Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
I have never encountered a scale for measuring language fluency. So I decided to create my own. It goes from 0 (one word) to 10 (100,000 words, i.e., someone like Winston Churchill). It's logarithmic (based on the square root of 10), reflecting the greater impact (in my opinion) of a small difference between beginners over a large difference between experts.
Feel free to use my scale in discussions on this board, so we all have a common reference for comparison.
It has never been calibrated. I don't know what percentage of the population falls into each range. In particular, the research behind my estimates, such as "this is the level of a 5-7 year-old child" is not very scientific.
It's based on vocabulary. I can't imagine how to measure proficiency in grammar and syntax, but I assume it increases with more words. In addition, all languages do not have the same size vocabulary, so 100,000 words might be an unreasonable upper limit in many cases. I don't mean to imply that some languages are inferior because it's impossible to reach 10.0.
The definition of a "word" is not the same in all languages. Highly synthetic languages like Chinese have a basic vocabulary of morphemes (about 5,000 monosyllables in university-graduate level Chinese) which can be combined in literally millions of ways to form new compound-words. German and Finnish, with their polysyllabic morphemes, are famous for their three-inch-long compound words. I don't know how to apply my scale to these languages.
So, with that explanation and those reservations, try rating your fluency in various languages on a scale that offers some semblance of standardization and comparability.
Feel free to use my scale in discussions on this board, so we all have a common reference for comparison.
- 0: 1 word. If you know less than one word then I guess technically your rating should be minus-infinity, but go ahead and round it up to 0.
- 1: 3 words. I think this is qualitatively different from knowing one word, but it's only one point so who cares.
- 2: 10 words. You can pick your favorite foods off of a menu, give a simple greeting or thank-you, recognize an insult (but hopefully not give one), etc.
- 3: 30 words. You can put a few important sentences together with vaguely correct grammar, and get yourself out of the most common kinds of trouble.
- 4: 100 words. You understand the most basic principles of grammar and, with a lot of arm-waving and some really patient natives, you might get around the capital city.
- 5: 300 words. A tourist who tries not to embarrass himself, you can ask questions and say a little about yourself. 5 or 6 is about what is called a "courtesy level" of fluency.
- 6: 1,000 words. This is the level of a 5-7 year-old child, depending on how precocious he is. You've taken a class or lived among the people. You have a good grasp of grammar although you make a lot of mistakes, and you can carry on a simple light-hearted conversation.
- 7: 3,000 words. This is the level of a 7-9 year-old child, and of most people who have studied the language for two years in high school or one year in college; also of an immigrant who's spent a year working very hard to learn it from conversation. Your grammar is quite good and you can discuss things that interest you, as long as the listeners are very patient and helpful. Depending on the country, you might be able to get along for an extended period, or even hold down a simple job.
- 8: 10,000 words. This is the level of a 9-14 year-old child. Most people who study a foreign language formally don't get much beyond this unless they emigrate and work in the country. Your grammar is almost flawless but you still can't understand so many of the words flying around that you feel a little left out of conversations and have to ask for help rather often.
- 9: 30,000 words. This is the level of a university-graduate native speaker who got good grades. You are very articulate and can compose and understand very complicated sentences. You may have a profession in which communication is one of the most important skills. You know many words that the average person doesn't know, but you still occasionally run into words you don't know, usually in specialties. Most intelligent, educated people rank somewhere between 8.5 and 9.5.
- 10: 100,000 words. This is the level of William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, Jean-Paul Sartre and Jorge Luís Borges. You are a great orator and/or writer who inspires people with your command of the language. By the time you die there may be words in the dictionary that you created. My scale stops here, giving it a handy range of 0 to 10. You've probably met people who rank above 9.0, and you yourself might be there. But few of us will ever meet someone up near 10.0.
It has never been calibrated. I don't know what percentage of the population falls into each range. In particular, the research behind my estimates, such as "this is the level of a 5-7 year-old child" is not very scientific.
It's based on vocabulary. I can't imagine how to measure proficiency in grammar and syntax, but I assume it increases with more words. In addition, all languages do not have the same size vocabulary, so 100,000 words might be an unreasonable upper limit in many cases. I don't mean to imply that some languages are inferior because it's impossible to reach 10.0.
The definition of a "word" is not the same in all languages. Highly synthetic languages like Chinese have a basic vocabulary of morphemes (about 5,000 monosyllables in university-graduate level Chinese) which can be combined in literally millions of ways to form new compound-words. German and Finnish, with their polysyllabic morphemes, are famous for their three-inch-long compound words. I don't know how to apply my scale to these languages.
So, with that explanation and those reservations, try rating your fluency in various languages on a scale that offers some semblance of standardization and comparability.
Last edited:
