The Most Popular Language Exams (And Why They're Great For Independent Learners Too)

Language exams can add to your routines and make you a much better language learner. At the end of this article, you'll find a handy list of popular tests and exams in a whole bunch of languages.

Why Take a Language Exam or Language Test?

You may find yourself wondering why a language test would be useful for you at all, especially if you’re not studying for work or school. But there are a few excellent reasons to dive into the idea of test prep.

1) Gain a Solid Framework Instantly

Self-guided language study is a bit haphazard at times. You may lack the support network of a group class, and you may not have found the right tutor yet. You may even find yourself changing resources a lot of the time. One day you spend half an hour on Memrise, the next day it’s back to podcasts. If you find that your entire language learning system is not as good as it could be, working towards will help you grow from solid ground. Language exams are built on the four core skills principle of listening, reading, speaking and writing.

Read more about the core skills in my book Fluency Made Achievable

2) Achieve More, Faster

Believe it or not, putting a smaller goal such as a specific language test at the next level in front of you will make you feel better. It’s a bit like going on marathon training. You could try and run the whole 26 miles all in one go, and then you’ll feel frustrated when you haven’t got there after 1 hour. Or you could practice little and often, and aim for a level that’s the next sensible goal. As you approach the 5 mile marker for the first time you’ll feel pretty proud and you’ll know you can build onto this foundation. The same mindset will work for you when you aim to pass the right exam instead of spending all your days wondering “how long until I’m fluent?”.

3) Get the Benefit Without The Fees

Language tests are created for applicants to universities, aspiring immigrants or job applicants who need to prove that they can function at the required level in a language. This has two big advantages for you as an independent learner:

First of all, the tests are not about rote learning and recalling 1000 words. They are about how well you can function in your target language. Can you read the paper, can you understand your boss, can you convince a friend to see your movie choice? For anyone dreaming of true functional fluency in another country, language tests are perfect.

But secondly, if you’re not actually planning to move to your target language’s country, you have got a fab deal. Buy a test prep manual, join a test prep class, research a test…but don’t go and take it because you don’t need to do this. You can mock test yourself in ways that are cheaper than some of the registration fees charged by test providers. For example, work with a tutor just to check your answers or become a study buddy for a learner at your level.

The Most Popular Framework for Languages

These days, most accredited language tests are designed in line with the Common European Framework for Language Proficiency (CEFR), which is split into levels A1 to C2.

You may also see websites that refer to the amount of study hours a student has put in to achieve this level, but it’s a lot more helpful to think about it as the answer to the question “What can you do with your language skills at this level?"

The aspect that I like best about this framework is that it does not focus on numbers. Instead of checking which vocabulary words you know (like the scary/horrible American GED), these tests are about interaction. They are exactly what language learning is about in the 21st century. If you’re hoping to speak to a real person soon, then this system is exactly right for you.

The Most Popular Language Exams

English

• TOEFL, most popular in the USA
• IELTS, the most common exam in Britain and Australia

Both exams are accepted widely throughout the English speaking world. With both of these, you don't study towards a specific level exam. Instead, you're tested and your result will indicate which level the testers found you are at.

German

• Goethe Certificates from A1 to C2
• ÖSD, the Austrian language diploma which assesses the Austrian dialect of German

French

• DELF and DAF are the official French government language exams and offer tests ranging from A1 to B2 and the DAF as the higher option
• TCF, the Test de Connaissance du Français also has a Québec option if you're looking at Canadian French in particular

Spanish

• DELE is the official Spanish government language exam and awards diplomas from A1 to C2

Italian

• CILS, the Certificazione di Italiano come Lingua Straniera is particularly useful for people aiming to study at Italian universities, and also available from A1 to C2. It's offered by the University of Siena.
• The popular CELI is available at levels UNO, DUE and TRE. View all options at the University of Perugia website.

Japanese

• The JLPT is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test or Nihongo Nōryoku Shiken. It doesn't follow the usual framework to the letter but instead runs from level N1 to N5.

If you haven't found a language exam that interests you on this page or want to find even more options, read further on Wikipedia.

