I was hoping to use the video in this post to showcase my continuing progress towards fluency. However, what it instead shows is something more honest.
In recent days I have been buoyed by the results of a few online tests. The first was a Spanish A Level exam, which is the test taken by students in England during their last year at school. After reviewing the answers, I was delighted to find that I can be fairly sure I would earn an A in the exam. I also completed a DELE online test. This assessed my abilities to be at the lower level of C1, the standard achieved by university graduates. This suggests that I could earn a degree in Spanish, although I would be unlikely to pass with flying colours!
Sadly, the video below doesn’t reflect the progress of recent weeks as it is littered with heinous grammatical errors. I was tempted to ensure it never saw the light of day, but this would render the purpose of these reports redundant. As every language learner knows, we all have good days and bad days. Without rhyme or reason, there are occasions where one struggles to articulate thoughts in a foreign language with their normal level of dexterity. It would appear I recorded this video on such a day. It’s taken me a long time, but I’m slowly becoming more philosophical about my fluctuating fortunes in this regard, and remembering to look at the bigger picture of overall improvement.
This will probably be my last post from Bocas del Toro. I’ve really enjoyed my time studying at Habla Ya and in spite of my feelings towards my latest video, the progress I have made since my early videos is undeniable. My girlfriend arrives in five days and we then begin a three-week trip from Bocas to Bogota in Colombia. In addition to my classes, I’ve been continuing to plug away at improving my Spanish using a variety of content, learning applications and podcasts. While I’m tempted to write an in-depth assessment of my Spanish odyssey so far, I will save such a piece for the end of my travels. This is currently expected to be at the end of June. There are many things to see and much progress to make before then!
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