Over 90% of Germans speak English. What foreign language do you speak?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

257. That's why the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

has developed conversational proficiency testing for learners of foreign language. Since it focuses on what functions the learner can perform in the language, it is independent of how the person learned the language, whether in a classroom or by picking it up informally, and it can be used with any language.

The levels are (and this is a very rough description)

Novice: Individual words and phrases, can't always form coherent sentences
Intermediate: Tourist survival skills
Advanced: Can tell stories and describe things, has a large vocabulary for everyday objects.
Advanced Plus: Can do everything the lower levels can do, can handle everyday situations with a complication, is beginning to handle higher-level functions
Superior: Not a native speaker but can talk about hypothetical situations and support opinions logically and function as an adult in the society

There are three levels of novice and three of intermediate.

Back when I was a language teacher, I went through proficiency testing training. Basically, you start out with simple greetings, asking about the weather, and so on, gradually making the functions more difficult, until the person gets stuck and can't handle the situation. Then you back down to the previous level and ask the person to draw a card from a set of role-playing instructions designed for each level.

For intermediate, for example, the learner improvises a conversation with the tester in which he or she tries to find out how to get to a certain museum, what the hours are, and if it is closed on any particular days.

For advanced, you might have to describe your house or apartment to a friend, including its best and worst features.

For superior, you might explain which political party you support and why and what you would like to see happen if they win the next election.

I was surprised at how neatly people fit into one category or another. They may have studied a topic or tactic in a book, but actually ability to perform linguistic functions varied tremendously, even among students who had been in the same class.