{"id":9652,"date":"2022-05-24T16:28:51","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T14:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nllanguagep-bali.savviihq.com\/?p=9652"},"modified":"2023-10-26T21:55:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T19:55:47","slug":"overcoming-the-fluency-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"How to overcome the fluency gap: when you don\u2019t speak a language well enough to explain yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may know it: one of those moments in a meeting when you want to make a suggestion, but you don&#8217;t speak the language well enough to explain your idea. We call this a fluency gap.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Mastering a language fluently<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Does this sound familiar to you? They are the six language levels of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coe.int\/en\/web\/common-european-framework-reference-languages\/level-descriptions#:~:text=The%20CEFR%20organises%20language%20proficiency,%27can%2Ddo%27%20descriptors.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">European Reference Framework of the CEFR<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. We use this frame of reference to assess a course participant&#8217;s language level in terms of speaking, writing, listening and reading.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What do these language levels mean? The A-levels are about self-reliance, the B-levels are about professional language use, with a C-level you are &#8216;near-native&#8217;, or advanced. Depending on your position and type of work, you will need B1 or B2 in the spoken language to cope well in a working environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>A fluency gap at work<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have a fluency gap at work, you will feel less comfortable in everyday conversations, meetings and other team situations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This can be very uncomfortable for people as they can feel excluded, causing them to drop out of social situations. But there are also consequences for the team and the employer that arise from fluency gaps. Misunderstandings may arise, or the commitment, or competencies of the person in question, may be questioned. When, in the end, there is only a language barrier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is therefore important to recognise the language barrier as a problem, and to do something about it. A person who has sufficient command of the language in which he or she works is more self-confident and feels more comfortable in the workplace. This increases commitment to the organisation and improves performance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>How do you bridge a fluency gap?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you want to bridge your fluency gap? Or help your colleagues do so? Then a business language course is a good idea.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Language Partners, we help 2500 course participants improve their language skills every year. We have been doing this for more than 50 years. When a student comes to us, we first conduct an extensive <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/our-approach\/our-way-of-working\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">intake<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. In this way, we test the student&#8217;s current language level and map out what level he\/she needs in order to function properly. Based on this, we make a proposal as to what type of training would suit the course member best.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Want to know more about this? We&#8217;ve written a whitepaper on this exact topic which goes much deeper into the nuances of working in a multicultural or multilingual environment. <a href=\"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/fluency-gap-whitepaper\/\">Read it here!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re interested in developing the language and communication skills of yourself, your team, or your organisation, <a href=\"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/language-courses\/\">take a look at our offer<\/a>! <a href=\"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/cultural-training\/\">If intercultural competence is more what you need right now, we can help too<\/a>! At BBi Communication\/Language Partners, we&#8217;re strong believers that these two areas together are imperative for the creation and maintenance of an <a href=\"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/fluency-gap-whitepaper\/\">inclusive culture<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Would you like to know more about recognising and bridging a fluency gap? <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then get in touch with us!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You may know it: one of those moments in a meeting when you want to make a suggestion, but you don&#8217;t speak the language well enough to explain your idea. We call this a fluency gap. Mastering a language fluently A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Does this sound&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":9653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[371],"tags":[239,279],"class_list":["post-9652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dei","tag-language-en","tag-language-skills"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to overcome the fluency gap: when you don\u2019t speak a language well enough to explain yourself - Language Partners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to overcome the fluency gap: when you don\u2019t speak a language well enough to explain yourself - Language Partners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You may know it: one of those moments in a meeting when you want to make a suggestion, but you don&#8217;t speak the language well enough to explain your idea. We call this a fluency gap. Mastering a language fluently A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Does this sound...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Language Partners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-24T14:28:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-26T19:55:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fluency-Gap-e1653402150136.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Van Zanten\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Van Zanten\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paul Van Zanten\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614\"},\"headline\":\"How to overcome the fluency gap: when you don\u2019t speak a language well enough to explain yourself\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-24T14:28:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-26T19:55:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":521,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/Fluency-Gap-e1653402150136.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Language\",\"Language skills\"],\"articleSection\":[\"DEI\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/\",\"name\":\"How to overcome the fluency gap: when you don\u2019t speak a language well enough to explain yourself - Language Partners\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/Fluency-Gap-e1653402150136.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-24T14:28:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-26T19:55:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/Fluency-Gap-e1653402150136.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/05\\\/Fluency-Gap-e1653402150136.jpeg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":640},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/dei\\\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DEI\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/categorie\\\/dei\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"How to overcome the fluency gap: when you don\u2019t speak a language well enough to explain yourself\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Language Partners\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614\",\"name\":\"Paul Van Zanten\",\"description\":\"Paul is an American intercultural communications professional living in the Netherlands and connecting with his Dutch roots. With a passion for travel, as well as gaining new perspectives and experiences, Paul aims to further his growth, as well as that of others at Language Partners.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/languagepartners.nl\\\/en\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/paul\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to overcome the fluency gap: when you don\u2019t speak a language well enough to explain yourself - Language Partners","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to overcome the fluency gap: when you don\u2019t speak a language well enough to explain yourself - Language Partners","og_description":"You may know it: one of those moments in a meeting when you want to make a suggestion, but you don&#8217;t speak the language well enough to explain your idea. We call this a fluency gap. Mastering a language fluently A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Does this sound...","og_url":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/","og_site_name":"Language Partners","article_published_time":"2022-05-24T14:28:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-26T19:55:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/www.languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fluency-Gap-e1653402150136.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Paul Van Zanten","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul Van Zanten","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/"},"author":{"name":"Paul Van Zanten","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614"},"headline":"How to overcome the fluency gap: when you don\u2019t speak a language well enough to explain yourself","datePublished":"2022-05-24T14:28:51+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-26T19:55:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/"},"wordCount":521,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fluency-Gap-e1653402150136.jpeg","keywords":["Language","Language skills"],"articleSection":["DEI"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/","url":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/","name":"How to overcome the fluency gap: when you don\u2019t speak a language well enough to explain yourself - Language Partners","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fluency-Gap-e1653402150136.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-05-24T14:28:51+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-26T19:55:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fluency-Gap-e1653402150136.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Fluency-Gap-e1653402150136.jpeg","width":960,"height":640},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/dei\/overcoming-the-fluency-gap\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DEI","item":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/categorie\/dei\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How to overcome the fluency gap: when you don\u2019t speak a language well enough to explain yourself"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/","name":"Language Partners","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4af1b8c4a566d967f772a03223648614","name":"Paul Van Zanten","description":"Paul is an American intercultural communications professional living in the Netherlands and connecting with his Dutch roots. With a passion for travel, as well as gaining new perspectives and experiences, Paul aims to further his growth, as well as that of others at Language Partners.","url":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/blog\/author\/paul\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9652"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11525,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9652\/revisions\/11525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagepartners.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}