Language proficiency tests

By Simon

I came across some useful online language proficiency tests today on the Transparent Language site. There are tests for Chinese (Romanized), Dutch, English, English (for Spanish Speakers), French, German, Irish, Italian, Japanese (Romanized), Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. The questions are all fill-in-the-blanks type and each test consists of two grammar sections, a vocabulary section and a reading comprehension section.

I just took the Irish test and got a overall score of 105 out of 150 or 70%. My highest scores was in the vocabulary section – 27/30 or 90%, and the reading comprehension – 25/30 or 83%. I didn’t do so well in the grammar sections getting only 27/45 or 60% in each one. Obviously my Irish grammar needs more work.

Does anybody know of any online language test that include listening? I’m sure I’ve seen some somewhere but can’t remember where.

14 thoughts on “Language proficiency tests”

  1. Ah, the mystery of language learning.
    I understood relatively little of the Russian test, yet got an overall 90% and perfect reading comprehension.
    I understood almost everything on the Spanish test, yet, I scored only 65% overall, (90+% on reading comprehension).
    Go figure!

    That Russian reading comprehension test really doesn’t test comprehension as much as pattern recognition. The Spanish one was a little less superficial.

  2. Interesting site and tests.

    A little word of warning though:
    As a Dutch national, I did the Dutch test out of curiousity and found numerous mistakes in the tests, i.e. sentences which would result in incorrect Dutch, Flemish texts etc.
    As feedback is invited, I have send them an email pointing out these mistakes.

  3. heh, I did the same Juliette, though for the French mistakes. Even though French is my native language, some of the questions were really out of my reach: some words I have never used such as ‘arrondissements’ (an administrative division in France), and a question such as ‘what is premier étage in English (America)’, the answer is ‘second floor’ (How should I know that? It’s different here from building to building).

  4. How embarrassing. I took the the Irish test and got 34%.

    Like all Irish nationals of my generation, I had to study Irish until I was 18. It’s a depressing thought to think that I can hardly use the official language of my country.

  5. Zachary- I’m suprised to know that you’ve never used a word like “arrondissement”- I used it quite frequently to tell people where in Paris I lived.

    I took the French test and I scored an 89%. I was a little disappointed, but I grew up speaking french as a little kid and teenager- I’m 26 now and I’ve never had to know the words for “lease” or “mortgage” at any point in my french-speaking life. Would that make me less fluent just because I’m not familiar with these terms—

    — or just ‘stupid’ as far as residential lingo is concerened?

  6. Ugh, I can’t believe how they misused Hanyu Pinyin 🙁 Instead of separating it by word, they separated it by syllable/character, which makes it more difficult to read.

  7. After sending the mail about the various mistakes in the Dutch test, I also took the English and Spanish tests. My English should be pretty good as I lived in the UK for a while and use it regularly, my Spanish should be very rusty.

    Results:
    Dutch (my native language which I use daily): 86%
    English (as a non-native): 97% and I don’t agree with one of the two which marked me down 😉
    Spanish: 46%

    Just goes to show 😉

  8. I took the English one and got a 100% 🙂

    I took the German one (my next most proficient language), and got an 87%. 72/90 on Grammar, perfect on vocab, and 29/30 on reading comprehension. I thought I was pretty good with grammar :\

  9. I got a 63% overall score in German. I’d better start working on my vocab.

  10. Dialang has pretty good proficiency tests for Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish, including listening — it requires downloading a programme though.

    I scored 86% for Portuguese, although I don’t really think I should count as “advanced” :s

  11. I was a little uncertain about these tests; they are on the Web site of a company that is trying to sell language learning materials.

    I was considered Advanced Intermediate in French and Intermediate in Spanish. I’m tempted to take the Portuguese test…a language I have only glanced at…to see how I’d do.

  12. For what it’s worth, I scored an Intermediate level in Portuguese based on perhaps one or two lessons and my experience with the other tests.

    This score could also suggest that Portuguese is very transparent for someone with some background in French and Spanish.

  13. I’m a naitive Swede, and I did the Swedish test out of curiosity (and so did my friends) and I scroed 88 %! Quite embarassing… But I must say I found the example text sounding very odd and not natural, almost like they were written to be easyer or by a non-naitive.

  14. I took the Chinese one and got 17%, because so far I’ve only learned a few phrases, but on French I got 70%. I apparently need to review my tenses.

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