Recently I finally did something I've had at the back of my mind for a long time: I took the language exam to obtain the certificate required in order to make a French citizenship application.
The Test de connaissance du français pour accès à la nationalité française is a shorter version of the full Test de connaissance du français, which evaluates the candidate's level of French within the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages . The levels range from A1 (Breakthrough or Beginner) to C2 (Mastery or Proficiency). In order to apply for citizenship, you need level B1 (Threshold or Intermediate). In the ANF version, you only sit the oral parts of the exam, so there is a listening test followed by an interview to judge spoken expression.
Having studied French at university and lived in France for ten years, I wasn't worried about reaching the expected level, but I did feel a certain level of nervousness nonetheless. This was probably mostly because, precisely because I have studied French and lived here for so long, it would have been very embarrassing not to get a good score, even if the only people who knew I was taking the test were myself and Understanding Frenchman, and he probably knows my level of French better than anyone!
Also, while I think the questions in the test are probably very fair, the way it works is quite stressful because you have to listen to an audio clip and only when it's finished do you find out what the question about it will be. You only hear the clip and the question once, so in my mildly sleep deprived, pregnant state, I wasn't worried about not understanding the information, just about forgetting what had been said!
In the end, that only happened once, and I was happy with the level I came out with. The interview part was actually much less stressful, because it was face-to-face with a real person, who was very nice and made me feel at ease. For the final result, they combine the listening and speaking scores, so I have to wait a few weeks for the CIEP to mark the interview, but according to the feedback from the interviewer, everything went well.
What was funny, though, was the feeling of being under examination, and the accompanying nerves, because they made me realise that it's actually a really long time since I've been in that situation. I think the last official exam I sat was my driving test about a decade ago. Throughout my twenties I took endless university exams, followed by a string of job interviews as I got on the career ladder, but for the last few years, I've become far more used to being the examiner than the candidate. I don't think it made me any more nervous than I would otherwise have been, but the feeling of mild nerves was definitly less familiar than it used to be. I wonder if we really get more confident as we get older because we are more sure of ourselves, or just because our competence is less often put under scrutiny!
The Test de connaissance du français pour accès à la nationalité française is a shorter version of the full Test de connaissance du français, which evaluates the candidate's level of French within the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages . The levels range from A1 (Breakthrough or Beginner) to C2 (Mastery or Proficiency). In order to apply for citizenship, you need level B1 (Threshold or Intermediate). In the ANF version, you only sit the oral parts of the exam, so there is a listening test followed by an interview to judge spoken expression.
Having studied French at university and lived in France for ten years, I wasn't worried about reaching the expected level, but I did feel a certain level of nervousness nonetheless. This was probably mostly because, precisely because I have studied French and lived here for so long, it would have been very embarrassing not to get a good score, even if the only people who knew I was taking the test were myself and Understanding Frenchman, and he probably knows my level of French better than anyone!
Also, while I think the questions in the test are probably very fair, the way it works is quite stressful because you have to listen to an audio clip and only when it's finished do you find out what the question about it will be. You only hear the clip and the question once, so in my mildly sleep deprived, pregnant state, I wasn't worried about not understanding the information, just about forgetting what had been said!
In the end, that only happened once, and I was happy with the level I came out with. The interview part was actually much less stressful, because it was face-to-face with a real person, who was very nice and made me feel at ease. For the final result, they combine the listening and speaking scores, so I have to wait a few weeks for the CIEP to mark the interview, but according to the feedback from the interviewer, everything went well.
What was funny, though, was the feeling of being under examination, and the accompanying nerves, because they made me realise that it's actually a really long time since I've been in that situation. I think the last official exam I sat was my driving test about a decade ago. Throughout my twenties I took endless university exams, followed by a string of job interviews as I got on the career ladder, but for the last few years, I've become far more used to being the examiner than the candidate. I don't think it made me any more nervous than I would otherwise have been, but the feeling of mild nerves was definitly less familiar than it used to be. I wonder if we really get more confident as we get older because we are more sure of ourselves, or just because our competence is less often put under scrutiny!
Congratulations, I hope you obtain the citizenship soon.
ReplyDeleteI thought that with a French diploma, you are exempted to take the language test?
It has to be from a French university. Mine is a degree in French, but from a UK university, so it didn't count.
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