Are you fluent yet?

It's an interesting question: at what point do you become fluent in another language?

I had a South African man observe the end of one of my classes at the private English center I work at.  When the (all adults) students asked him how long he had been in France, his reply was "un petit moment" aka, a little moment (lit,), a bit.  His definition of a little moment turned out to be ten years.  We all seemed to disagree with him that that's "un petit moment"

But what is more interesting (to me at least) was when the students asked him if he was bilingual in French after living here for ten years.  His reply was no.

After class, we talked for a second.  I told him that people think I must be fluent after getting my undergrad in French and now living here for six months.  We both laughed - probably remembering all the times we still don't know the right words, use incorrect grammar, or don't understand the slang.  For example,  I had no idea how to say mink in class today.  Do I need to know that word to be considered fluent?

It's an interesting discussion - do I check that box that says I am "fluent" in another language?  (Yes, there was one on a job application I did.)

The South African guy who has been here for ten years still doesn't speak like a native speaker. Even my french professors in university - who had been in the states for more than a "petit moment" -- still had French accents.  How well do you need to speak a language to be considered "fluent."

And the other question I have started to ask myself is: How much do I really care?

In French there is a word "debrouiller." It kind of translates to "make it work," but it is used a lot and in many situations.  In french, I would say that I can "me debrouille" in French.

Yes, my accent still gives me away (and probably always will).  I am working on my pronunciation (note to self: recheck out that book on how to pronounce French) so that the times when people don't understand my pronunciation of a work continues to decrease.  And yes, I still have grammar to perfect and (many) words to learn

I still have a lot to learn to be at the level I would like to be at.  But I am also pretty sure that I will never speak like a native speaker.

Perhaps the goal is to be able to "se debrouiller." If the point of learning a language is communication, well then I can definitely make it work.  Cause as much as I like setting high goals (my goal was 4 languages by the age of 21 - so I'm a bit behind) -- I'm not sure how many people can ever learn to speak the language like a native speaker (fluently and without an accent).