Free ways to find your level, strengths, weaknesses etc.

Ask specific questions about your target languages. Beginner questions welcome!
drp9341
Orange Belt
Posts: 241
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2016 1:21 pm
Location: NY, USA
Languages: Native: English (US)
C1/C2: Spanish, Italian
B2+: Portuguese
B2: French, Polish
A1: Russian, German
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=5978
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Free ways to find your level, strengths, weaknesses etc.

Postby drp9341 » Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:18 am

Hello everyone!

Does anyone know any website online that offers free assessments of your language skills, and breaks down what you should work on, what your weaknesses/strengths are etc.? This would be extremely useful to language learners who don't have the opportunity to use the language on a regular basis, and thus have difficulty becoming aware of their weakness, and what they should study.

In my current situation this would be perfect.
The other day I made a list of all the languages I want to improve in, and wrote down what I should focus on in order to make that happen.

For example: Spanish
- work on subjunctive.
- work on reflexive verbs and when to use them with respect to their non reflexive counterparts.
- improve your vocabulary through reading.
- Put subtitles of Club de (Cuervos for sentences I don't actively command, or that contain new vocabulary) into Anki and get a Mexican to record the audio for each flashcard. I finally decided I'm going to focus on Mexican Spanish, as I have spent years floating around betwen different dialects)
However, the reason I am able to do this is because I have used Spanish extensively, from working in Latin America, to spending lots of time with Spanish speakers etc.

However, when it came time to create a study plan for French, I had no idea where to start.
I can read French with ease, even if sometimes my vocabulary is lacking. I can also speak French quite quickly, correctly, and with a good accent.

My problem is that I learned French from one year of very basic French in high school, one semester of an advanced class I tested into at University, combined with self-study using Assimil, shadowing Assimil, and getting really interested in French phonology.

When I watched the TV show, Marseille on Netflix, I used French subtitles, and had to pause it and look up lots of words and expressions. However, if I were to take a CEFR exam, I would be B2 in probably everything except listening.

I wish there were more websites and tests online dedicated to helping people learning a language recognize what their weaknesses are, and what they should focus on to improve.
at this point, I'd even be willing to pay for that information!
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DaveBee
Blue Belt
Posts: 952
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 8:49 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (native). French (studying).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7466
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Re: Free ways to find your level, strengths, weaknesses etc.

Postby DaveBee » Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:28 am

TV5 Monde has an online mock TCF (test de connaissance du français) that breaks down the result into: compréhension orale, structure de la langue (grammar), and compréhension écrite.
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Samer
White Belt
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2016 10:57 pm
Languages: Arabic (N), English (C1-C2), Japanese (beginner)
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Re: Free ways to find your level, strengths, weaknesses etc.

Postby Samer » Fri Oct 20, 2017 3:35 am

You might like DIALANG from Lancaster University. It covers Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Irish-gaelic, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish.
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