language proficiency
How well spoken
Language proficiency is the ability to use a language effectively—to speak, write, read, and understand it.
Proficiency exists on a spectrum from basic functional ability to native-like fluency.
The term appears frequently in job postings, immigration requirements, and academic contexts: The position requires language proficiency in Spanish.
Tests like TOEFL and IELTS measure English language proficiency for non-native speakers.
- fluencySmooth linguistic command
- fluent speakerOne commanding a language
- vocabularyOne's word collection
- comprehensionMental understanding of meaning
- reading levelText difficulty rating
code-switching · bilingualism · pragmatics · register · phonology · coherence · semantic processing · syntax · native speaker · articulation · broken English · lost in translation · cross-cultural communication · dialect · enunciation · diction · foreign · tongue
- language learningvocabulary lists, lessons, acquisition, basic vocabulary, grammar books
- language educationbiliteracy, immersion, literacy skills, reading, immersion school
- medical educationmedical schools, medical school, med schools, med school, med student
- secondary language educationgrammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, speaking
- Caucasian LanguagesChechen, Andi, Georgian
- Romance linguisticsGallo-Romance, Italian, Spanish, Latin roots, Latin influence
language proficiencyilliteracy
Inability to read
functional illiteracy · language impairment · inarticulation · inarticulacy · language barrier
language proficiencydisfluency
Interruption in speech flow
inarticulacy · inarticulation · incoherence · halting speech · muteness
language, languages, proficiency, bilingual, linguistic, linguistics, multilingual, lingua franca, language arts