I was reading the book How I Learn Languages by Dr. Kató Lomb, a great Hungarian polyglot who knew 16 languages, where she offered a very quick way to test your knowledge of the language by testing your vocabulary. I had some hours yesterday so I adapted her way and made it into an online test where you can test your knowledge of French, German, Spanish or Lithuanian in a minute or two. The test gives you an answer in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Basically she suggested trying to translate a list of words to your target language.:
the moon, to buy, free, wide, a blow, to enjoy, suddenly, grateful, a straw, to promote, rigidly, significant, brass, to browse, obstinately, enthusiastic
Each new level has one more point than the previous one and you were supposed to be able to get 40 points at maximum which were divided into four levels: D, C, B, A.
I just used the same words with their translations and the same rating system as she suggested except I divided those levels further into A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 as they are in the CEFRL. The level C2 is the highest but it is incredibly hard to reach so far.
To see how it works, just try, for example, the German test.
I thought I might develop the idea and add more languages if you guys find it useful. I know that this is nowhere near accurate and it is very easy to cheat but at least the first of these things could be improved. I was also thinking of choosing different words, perhaps less ambiguous ones sometimes but I decided to go with the ones you’ve currently got because Kató used them too. Well, to my knowledge, her book was translated from Hungarian to English, so these might not be accurate.
Whatever the case, that’s a start. Try it and let me know what you think.
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I think that Rocks! it would totally save a bit more time before appllying for school (language learning) just to have an idea what level your on!
This site tell you what to study for DELF Spanish, http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/index.html
I would love tests for all the romance languages!
Thanks. Well, I wouldn't say it'a replacement for school tests. Itš just something to do in a few minutes most likely when youŗe bored.
Hm, I'm not sure – it's a good idea but I imagine it would be easy to miss those words while still knowing more language (eg. I tried that in French, German and Spanish and did far better in Spanish, which is by FAR my worst language, because I happen to have a good deal of useless vocab I can't actually use). I think it would be better to have more words and put them in groups, eg. instead of saying 'free', give 3 words that would be found in very different contexts and ask to translate one of them.
You're absolutely right. The results should not be taken seriously.
I guess I could do that but then again, it wouldn't be perfect, and I kinda wanna keep it as simple as it is possible.
very entertaining :) I don't know how well this list tests my German knowledge, but it's fun anyways.
Really neat idea. I'll have to try using something like this to measure my Hindi progress.