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The level indicated corresponds most closely to my reading ability not to my spoken ability. Although Wikipedia makes the default level that of one's mastery of the spoken language that, to me, seems misguided for a project like Wikipedia. Reading and writing are far more important here than speaking. For example, my reading Spanish is at Level 4 (near-native speaker) although my speaking is probably a high 3. For French, I read at a high 3 (or low 4) but my speaking level is a 2 and my listening a high 2 (or low 3). No one, except me of course, is interested in so much information, so I've chosen to rate myself on, primarily, reading and writing, the two skill levels I think are most relevant for Wikipedia.
The languages in Level 1 are all for which, currently, I have a reading ability comparable to that of someone who's finished a first-year college course. This does not mean that I am at a low level as low as that of just knowing a few words nor, on the other hand, does it mean that I'm at a high level as high as that of being able to understand books written for native speakers in primary education. Some of these Level 1 languages (Korean, Tamil, and Turkish) used to be Level 4 for reading and Level 3 for speaking but, through disuse, have slipped further and further down.
I don't bother to list languages for which I know fewer than, say, 1,000 words nor for which I haven't completed the equivalent of a first-year college course for reading.
This user is a proud cyclist. |
“,;:’ | This user is a punctuation stickler. |
The English Wikipedia has 6,851,433 articles and 920,362 files. |
Mix | This user has been influenced by too many dialects of English to use one orthography, vocabulary and grammar consistently. |
This user is interested in their local history. |
This user is interested in geopolitics. |
Your comments are welcome on my talk page.
39 | This user has visited 39 of the 205 countries in the world. |
Africa and African Diaspora
Architecture and Urban Planning
Arts
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Europe-Medieval
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Harvard University
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Islam see also Southwest Asia and Northwest Africa
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Literature
Miscellaneous
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USA Academics and Writers