Do You Think a Test is Right For You?

In my own experience, I have prepared students for Goethe Exams at levels B1 to C1 and found that it really focused our lessons. And I'm not a stranger to language exams myself, having taken the IELTS before moving to the UK many moons ago.

Have you ever taken a language proficiency test or prepared for one? Would you do this in your language learning?

Share your opinion about formal language exams in the comments!

#clearthelist July 2019: My Chinese and Welsh Progress After a Break

“Inelegantly, and without my consent, time passed.” - Miranda July

Welcome to Clear the List, my monthly language learning goals update. Yep, that time again already!

Clear the List is a round-up hosted by my friends Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy, and if you’re interested in joining then don’t hesitate to check out the Clear the List linkup for #clearthelist, hosted by Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy.

Let’s go!

What Happened in June 2019?

The biggest event in my June 2019 was the Fluent German Retreat, my immersion holiday for German learners.

We studied in the mornings and had fun outings in the afternoons, like a local apple farm where the owner himself showed us around. In Hamburg, we spent time in the Kunsthalle, the city’s amazing art museum which houses one of my favourite paintings: “Wanderer above a sea of fog”.

There were sea shanties and container ships, city guides in traditional dress, and not lastly delicious home-cooked meals from my retreat co-host Therese.

If you want more information about my retreats and perhaps come along on the next one, click here to join the retreat newsletter.

I also attended my first unconference in June, where conference attendees can turn up and decide to give a talk about anything. Have you been to one of these before?

New for Online Teachers

This month I also got to launch a fabulous new set of workshops for online teachers. These are open for enrolment until 7 July, and they will show ambitious online teachers how to improve the way they do business.

I’m teaching these with Lindsay Williams, my business friend and podcast buddy. Together we’re going to teach you about the best marketing tips and product strategies.

The Fluent Show

My favourite podcast experience of the month is definitely the afternoon I got to spend recording 4 podcasts about online teaching with Lindsay Williams. We’re friends and we chat, but we’d never chatted about the different aspects of our businesses in this way.

It also got personal and I shared my own story of creating this website and business out of my experience with depression.

If you are at all interested in online teaching and marketing, you’ll love this conversation.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Language Goals and Progress

We are like 300 words into this article and finally it’s time to check in on my LANGUAGE goals. As you can see I’ve been engaged in lots of projects, so let’s have an honest look about whether I fitted any language learning into all this.

The German retreat took about 10 study days out of my month, but happily I returned more motivated than ever.

Is there anything better than returning from a break, eager to progress through your routine?

Chinese Core Skills

Listening and Reading

I only really listen to Mandarin Chinese when I take lessons or use Lingq, so let’s look at these two goals together.

I created 45 new Lingqs, reading a total of 350 words. In my lessons and books, I also progressed a few pages here and there, so I’ll repeat my favourite language learning mantra:

You can never learn backwards.

In other reading news, I was able to pick out 3 characters from the writing on a Sriracha bottle. It’s the little things…

Speaking

I had hoped to take 3 italki lessons, but today it’s the 30th and again I only managed one. However, during that one class the compliments were flying my way as my Mandarin teacher said I was a very quick and careful learner.

Writing

I wrote 2 pages and practiced a few more Chinese characters.

Welsh Core Skills

Felt like Welsh was a great one this month as I naturally want it in my life now, no big motivation necessary. I found that S4C’s app works on our Amazon Fire stick, so now I can finally watch the popular show Un Bore Mercher with Eve Myles.

You can watch this with me if you are in the UK, because it was actually filmed in Welsh AND English and is available in English as Keeping Faith

And the best thing I found: SUBTITLES IN WELSH!! Amazing!! You can’t get these through my usual streaming service, so I’m just delighted.

For reading and writing practice, I kept my Welsh Instagram account going (@kersydysgu, dilynwch fi os eisiau!) and had the usual text exchanges with friends. And I had a lovely language exchange with Gareth Popkins.

