I myself have been in contact with many foreigners learning Dutch full time for over several months. Considering Benny’s Dutch mission, I am absolutely convinced that he will not reach a conversational level (or whatever level he calls fluency).
If he does claim he can actually “speak” Dutch after these two months, he’s welcome to have a short conversation with me in Dutch on Skype.
Fluency according to …
… Wikipedia:
Language fluency is used informally to denote broadly a ___ high level of language proficiency ___ , most typically foreign language or another learned language, and more narrowly to denote fluid language use, as opposed to slow, halting use.
… Benny:
It’s called “Fluent in 3 months” because I move to a new country, usually for about 3 months and ___ I tend to aim to speak the local language fluently ___. The name of the blog is from my objectives in both travel and language learning. This blog documents my own language learning journeys and shares the ideas that make it all possible. The title of the blog is ___ an objective not a promise ___ of a magic solution for all.
Doggy doo dooo! Absolutely excellent strawman argument there! Thanks 
@SolYViento Great point. I’ve tried ignoring the LingQ cult for a year, but the echo chamber is strong! It’s still echoing since when I left it! Once I lose interest in these endless arguments again in a day or two, I’ll be gone again but they’ll continue their “exchange of ideas” about me. I’d be ever so grateful if someone would repeat what you said when they do start singing “Benny’s a snake-oil salesman” again 
@Vincentd I’ll be chatting with a lot of people at the end of my time here. So far I have one person who agreed to let me put the video of us conversing (which will be spontaneous and unscripted) online and I may do more. If I accepted all invitations from my blog readers and random people online to Skype them, I’d never have any free time so you’re going to have to do better than “he’s welcome to have a short conversation with me”. If you go to my youtube channel you’ll hear how my Dutch was after a week and a half.
@Benny
Thank you for the link, I just checked it and looked for a PDF file mentioned above by Adrian, whom I also don’t know, and couldn’t find it. While searching your site I see you have mentioned the following exams:
German: the Goethe Institut
French: the Alliance Française
Spanish: Instituto de Cervantes (click ‘English‘ on the left)
Irish: TEG
Italian: CELI (page only in Italian)
English: Cambridge exams
For all other language exams (Portuguese, Greek, Czech etc.), check out the ALTE list of members
I am familiar with the CAE, CPE, IELTS etc because I tutor students preparing for these exams, but not so familiar with the others.
The Cambridge Proficiency exam (CPE) gives you an overall score. I remember being contacted by a student several years ago who took the CPE, which is a C2 level exam, having got an “A”, asking me to tutor him. I suggested we swap roles when it transpired that he had taken the exam 2 months prior to contacting me. It was an absolute pleasure teaching him as he was always challenging himself and despite being Greek sounded almost like a Brit. He still does 
Anyway, while I am familiar with the scoring system of the CPE where you can get an overall grade being A,B,C etc, and which one can fail, I am not familiar with the German C2 exam. Some exams are impossible to fail. The IELTS is such an exam. You get a score from 1-9 on each part, speaking, listening, writing and reading. If you live in Kazakhstan, I’ve taught many students there, and take IELTS exam an overall score of 5 is enough to get you to University in Europe, Australia, the US or Canada. Although you will be stuck spending your first year at University studying English until you get a final score of average of 7.0 or 7.5. So if you wished to study engineering or accountancy you’d have to get a higher score in the first place or grin and bear it and work hard to pass.
Each part of the exam carries a different score, hence a 6 in writing is OK whereas an 8 in reading is impressive. I had a Russian student who wrote to me to thank me for helping him pass the speaking part of the IELTS, which was his weakest point. He achieved a 6 in speaking; his reading was 8.5, his writing 7.5 and his listening 8.0. giving him an overall score of 7.5 which is an impressive level.
That’s what I am trying to establish with your German exam. In your link you mentioned your achievements at C2 level:
Speaking 60/80 (75% “good grade”)
Writing 52/70 (74% “good grade”)
Reading 25/50 (50% “would just be pass grade just to good in written).
