Say Huà with Abigail

In December 2024, I sat myself down and spent some time figuring out what I wanted from 2025. I picked five key parts of my life and wrote down some aspirations for each of them. Then I grouped them into short, medium, and long-term goals.

When it came to my language learning goals, I initially decided that I’d try to learn three new languages by the time I turned 30. It felt ambitious but still totally attainable. I had over five years to figure out which languages I wanted to focus on, and more importantly what I actually wanted from them. It felt like the perfect long-term goal, so I broke it down into smaller, manageable milestones to help guide me.

For each of my languages, I wanted to be fluent… but then I paused and thought: What does it actually mean to be fluent in a language?

Like most people, I turned to the dictionary first. Most definitions of fluency described it as the ability to express yourself easily and quickly — usually with an emphasis on speaking. But that didn’t sit right with me.

Because I don’t just want to speak another language. I want to understand people fully.
To catch the jokes and cultural nuances that don’t translate. To read books, blogs, and social media posts without needing a translation. To listen to songs or podcasts and get it. To write out my thoughts clearly, not just regurgitate textbook phrases. To speak naturally, not just correctly.

So, after sitting on it for a few days, I created a custom benchmark for what fluency means to me. These are the personal fluency markers I’ll be using to track my language learning journey:

• Reading comprehension – I want to read a range of texts (blogs, articles, books, signage) without relying on a dictionary.
• Listening skills – I want to follow along with music, videos, podcasts, and everyday conversations with ease.
• Writing fluency – I want to express myself naturally in writing, with both flow and clarity.
• Speaking confidence – I want to communicate with native speakers and be clearly understood — even if I don’t sound perfect.

Of course, I’ll still be checking in with official frameworks like the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and the HSK (汉语水平考试) for Mandarin. They’re super helpful tools for tracking language proficiency (on paper). They can be great for comparing your skills to figure on your next steps. But for me, true fluency will be measured by how well I can actually live in the language — not just pass a test.

What does being fluent mean to you?

✨ And yes — since setting my original goal, I’ve upgraded it. The mission is now: five languages by 30. But we’ll dive into that later…