English language: fluent, native, ...

Ela K · May 10, 2016 12:56:21 PM

If your profile displays something different than your settings, you should contact CS.

All I can see on yours is: English - Fluent.

The below is mine:

Edited to add: I see you already fixed it. Good.

Olga Q · Mar 16, 2015 05:52:29 AM

I took the Duolingo test (for free) in January, and as soon as received their email confirmation that I had passed, I linked the test to my oDesk profile - the 'Verified' badge immediately showed, but next day it was gone... till this very day. Contacted CS and so on… another bug joined the list…

André U · Mar 17, 2015 09:59:27 AM

Hi Guys

I wanted to thank you for the hint.

I also took the exam yesterday and passed it. Strangely enough I got 10 out of 10 points which basically means, according to duolingo, that I am better than native speakers?! If you ask me this ranking is somewhat odd if even foreigners (let's say people not having English as native tongue) can reach a level which is actually "better than native".

Anyways, it all worked fine and I think the $20 investment is worth it.

Best,

André

PS: Yes, that's a new photo as well. Was time to replace it.

Vesna M · Mar 17, 2015 11:06:35 AM

@andre090904 wrote:
Hi Guys

PS: Yes, that's a new photo as well. Was time to replace it.

You should put there the pic you have here on forum. Looks so much better.

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Don't correct my grammar!

André U · Mar 17, 2015 11:54:50 AM

Hi Vesna,

You speak of the duolingo photo, right? You are certainly right in this regard. However, the photo there needed to be "live" via webcam. You have no choice to change it afterwards...I believe...

Or is there an option to change it? I doubt it actually. It's part of their verification process and if you were to upload a new image, you could just upload anything, be it a pokemon, a tasty burger or some other person.

Best,

André

Vesna M · Mar 17, 2015 12:55:07 PM

No, I'm speaking about the photo which was here on the forum just a half or hour ago. It was a regular photo, without hand on chin.

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Don't correct my grammar!

Dylan G · Mar 17, 2015 11:11:29 PM

That's funny - I was wondering about this myself. I'm verified as fluent, but I've never done any tests for it. English is my first language, and I've worked with (and sometimes taught) ESL students, so that seems appropriate. I'm just curious as to why it suddenly appeared one day. Is it possible that client feedback has something to do with it?

André U · Mar 18, 2015 01:02:35 AM

I guess native speakers of English might be verified by simply verifying their passports/IDs. Not that a nationality would automatically guarantee a language proficiency (especially in a multicultural country like the USA), but hey...

Krisztina U · Mar 18, 2015 02:21:32 AM

@André U wrote:
I guess native speakers of English might be verified by simply verifying their passports/IDs. Not that a nationality would automatically guarantee a language proficiency (especially in a multicultural country like the USA), but hey...

Hey André! That's not how it goes actually. oDesk gives clients the ability to rate the freelancer's language skills in the hidden feedback section. Based on the ratings, the freelancer might get verified without taking any tests. I've seen this happen first hand, I rated one of my freelancers and the next day his language skills were verified. The mods confirmed this somewhere in this forum as well.

André U · Mar 18, 2015 02:30:56 AM

Wow, good to know! That's still better than a pure "nationality-based verifcation" if you ask me, though still highly subjective.

Are there actually any other ways to verify other languages next to English? French, Spanish, German, etc.?

I must admit I am not not much into oDesk's algorithms and concepts. But as a translator, verifying language skills is crucial. So, can I also verify other languages? And I do not mean oDesk's tests, but this "verified" badge next to the language.