Fluency

Immersion programs brag that within the first 2-3 years your child will be fluent in the target language, but what exactly is fluency? There are 3 different types of fluency: basic fluency, conversational fluency and native-like fluency. 

Basic Fluency is the basic information that a tourist would need to visit a foreign country.  This involves knowing common questions and directional phrases. Someone with basic fluency would not be able to move away from their learned phrases.

Conversational Fluency is much more involved than basic fluency.  A person with conversational fluency is able to carry on spontaneous conversation.  They can not only speak unplanned sentences but they can also understand the majority of what is being said.

Native-like Fluency is the most advanced form of fluency.  At this stage a person is often mistaken for a native speaker.  The person can distinguish accents and some dialects of the language.