[32] Fluency Does Not Equal Proficiency

• People often confuse the terms “fluency” and “proficiency” and use them synonymously.
• Asking people “how many languages are you fluent in?” is difficult to answer because it has such a muddy definition and people often mean to say ‘proficient’.
• ‘Proficiency’ refers directly to your skill level.
• ‘Fluency’ literally refers to the speed and flow of what comes out of your mouth as you speak.
• My original definition of fluency is ‘being able to use your target language to acquire more target language’ but my thinking has evolved on this point.
• These days I use ‘fluency’ to refer to the flow of your speaking and reserve ‘proficiency’ for skill.
• Fluency and proficiency can overlap.
• You can be highly proficient but have poor fluency on topics that you’re unfamiliar with.

Related blog post:

I wrote in detail about the difference between proficiency and fluency here.

Resources:

For spoken fluency training, I highly recommend Glossika.