Grammar 43/70 (61% “satisfactory grade”)
Listening 15/40 (37% “not a pass”)
Then you mentioned, astonishing enough, that “the listening part is what determined the overall result”.
How exactly does each element affect your final score? How does it affect the final score? Is each section of equal weighing? If I sum up the percentages, I get an overall average of 59.4%. Is this a fail? If you had got 75% in each section, what would this be? Is a “good” grade, an A or a B or what is the system used?
I’ve just noticed that you say you need to pass all five sections. What is the pass level? It appears to be over 50%. If you need to pass all 5 sections and you passed 4 of them, does this mean your result in the C2 exam automatically counts as a good, perhaps excellent, pass rate for the C1 exam? Does this mean you could have taken the C1 level exam? Do you think you would be able to do it now? Or does that mean you don’t hold a diploma in German at all? Diplomas like medals are fun to collect, if you are into that sort of thing. You mentioned the Spanish C2 exam too, which you passed. Well done Did you take the French C2 by any chance?
@hape That’s not my definition of fluency. Fluency is being able to do everything in my life that I would in English through the language. Simple as that.
If you Google “Benny interview on the radio in Spanish” you can hear what my fluent Spanish sounds like. I would have a similar level in any language I claim fluency in.
@Centigua The pass level is not 50%, it is explained on Geothe Institut’s site and depends on the part of the exam. I believe it was 60% minimum, but two sections can be less than this if other sections balance it out. I was sure I explained this in my post. If you want more details on the exam you can find plenty about it online. In Spanish I remember the pass level for each of the five sections was 80%.
Strawman? I quoted your initial post.
The best part about Benny is how he reacts to criticism. A true leader!
…so you’re going to have to do better than “he’s welcome to have a short conversation with me” — Hahaha - Sorry, he should have offered you a knighthood instead!
You folks do know that language learning, by any method at all, may soon be obsolete, right? The age-old dream of a universal translator technology may come true rather soon, perhaps in a decade or two. Google translate seems to be making astonishing progress, and universal translation is certainly their goal. The inventor Kurzweil even envisions such devices implanted in our heads, by, say, 2040.
Would someone like Benny, who really enjoys speaking to people, continue to try to learn foreign languages, if real conversation were possible simply through technology? People do learn foreign languages, in order to read literature “in the original,” but I confess I don’t really understand this. Professional translators do a much better job than I do, and, in principle at any rate, I suspect a computer could also do a better job. Perhaps we all just enjoy the puzzle of finding meaning in language.
Where did you read this?
@lastsafari hahaha, I love the aside 
Could we all PLEASE agree with him so we can end all this arguing?
@dooon’t I was referring to the rest of your comment. Clever diversion though!
@peter Yes, I should Skype every single person who asks (and a LOT do). That would definitely be an efficient use of my time!
@ Don’t you want the C1 in German? Will you try for a certificate in Dutch?
“I would have a similar level in any language I claim fluency in.”
So your German isn’t fluent. Even after 5 years in school and 3 months in Berlin.
@Centigua Getting 4/5 of the C2 exam was a fascinating experience I learned a lot from, but it was quite stressful to do it in just 3 months of course! The academic focus distracted me from improving my spoken accent in German. Since I don’t actually need any more certificates right now, I won’t be doing another one for a while.
Benny, a strawman argument is when someone misrepresents what you say and argues against it. I didn’t. I quoted you and simply gave an example of how silly I think it is.
Lastsafari, I am really interested in your sources.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/188777
this is what I found, seems more like press release though…
interesting, I suppose it is bound to happen
I can understand that you don’t need them, but they are fun to have
@Centigua The first ever such exam I did was the French B2, but I found it too easy. Since then I’ve only done C2s. Sat and passed the Spanish, sat the German and prepared for the Italian CELI C2 but never sat it due to financial issues.
I think that the pleasure of speaking and reading other languages will always be there, at least for some people.
@ Benny - you must enjoy exams or maybe you are a glutton for punishment…
I think people rely too much on academic qualifications as a sign that they know a language. Yet I’ve seen people with degrees in languages or who have passed exams and know an impressive amount of words but who oddly cannot or will not speak in those languages.