Different language skills
There is no such thing as across-the-board proficiency in a particular language. Proficiency is usually measured in terms of four skills:

• speaking
• reading
• listening
• writing

Learners usually have different levels of proficiency in the four skills. Consequently, the four skills cannot be assessed by one test. Each one requires an independent evaluation.

Levels of proficiency
Two widely used guidelines identify stages of proficiency, as opposed to achievement. Both guidelines represent a hierarchy of global characterizations of integrated performance in speaking, listening, reading and writing. Each description is a representative sample of a particular range of ability, and each level subsumes all previous levels, moving from simple to complex.

It is important to understand that these guidelines are not intended to measure what an individual has achieved through specific classroom instruction but rather to allow assessment of what an individual can and cannot do, regardless of where, when, or how the language has been acquired.

ACTFL (American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages) has guidelines for speaking (1999) and preliminary guidelines for writing. The ILR (US Government Interagency Language Roundtable) has guidelines for speaking, reading, listening, writing and translation.

The two sets of guidelines for speaking only are given side-by-side below. Note that the ACTFL scale goes up only to the Superior level, while the ILR scale includes Advanced Professional Proficiency and Functionally Native Proficiency.

The Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI)
The OPI is a testing method that measures how well a person speaks a language by comparing his/her performance of specific language tasks with the criteria for each of proficiency levels described in the ACTFL Revised Proficiency Guidelines or the ILR Guidelines for Speaking. Since the OPI is an assessment of functional speaking ability, independent of any specific curriculum, it is irrelevant when, where, under what conditions, and for how long the person had studied the foreign language.

The OPI takes the form of a carefully structured conversation between a trained and certified interviewer (ACTFL) or two interviewers (ILR) and the person whose speaking proficiency is being assessed. A ratable speech sample is elicited from the interviewee by a series of questions or tasks, which follow the established protocol. The speech sample is recorded and later independently rated by two certified testers.

Click here to find out how to arrange for an ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview in your language. Tests are available in 50 different languages.
Click here for a quick and dirty way to establish your approximate speaking level.

Language difficulty
The Foreign Service Institute of the Department (FSI) of State has compiled approximate learning expectations for a number of languages based on the length of time it takes to achieve Speaking 3: General Professional Proficiency in Speaking (S3) and Reading 3: General Professional Proficiency in Reading (R3). The list is limited to languages taught at the Foreign Service Institute.

It must be kept in mind that that students at FSI are almost 40 years old, are native speakers of English. and have a good aptitude for formal language study, plus knowledge of several other foreign languages. They study in small classes of no more than 6. Their schedule calls for 25 hours of class per week with 3-4 hours per day of directed self-study.

* Languages preceded by asterisks are typically somewhat more difficult for native English speakers to learn than other languages in the same category.

Duration of language instruction in US colleges and universities
Compare these figures to the average number of class hours per year in a college language course. A typical college year is 9 months, or 36 weeks. A typical language course is 3-5 hours a week, or 108-180 hours per year plus preparation outside of class. It's no wonder that students who start a foreign language from scratch in college, rarely achieve higher levels of proficiency. Unless they have done significant language work in high school, they will need to supplement their college program with intensive summer schools and study abroad in order to achieve a high level of proficiency.

The inevitable conclusion is that one must begin the study of a foreign language as early as possible and pursue it for many years in order to achieve higher levels of proficiency.