Language Goals for July 2019

My next few months all look like they will feature quite a bit of travel and work, so one thing’s for sure: 2019 is not going to be the “summer of language study”. But here’s what I’m aiming for in July 2019.

Listening

I have good things going here with Welsh on the radio, podcasts, and TV. In addition, Lingq recorded dialogues are a great resource of Mandarin at my level. So it’s all good and I just need to crack on.

Reading

In Welsh, I’m actually finding myself quite eager to start my next book which will be Ffenestri by Lois Arnold.

In Chinese, I’m ALSO eager to read as I’m loving the Lingq app. Let’s see if I can build more Lingqs than in June.

Speaking

Aiming for at least 2 italki lessons in Mandarin Chinese, and let’s see if I can’t find someone to speak more Welsh to. If all else fails, I’ll record myself speaking some Welsh over on Instagram.

Writing

Unclear on the goals at the moment, but I do get the feeling that my Chinese level is now calling for some vocabulary lists. I like writing vocabulary lists rather than making flashcards, as they allow me to focus and review without a screen. So let’s see if I can’t fill 2 pages with 20-40 Mandarin expressions and words.

Not sure if I should keep it pin-yin here or go with the full character set? What do you think?

On Studying 2 Languages

Studying both Chinese and Welsh at the same time is not bothering me massively. I don’t have the big goals of reaching any levels at set points, and for this month the relaxed feel fits both languages well.

I’d love to hear from you. Which languages are you studying? Are you happy with your language choices at the moment?

Leave a comment below, or why not join clearthelist as well and post your own update on your blog. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

#clearthelist June 2019: I Am Not a Perfect Polyglot

Welcome to Clear the List, my monthly language learning goals update. Clear the List is a round-up hosted by my friends Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy. It is SO motivating and I recommend it to anyone who wants to share goals and celebrations.

I hope you find these goals and reports inspiring for your own language learning. It clearly shows that I’m far from perfect. But I don’t think perfection is what we’re aiming for.

If you want a “learn 25 languages in 16 weeks” polyglot, read something else.

If you want a real person loving languages and getting marginally better, this is for you.

What Happened in May 2019?

May was a fairly quiet month for me. After the exciting launch of German Uncovered and the latest language retreat, I took a well-earned break…in Wales to speak as much of my target language as possible!

This was followed by a week away in Amsterdam, and a few weeks doing something completely unrelated to languages…which has been a welcome planning month for new projects here at Fluent Language.

One of those projects is Teach & Thrive, a new set of workshops all about online teaching! I’m starting these in July together with Lindsay Williams, and there’ll be an exclusive podcast for you if you’ve registered to get notified.

The Fluent Show

Hands down, my favourite episode of the month was this inspiring interview with Paul Kaye about being a translator in the world’s biggest translation office: the European Commission!

Paul shared tips on how to become a translator along with his own fascinating story. If you dream of getting paid to learn languages, this is for you.

Language Goals and Progress

Let’s quickly cover Welsh first…I love the Welsh language so! In May volunteered at the wonderful Machynlleth Comedy Festival this year, stewarding at Welsh venue Caffi Alys. During the festival weekend, I also ran into my friend Nicky Roberts, who surprised me by whipping out a microphone to record me for his podcast!

As we spoke lots of Welsh in the podcast, you’ll read more about it below.

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In addition to the talking, I also finally got the Welsh Grammar book back out and did a few pages of Welsh conjunctions in the garden. I strongly recommend wine to go with your grammar books.

Chinese Language Progress

In Chinese, I had more specific goals. Let’s see how that went.

Listening

I watched a few EasyMandarin videos on YouTube. I haven’t quite found my ideal listening resource yet and am not sure what to do about this.

Reading

I had no specific goals. But…GUYS!! I finally discovered the joy of Lingq! This app’s simple texts proved perfect for me as a beginner and the story structure is making me want to progress and read more of what’s going on. Compliments to Lingq. I’d been aware of the app for years but it doesn’t support Welsh, so it’s a delight to finally get it.

