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Originally Posted by evanny
it's good for you and how much you have done but my reply was more intended to Robin who stated that's amazing that you speak in 5 languages.
and conversation level means ability to converse about anything - politics, social issues and not just about the food, weather or basic history in my point of view.
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What I said was
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And that's very impressive that you know four languages and learning one more!
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So to begin with I said she knew 'four' not 'five'
Anyway, with regards to 'knowing' a language . . . I actually agree fully with what Dogsbody70 said, which is that it is admirable to learn a knew language and to try one's best, which is exactly what Kasomi has done.
I personally would say 'knowing' a language is the ability to differentiate it from similiar languages, understand basic grammar and structure, and perhaps read a little or make understand basic phrases - to 'speak' a language would be, in my opinion, to make polite and basic conversation about a variety of topics, such as the weather, ordering food, saying how one feels, if one is ill, what you like/dislike etc. For example when my friend was learning English she started off only able to tell me how she was, what she liked, what she wanted to eat - it wasn't until ages later she could discuss politics, social issues and history, but it would be foolish to say (again, in my opinion) that she couldn't 'speak' or didn't 'know' English. There
is a huge difference in fluency or speaking at a native-level and general 'speaking', and I don't know Kasomi's exact levels in what she speaks, so I won't claim she's fluent, but by the sounds of it she does know the four languages and can speak them. Her level in Spanish is still impressive in my view, and she can certainly 'speak' it even if not fluent.