Parlent corrament l'espagnol)

Ian R.B1Kwiziq community member

Parlent corrament l'espagnol)

Utter nonsense.  Both those statements (ie, "speak Spanish fuently: or "speak fluent Spanish" are 100% interchangeable. If anyone tells you different, they're not native English speakers (or they're very poorly educated). 

I'm getting the impression that the people who are setting these tests are not fluent English speakers. 

Asked 1 year ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Ian,

You are correct that this test question need amending. Thank you for noticing! It has been amended to avoid this confusion.

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Not sure what your concern is - the lesson is highlighting that there is no direct literal translation in French of the standard English phrase ‘I speak fluent (the language)..’ 

If referring to a specific quiz question, it helps to include it fully if reporting here, but is better to use the report button directly so that it can be checked against the answers.

In French ‘Je parle courant (the language) ‘ does not make sense. 

You can’t use the adjectival expression, only the adverbial.

In French, the expression is therefore always in the form “parler (the language) couramment”.

-   direct (not free) English translation is ‘speak (the language) fluently’

-   free (not direct) English translation ‘speak fluent (the language)’.

The fact that the 2 English expressions are correct and interchangeable is not in dispute. 

However, it is always difficult to describe how you ‘can’t say’ something in 1 language that is a standard expression in a 2nd language, especially when using the 2nd language to explain ! 

Maybe it can be better expressed - do you have suggestions for Aurélie on how it can be better explained ? 

Ian R. asked:

Parlent corrament l'espagnol)

Utter nonsense.  Both those statements (ie, "speak Spanish fuently: or "speak fluent Spanish" are 100% interchangeable. If anyone tells you different, they're not native English speakers (or they're very poorly educated). 

I'm getting the impression that the people who are setting these tests are not fluent English speakers. 

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