“I want to be Fluent.” I feel that this is the most common goal that people have. I just sometimes have difficulties understanding what the hell is fluency? Fluency for you might be different than it is for me. I think that understanding what fluency is for you is essential in crafting realistic goals. 

Being fluent enough to order drinks at the bar on vacation, is very different than being fluent enough to give a dissertation on anti-matter. The Latter let’s be real I couldn’t even do in English. So expanding this word to encapsulate what you want to do in a language is very important. 

Some tests categorize fluency, but they’re inherently flawed. You can do well in a TOEFL, IELTS, or whatever equivalent by knowing a lot of vocabulary around university studies. Universities studies might be valuable to someone, but if you work in sales or medicine, is that an area that you need to confidently speak about? I don’t think so. So I have just disproven the CEFR levels. So then what is fluency? I believe it is the ability to speak confidently in certain situations that you will find yourself in. I am fluent in English and that antimatter dissertation sounds like a night mare, but buying bus tickets I know I can do that without even trying. That is what your goals should be around, the practical use of the language.

I have these questions to help better clarify what fluency would actually mean to you: 

Where are you going? – This could be to University, this could be on a plane, this could be a restaurant. You need to ask, where am I going in this language what are the places that I will have to exist in?

Who will you speak to? – The waiter, a conductor, a teacher, who are you speaking to in these places what types of conversations might you have in your native language, and what will you need to know to have those conversations in a foreign language?

What is the desired out come of the interactions? – Is the desired outcome to survive or thrive. Example with buying bus tickets, is the goal to get the bus ticket and onto the bus, or am I attempting to ask about any job openings that they might have? For most people it is a “I am going to XYZ city/town at this time and here is my passport, how much do I owe you.” That fluency necessary to be successful is alot less than you might need for an interview 

Wanting fluency and confident in a language is a normal goal, just when and where do you need to be confident and with who? The practicality of the language, and how you use it will guide you on your journey of a speaker of that language. Just know what fluency might mean to me is probably going to be different than what it means to you. Define yourself in your new language.