Speaking

I had hoped to complete 3 Skype lessons and that didn’t happen, as I messed up the times of my booking. But I did get to one by the end of the month and had done so much reviewing that my teacher was happy with the speed of progress. So I’m happy enough!

Writing

I had three different goals:

to follow up each language lesson with a page or revision notes

Success! I’m a pretty good reviewer and my teacher was excited that I learn “so carefully”. Mind you, I only had the one lesson!

to write 4 notebook pages about myself or my family (these pages are full really quickly when I write in English + pinyin + characters)

I did write a few pages, but none about me. I think I touched on a few important points such as 我有一只猫 - I have a cat.

and to figure out how to type pinyin.

Got it sorted on the Mac!

Goals for June 2019

Let’s try a new structure of going by core skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and writing my goals in each language.

By the way, did you know I have written a book about those core skills? Check it out here for your summer language read.

Listening

In Welsh, I will do my usual listening practice which is now a consistent 1-2 radio or TV hours per week.

In Mandarin, it’s harder as I’ve not come across anything specific yet. LingQ is helping me a little bit here as its own learner content comes with matching audio. If you can recommend anything else at A1 sort of level, please do comment below.

Reading

My focus here is on Chinese and I want to get somewhere with LingQ. I find the idea of a daily streak quite suffocating, so instead I’ll try one of the in-built challenges and aim for 250 “LingQs”, which are new words added in the app.

All these words make for longer flashcard revisions so let’s hope I stay sane doing that.

Speaking

In Welsh, conversations are a key part of this annoying “intermediate” learning stage and they’re never easy to come by or as comfortable as I want them to be. So this means…I need to have more of them!

I will hunt down 3 friends for at least one chat this month.

In Mandarin, it’s also important to talk but my lessons are quite structured. I can get away with less and aim for 3 Skype lessons like the May goal.

Writing

No specific Welsh goals, I type and text regularly and update kersydysgu too.

Mandarin: I’ll keep up my habit of reviewing my notes and writing lots after every lesson. It’s not always easy to find the time, but I do find writing in Chinese quite relaxing so I hope I won’t need a specific goal here.

Who am I kidding. 3 pages at least!

Chinese or Mandarin?

By the way, I know I’m using “Chinese” and “Mandarin” interchangeably in this article. I’m trying to re-habit myself to referring to it as Mandarin for clarity. It’ll take me a while though.

What are Your Language Goals for June 2019?

Do you take summer breaks? Or step on the gas when the days are long?

Leave a comment below to tell me all about how you’re getting on, and what you are planning to study next.

Be sure to check out the Clear the List linkup for #clearthelist, hosted by Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy.

#clearthelist May 2019: Learning 2 Languages at Once (Plus: Lots of Resources for Chinese and Welsh!)

Hello and welcome to Clear The List, the monthly language learning round-up about language learning goals and progress. This blog round-up is hosted by my friends Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy, and April marks a full year of my language goal-setting using this process.

Andiamo!

What Happened in April 2019?

The month of April started off very intense and ended a lot more relaxed. That’s how I like it!

In the first week, I was finally lifting the curtain on my new German course, German Uncovered. It’s an incredible feeling when that first student enrols and all the work translates into their language progress. I held a welcome call with co-creator Olly Richards for our first gang.

This month, I was also busy preparing for the next German retreat. These retreats are an amazing opportunity for intermediate and advanced students to visit another country, discover more about culture, and practice their language through immersion. The June edition is now fully booked for German, and you can get on that waiting list for the next event if you like.

Sign up here for news about the next German retreat.

The Fluent Show

What a month! I was so proud to release my interview with one of my favourite language authors, Dr Roger Kreuz who wrote Becoming Fluent. Roger is a psychology professor and associate dean at the University of Memphis, and our conversation about language learning was wonderful and inspiring.

If you follow the Fluent Show, you’ll know that I have a soft spot for the psychology of the language learner, so this interview was definitely a highlight of the year.

Listen to the podcast episode with Dr Roger Kreuz here

Language Goals and Progress

I’m currently working on two target languages as a learner: intermediate Welsh and very early beginner’s Chinese.

