New job wanting proof she can speak her first language

[Scoras]

DD is 22, she graduated uni this summer and has been offered a job with conditions. Until DD was 15 we lived in France, her dad is French-English and I’m Italian. DD went to an international school and was taught in French, English and had “additional language classes” in Italian. She is fully fluent in all 3. Did her French and Italian GCSEs here without studying them in school, same again for A-level.
DD then studied business management and Spanish. She’d never done Spanish before but the course allowed them to pick a language from beginning or continue with a Language already spoken. As she was fluent in all 3 languages she spoke she picked a new one.

Her new job is at an international company in a client facing role, one of the big requirements is being bilingual. The job advert was for French or Spanish speakers, she obviously mentioned she has both.

Now DD still speaks with a French accent, it’s not as strong as it once was but it’s definitely not missable, her phone is set to French, she thinks in French etc. She speaks to her dad and grandparents in French and to me and my family in Italian. By all means it’s her first language - but the workplace is requiring evidence of her fluency, such as an exam or something? They’ve also said it would be beneficial to prove her fluency in Italian but English and Spanish are fine because she studied at uni in those languages.

AIBU to think this is crazy? Obviously she’s probably going to have to let this job go as she doesn’t have any certificate to prove she can speak her first language past A-level, who does??

Can she do a DALF C2? It’s a French Government certification of fluency.

www.institut-francais.org.uk/certificates/delf-dalf-tout-public/#/

She can sit a French language test. My DH has had to similar for English.
They usually cost around £100, so I suppose up to her if the job is worth it. But I imagine it will come in handy in the future anyway if she applies for similar roles.

C1/C2 are just language competency levels, so she could sit a test with no prep and pass it fine. Or she could submit a letter from her international school saying 'dd was a pupil at our school from [date] to [date] and received French-language instruction in [subjects]', perhaps along with proof of French citizenship (presuming she has it). I only really know about universities, but they generally consider a certain period of schooling in the language as proof of fluency.

My daughter has A level French and a French degree from Sussex (which included a year in Montpellier at their uni) and has never ever been fluent. Oh, just realised your post is tongue in cheek? Sorry!

Was your daughter born in France? I’m assuming she has French citizenship? Would evidence of living in the country be enough, or perhaps someone senior at the company would be willing to have a proficiency conversation with her? A piece of paper means little really, growing with a language is actually of more use than picking it up at university.

This is indeed ironic. However even grade A at A Level language is not all that fluent, per PP comment, as UG students discover when attempting Study Abroad in the native language on this basis.

OP, the French Ministry of Education offers DELF (intermediate) and DALF (advanced) exams, aligned with the European Framework. I imagine a C1 or certainly a C2 (the highest) grade or the DALF equivalent would satisfy the employer.

The exams can be sat at numerous sites worldwide. Hopefully Alliance Francaise or the French Embassy or Consulate can provide more information.

Sorry, OP, a gazillion posts saying the same (including yours!) while I was trying to find an exam centre. But it looks like the IF run them regularly if any use?

Has she actually asked what they want?
It's decades ago now but when I was applying for a role that required proficiency in another language, they just swapped to that language during the interview and we carried on in that language for a while and then one of the assessment sessions was purely in the other language and the coffee breaks were spent with existing members of staff speaking that language so, by the end of it, they'd informally assessed both your social and technical language skills.

A level, even a top grade, does not mean you are fluent

Send them evidence of attendance at the international school?

This makes much much more sense to me!

Credit to @HarrietBond who contributed my information while I was typing

Previous posters have it right - get in touch with Institut Francais and ask about DALF / DELF. When I did mine they ran every month.

It’s looking like she should probably do the DALF, I’m not sure how quickly we can arrange that?
Odd that they are happy with her Spanish just from uni but her Spanish is no where near as good as her French or Italian.

My partner had the same thing here for Spanish - had to suck it up and get a C2 DELE from the institute Cervantes.

I then went through the same thing in Spain with English - neither of us had degrees in our native languages (I.e mine was taught in English but English wasn't the subject, his was in English completely, no Spanish component even tho that was his native language) so they wanted a language certificate.

I agree it is silly but now we have the certificates they don't expire so can easily upload copies for online recruitment for other jobs etc - it's just an annoying tick box exercise so I'd advise you to stop overthinking it and get the certificates they want even if it doesn't make sense/party enrages you (as it did us). This won't be the last time she faces this issue

See my link, @Scoras. She can register for the IF’s January exam. If that’s after her starting date could she negotiate her pass being part of her probation?

This might be what we need to do, starting date is the start of January.
Thank you for the link

From the link posted above not until at least January by the looks of it and she wouldn't get her results until February. So I'd be getting her to ask the company what they expect her to do as it seems unlikely they would wait that long?

It's not that odd. To emigrate to Canada my whole family would have to take TEFL tests although we are English born and bred.

But it would be worth checking if you can get something they need as proof fast. Alternatively see if it's something they could put as a condition of her passing probation.

This is actually really common! (Only a bilingual house the third language isnt strong). Contact Institut Francais and just do the fluency course. Call them and see if they can help getting a slot earlier

Surely they set the test and your daughter does it and passes? Or are they suggesting she has to go and find a way to prove her fluency and bring them the proof?

Starting to wish she had known sooner, could have had this all sorted in advance.

Is there an English/Spanish one she should do now incase she wants to work in France or elsewhere in the future and needs them?

I think a lot of people say they are proficient when they really just scraped a pass at GCSE/Nat 5 or did an evening class for a few weeks. Clearly this isn't your daughter - proof should be her qualification certificates and also offer to do what ever proficiency test they like.

Get her to video herself speaking French and talking about how she gained fluency growing up, and why she wants the job and that she would be happy to speak to someone at the company f2f. Then write an email in French.

If they still want an exam after that, they are being silly.

Easy peasy, as already two OP’s have pointed out. Each language has its own proficiency test (DELE for Spanish, IELTS for English etc). They can be done in any number of test centres which offer many dates throughout the year. There are even a number of alternative tests such as Duolingo which can de done online from home. Just get her to ask her employer for a complete list of all accepted tests then she can choose the most convenient option.