês Nu E Cru. My name is Foster and, as always, I am here with Alexia. Hi, everyone. Hi, Foster. How are you today?

I am doing well, Alexia. It's a national holiday here in Portugal. To be honest, I'm not sure what holiday it is. It's Liberty Day. Happy Day of Liberty to all our Portuguese friends and listeners. However, we are recording podcasts on a holiday. So, I figure that we are not liberados, Liberty Day, freedom. So, you figured? Yes. Is that what you said? Yeah. Can you explain that word?

That's a good expression, like to figure something out, or I figured that. Your mom says that a lot to me. So, I figured you would like to eat something sooner than later. That could be more of a southern expression. I'm not certain, but you can also say to figure something out. To figure something out. Okay, Foster.

So, the last episodes, what's it again? Episodes. Great. So, the last three episodes, if I'm not mistaken, we started to talk about fluency and the importance of being fluent or what is fluency for you, for me, for us. And we've been talking about the different levels that the European framework has. Today is the last, I think that there are only two more levels to talk about. That is correct.

Alexia, can I ask you a question? Yes. How do you feel about your performance right now? Just explaining. It was awful. Just because I was trying to say the word Europa correctly, and then I got lost in the middle of it and everything was so confusing. So, sorry guys. But this is real life English. That's why we are here. I thought you did a wonderful job. I personally pronounce Europe. Why you personally? Are there other ways of saying that? There are so many different varieties of English. I'm trying to find a better way. I'm just saying me as a native English speaker from the United States, I say Europe and I believe most other Americans also use the same pronunciation. Europe. Imagine you're up. I know. Up. You're up. You're up. Perfect.

Here we go. So, let's talk about what matters right now. Yes. Can I quickly give a summary of your summary? We have been doing a series of episodes talking about fluency, really trying to investigate and almost redefine fluency to make it more clear and really so you can understand what are your English learning goals and how can you achieve those goals? Correct?

So, we have already covered, we are working from the Common European Framework, which is just a system to measure your level of language proficiency. We've already covered A1, A2. Those are the beginning levels. B1, B2, that is intermediate. And today, we're going advanced.

Okay. So, I'm going to read what C1 is all about. Are you ready? Go for it. You should be able to understand a wide range of demanding longer texts and recognize implicit meaning. And then you should be able to express yourself fluently and spontaneously. You should be able to use the language flexibly and effectively for social, academic, and professional purposes. You should be able to produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects.

Let's take these one by one, Alexia. First point, understand a wide range of demanding longer text and recognize implicit meaning. Once again, our friends from the European Framework Language Association, whoever created this, used some strange language to explain the language. They're saying, you can read something that is quite demanding, which is really advanced and difficult, and understand it completely. And when it says recognize implicit meaning, that's trying to say that even if a text or a person doesn't say something explicitly, you Still, understand what they're trying to say. So, there is a level of cultural fluency that is really, really important there.

The second point, express yourself fluently and spontaneously. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic, and professional purposes.

Alexia, how do you feel about that one?

I mean, I feel that I would ask the person who wrote that like, "What do you mean about express yourself spontaneously?" I don't know what this means. You can be spontaneous and make a lot of mistakes at the same time, you know? So, it's very, there is an implicit meaning right there.

I think Alexia has some issues with the word spontaneous. Yes. So, let's replace that word. Let's say improvisation. Same for me. You know, like- In a variety of situations. Okay. Does that work? Yes.

Okay. So, two things, Alexia. First, I have a confession to make. When I was a young boy- Oh boy. Oh boy. Your foster goes again. No, when I was, I don't know, 21, 22 years old, I finished university, I studied Spanish, and then I was living in Spain for almost two years, and I spoke Spanish quite well.

I think at that period in time, my Spanish was much more advanced than my Portuguese is today because I understood the grammar, I could read and write extremely well, and I took one of these tests, and my Spanish was a C1, and I was so, so happy. Like, over the moon. That's a wonderful expression. Do you understand that? Si. Over the moon. Yeah. Just like, could not be happier with the result. Yeah.

So, I think when people think about fluency, this is what they're thinking about. C1 means you can do everything that you could possibly want to in a language without any problems. Yeah. But again, last episode, we were talking about, like, that you, maybe you can be C1 in some aspects of your life and B2 in other aspects. I think that there is a fluid situation right there.

Absolutely. But I think when we reach the advanced levels of fluency, you really have to have all of these different aspects. Like, it is impossible to read dense and difficult text and understand implicit meaning without having a very high degree of cultural fluency. So, you have to understand what's going on in the country, how the culture works, like, how people interact with each other. It's not just language. No, it's slangs, gerias, and regional slangs as well. Yeah.

Long story short, C1, really, really good. Yeah.

Okay. So, C2, the last one. So, you should be able to understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Express yourself spontaneously, very fluently, and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning, even in more complex situations.

I'm going to say it right now. Just reading this, I know that I'm not C2.

So... I think all of these definitions are unnecessarily confusing. C2, the easiest way for me to describe it is you are essentially indistinguishable from a native speaker. So, you can... Maybe after like five minutes, someone will say, like, where are you from? But you are bilingual. Yeah, that's what I'm... No.

So, for example, it's just like someone who was born, I don't know, in Denmark and then moved to the US to do college, for example, to go to college, and then got so, so good in English that nowadays you can't differentiate from a few years ago to now. Yes.

Just like that golfer, the one who went to Alabama, I think. Yes.

Okay. So, we have situations where you have children that grow up in bilingual families. That's an entirely different thing. Or you have people that move to a country when they're quite young, or even in like their teenage years. Or people that have just lived in a country for so long that they can reach the C2 level.

But to be honest, after more than 10 years of teaching language to people, I think I can count on one hand the number of people that I know that I would say have... E reached a C2 level that are completely indistinguishable from native speakers. So, I have a question for you. Forget that you are an English teacher, forget all of that. You as an American, okay? Do you think that it's possible for someone to reach a C1 or C2 level without living in the US, UK, Australia, or whatever?

Absolutely. Do I think it's possible? Yes. I think C1 is much more attainable and reasonable. Honestly, the difference between, I would say C1, you're like more than 90% fluent. And that final 10% is so difficult, and in 99% of cases, so unnecessary that I don't think it's worth it. But to answer your question, yes, I know people who do not live in English speaking countries, and I would consider their English C2. Okay.

We finished with all the levels from the framework da União Europeia. And I think that in the next episode, we should talk a little bit about our experiences and our opinions about the general viewing of that. Because we have a lot of listeners or students that will send us an email saying, hey, I am B2. I would like to take one of your courses. And then we are like, okay, so tell us a little bit more about your experience, because I think that the experience they have with English, it's much more important than being A, B or C.

Absolutely. Yeah. And like your goals, why do you want English in your life? Why are you gonna use English in your life? Yes. The expectations and all of that. Yes. I think one day, I don't know if we can promise this for the next episode, but one day we will create the Inglês no Equil framework, which the question has to begin with, why are you learning English in the first place? What are your goals? What is important to you? Do you want to be able to speak fluently? Is reading and writing important to you? Are you going to live in the U.S. or an English speaking country?

Those are the kinds of questions that you need to ask yourself, because learning a language takes a lot of time, effort, energy, huge project. It's the kind of thing that you have to do, even when it's a national holiday. Alexia, anything else to add? No. All good. Okay. Happy holidays, everyone. As always, keep up the good fight. And lose well. Bye.