Welsh Progress

In the Welsh language, my level is now pretty functional as long as I maintain a lot of contact and produce a lot of my target language on a regular basis. And I do mean every day when possible.

In the month of April, I found it most difficult to get speaking opportunities. I didn’t arrange any meet-ups with my local conversation partner, my tutor was busy, and when I spoke to my friend Nicky it was in English because he was a guest on the Fluent Show.

Instagram yn y gymraeg

In the first half of the month, I was also struggling to find time and mental energy to learn Welsh. But once Easter came around and my workload eased up with Fluent, I feel like everything got better! I started by switching on Radio Cymru for a few mornings, then added a bit of S4C.

But the best part was creating my new Instagram account, @kersydysgu. Inspired by some wonderful Fluent Show listeners who have done this, I decided to try out the idea of a fully separate, and ONLY IN WELSH insta account. And my daily contact is through the roof because I’m already spending way too much time on the app. What a fantastic way to get more contact and write in Welsh on a regular basis.

Chinese Progress

My other language is Mandarin Chinese. I had set myself structured goals for this language for the first time last month.

Listening

My goal was to watch a bit of Easy Mandarin on Youtube, but I did nothing. Listening fell flat in April. I don’t enjoy many language instruction podcasts and I’m too low level for any natural input that I know.

Speaking

My very tentative goal of an italki lesson was realised last week. Hooray! My first tutor listened to me counting to 10 and saying “living room” and “desk” at random, then declared my pronunciation very good and my learning “a mess”.

And fair point! I had not even noticed how little I had spoken apart from sounding out the words in my apps, and how little I could say in the way of dialogue. I was incredibly motivated after that and greeted her the next time with a full introduction, including where I live, my age, and my family. Take that, language mess!

I’m very pleased that I got my head around tones and basic pronunciation before the lesson, and I’m now hoping to take some regular classes. Good reminder: It isn’t really ever too early to work with a good tutor. They know what they’re doing!

Reading

Most of my learning is still reading-based, so I kinda met my goal by default.

Writing

I think I did quite well! My notebook is in regular use at the moment, and following up the lessons has made a big difference here.

At the moment my approach is to write in pinyin and also Chinese characters, but I’m not trying to memorize any of the characters. I’m thinking stuff like 我 and 你 will start sinking in automatically.

I’m using Google Translate and the Pleco app a lot for writing at the moment.

Daily Contact Goal

Every month, I log my “daily contact” with the Welsh language. In April, it was difficult to keep anything going during the launch of German Uncovered. But once Easter rolled around and I took some time to rest, Welsh returned to my life. In the last week, my Welsh instagram account made it easier than ever and I’m on a streak.

Total: 17 day out of 30.

I also track how many times I’ve spent 10+ minutes on Chinese, mostly for fun. In April, I checked this box 7 times. Often, this signals way over 10 minutes but it’s not about the minutes. It’s about the habit.

Goals for May 2019

This month is an unusual one. I’m travelling for the first 2 weeks, to Machynlleth in Wales and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. In the last 2 weeks, I’ve got a full-time responsibility away from Fluent, so I’ll have to see how work fits around it.

Welsh Language Goals

Again, I don’t feel I need to actively split my goals into listening, speaking, reading and writing at this intermediate stage. I just want to feel like I’m as good or better, and that will be about contact and speaking.

Spending the first few days of May in Machynlleth is a good start, and in the second half of the month I hope to get started on Say Something in Welsh Level 3 and get back into meeting my speaking partner.

Chinese Language Goals

In this language I’m a total beginner (很高兴认识你) and will benefit from the goal structure. So let’s go!

Listening

Ready to try again with YouTube for Chinese beginners. I’m looking for dialogue-based or story-based input here, rather than someone explaining greetings to me in detail.

If you want to recommend a channel or listening resource, leave me a comment below.

Reading

This is the easy one for any beginner, all my apps and my textbook are reading practice. No specific goals.

Speaking

I’ve already booked one Skype lesson and hope to complete 3 by the end of the month.

