When can you say that you know a language?

People always talk about knowing more than one language, myself being one. I speak 4 different languages. The 2 languages I know best are the ones I wass raised on. The 2 other languages I've been studying for a while. I've studied the grammar of the languages in depth. I've studied the classical versions and the modern standard version of the language. My vocabulary is pretty huge (over 10'000 words) and I'd live fine in the countries.

At what point can you say that you know a language? What are the requirements? Is it a certain amount of vocabulary? :laugh:

 

I believe you know a language when you can go to a place speaking that language, and sit through a 10 - 12 highschool grade English class and fully understand it.

 

Being knowledgeable of a language in my opinion is when you can be fluent reading it and hearing it and of course speaking it, I can still understand some Spanish when other people around me are talking, but I could never jump in and speak it too. That doesn't make me a stranger to the language but I don't know it enough to communicate.

German on the other hand I took a few years of and can speak it no problem. If you can hold a conversation with another person who is native to it, then I'd say you know that language Could you survive in a society in a foreign country with no English speakers?

 

Germany was my birthplace, but I forgot the language when I moved to the states since we spoke English and my native language at home.

 

I would say; you have the ability to say you know a language, when you can fully comprehend what is being said.

 

That's too general. Care to specify?

 

When you can speak common, daily-use words fluantly, maybe

 

You know a language when you know how to use the vocabulary, and you can hold a conversation with a native speaker.

People can learn all the vocab they want, hell, they can memorize an entire dictionary full of every single word ever uttered by someone of that nationality and they still don't know the language because they don't know HOW to use the words.

To be able to speak with another native speaker, and to understand past their different accents means you've actually applied yourself, and your brain picks up almost with second nature what the gist of the sentence/conversation is.

 

I consider myself to "know" 2 languages.

I'm fluent in English.

However my second language, 'Cantonese' I can only speak it, I cannot read or write it. I would never ever consider myself fluent in Cantonese, however when people ask me I say I know how to speak it. I can sustain conversations with people, I know how to order in it, express my concerns.
Basically If you through me in the middle of Hong Kong I'd be just fine as I could speak to everyone.

It's rather funny though, technically English is my second language because when I was born my mothers side was predominately Asian, and I learnt Cantonese first lol.

 

Yep, that's why I've always studied grammar first.

 

I would say when you are able to hold a steady everyday conversation with someone for like 10 mins, then you know the language.

 

Makes sense. I'm finding the different replies interesting! Keep em coming.

 

When you can speak it fluently

 

When you can speak it with any other person fluently , and know a bit of there slangs.

 

Yeah, I don't learn slang, I consider it wasteful.

Oh, why was this topic moved here?

 

I, on the other hand, consider slang to be the most important key to the mastery of a language. If you don't know the slang of the language it immediately alerts other speakers that it is a non-native language for you.

 

I think it's when you can unconsciously slip into thinking in the other language

 

when you speak and understand most of the language

 

When you can enter the country, and successfully live / manage yourself.

 

I think you can say you know a language when you go to the country of origin and can get by with everyday life.