Poll: How do you assess your bilingual proficiency for professional work? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How do you assess your bilingual proficiency for professional work?".
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I translate from English, French, Italian and Spanish into Portuguese, my native language, and my proficiency in these languages is near-native regarding English and French and uneven regarding Spanish and Italian (still developing). Anyway, with the exception of French (lived in a Francophone country for 30 years) I’m a better writer than speaker…
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Prior to retirement, I translated from French and Spanish into British English (my native language). I worked in-house for a media organisation whose HQ is in Geneva, first at their Technical Centre in Brussels for around 12 years, then in Geneva for another 11 years. When I started in Brussels, my French was almost non-existent - I only got the job because I had several years of hands-on experience in the broadcast media industry, and I was able to muddle through the test translations they ha... See more Prior to retirement, I translated from French and Spanish into British English (my native language). I worked in-house for a media organisation whose HQ is in Geneva, first at their Technical Centre in Brussels for around 12 years, then in Geneva for another 11 years. When I started in Brussels, my French was almost non-existent - I only got the job because I had several years of hands-on experience in the broadcast media industry, and I was able to muddle through the test translations they had me do on the basis of that specialist knowledge and some recently-acquired familiarity with three varieties of Central American Spanish. When I first met colleagues at the Geneva office, 12 years later, many thought from my spoken French that I was Belgian (but probably from Flanders), and were surprised to learn that I was (am!) British.
I've lived in Chile for the past 23 years and although my spoken Spanish is still not terribly fluent I am frequently commended by professional folk here on the quality of my Spanish writing, at least in formal contexts.
That said, languages evolve (and not always for the better...). I am well aware that having lived outside the UK for the past half-century I'm falling out of touch with my native language. My understanding of a lot of what I read today on the BBC News website (which I used to cite as an example of excellence for learners of 'proper' English) seems as 'foreign' to me as the Belgian newspapers did when I first went to Belgium
JL ▲ Collapse
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So, we have both lived in the country where ‘il drache’…
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Ha! - fond(ish) memories of la drache nationale!
JL
| | | | Daryo
Local time: 08:12
Serbian to English
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| What matters a bit more ... | May 7 |
than your 'own self-marking' is how those interested in your services assess your 'bilingual proficiency for professional work'.
I feel like stating the blindingly obvious ...
| | | | Rodolfo Abachi
Brazil
Local time: 04:12
Member (May 2026)
English to Portuguese
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| A blend of formal credentials and practical real-world testing | May 12 |
Assessing one's own bilingual proficiency is a tricky but important exercise. Personally, I use a combination of indicators:
1. Formal credentials (degrees, certificates, official language exams) provide a benchmark, but they only capture proficiency at a point in time.
2. The quality of client feedback and repeat business is probably the most honest external validator — satisfied clients who come back are the clearest signal that your work meets professional standard... See more Assessing one's own bilingual proficiency is a tricky but important exercise. Personally, I use a combination of indicators:
1. Formal credentials (degrees, certificates, official language exams) provide a benchmark, but they only capture proficiency at a point in time.
2. The quality of client feedback and repeat business is probably the most honest external validator — satisfied clients who come back are the clearest signal that your work meets professional standards.
3. Peer review and engagement with the language community also help. Participating in forums like this one, reading specialized literature in both languages, and occasionally having native speakers review my work help me stay calibrated.
Daryo's point is well-taken — ultimately, clients assess our proficiency through the work we deliver. Self-assessment is useful for identifying gaps, but professional performance in actual tasks is the real test. ▲ Collapse
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