(By the way, this month on the blog I have a brand new italki review - check it out if you have not tried out italki before.)

Writing

Three goals:

• to follow up each language lesson with a page or revision notes,
• to write 4 notebook pages about myself or my family (these pages are full really quickly when I write in English + pinyin + characters),
• and to figure out how to type pinyin.

That’s it! Plenty to be getting on with.

Resources

Many people have been asking me to list the resources I use for learning my languages this month. Here they are:

Chinese Resources

• italki for finding a tutor
• Chinese in 10 Minutes a day
• Pleco
• Lingodeer app
• Dropsapp

Welsh Resources

• S4C on player
• Radio Cymru on BBC radio playerapp
• parallel.cymru
• Say Something in Welsh app
• Instagram
• Ap Geiriaduron, the magnificent dictionary app
• a printed dictionary and Modern Welsh Grammar (link goes to a stupidly expensive version but I got mine from someone else who found it in a charity shop, so don’t forget your local 2nd hand resources!!)
• A local language partner and lovely people who speak Welsh with me. You can find these by asking around!

What are Your Language Goals for May 2019?

Have you ever studied Welsh? Are you a Chinese beginner? Juggling 2 languages like me?

Leave a comment below to tell me all about how you’re getting on, and what you are planning to study next.

Be sure to check out the Clear the List linkup full of inspiring language goals and reports, hosted by Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy.

What Are the Easiest Languages in the World?

Imagine you're learning a language that's so easy that you're having full conversations within just a few hours. The vocabulary makes sense, the grammar feels natural...it's all just very easy. You've found the holy grail of languages...the one that you'll find so easy that you'll master it in just a few hours.

Listen to the latest podcast episode to hear Lindsay and me discuss this topic with lots of surprising insights and our own hit lists of top 5 easiest languages.

Here are a few of the factors that determine if you will find a language easy or difficult:

Language Families: What Is Similar to What You Already Know?

Familiarity is the most obvious way to guess whether a language is going to be easy for you to learn. The closer its structures and vocabulary are to your native language, the easier it should be to understand and learn them.

The idea: Languages in your language family are the ones that give you the least new material to learn. With less to learn, that means you don't have to work as hard. It's easy!

What You See = All You Get?

The language families theory works perfectly, but it has one flaw: Without knowing about the languages you don't know...how can you tell that those familiar ones really are the easiest?

For example, speakers of a Latin-based language like Spanish will list Italian and Portuguese as their easy languages... but fewer people mention Romanian. Romanian is less popular, but it is still Latin-based and fairly accessible.

Many people start to mistake languages that are widely spoken with languages that are easy. And that makes sense in terms of access - how easy is it to find materials for your language? How unusual do you feel when you’re learning this language?

But is the most popular language really the easiest? Maybe there's more to it!

Language History: Where Have Languages Been Designed to Ease Communication?

Sometimes, a language emerges because it needs to create ease of communication quickly and often this leads to simplified grammar structures. Languages designed to aid communication are Pidgins and sign languages, for example. They’re considered easy partly because they are based on existing languages.

In the podcast, we discuss whether a pidgin or a sign language could be the easiest language in the world...or maybe not?

Learner Situation: Which Language(s) Have You Learnt Before?

In my Facebook group, one learner replied to my question “Which are the easiest languages for you?” in an unusual way. She said:

"I think the easiest three are often your last three, because you develop your language learning strategy as you work out which things help you learn"

It's very true. Languages can be easier or harder depending on you and where your skillset and mindset are at.

A bad experience in the past (like in school) can give you the impression that a language is hard, when it may have been more to do with your learning environment.

In addition to this, some languages just call to you and that motivation makes the complex grammar or weird vocabulary a joy to learn rather than a burden.

So What Makes a Language Easy or Hard?

It's personal to you as the language learner, so there is no general answer. What you know and the languages you know are also limited, so...in a way you won't ever have the answer until you try.

But remember: It’s hard not to confuse “easy” with “available".

What Were Your Top 5 Easiest Languages?

Listen to the podcast to hear our lists of easy languages and share your views in the comments below