How to test Portuguese fluency

Consider the following scenario.

You’re recruiting for an open role that requires the successful candidate to be fluent in Portuguese. You receive hundreds of applications, but only 10 applicants list “C1 level of Portuguese” in their CVs. 

You decide to move these 10 applicants to the interview stage. However, during the interviews, you quickly realize that only one of the 10 candidates is actually fluent in Portuguese – but they don’t possess the other skills needed for the job. In this case, you’d need to start the recruiting process from scratch.

To avoid this, you should use a C1 Portuguese language test to screen candidates before the all-important interview stage. These types of proficiency tests help you ensure that you only hire candidates with the required language skills for the role.

Here, we’ll go through how to test Portuguese fluency and use pre-employment language tests as part of a broader skills assessment.

What are the best ways to test Portuguese fluency?

You can ask candidates to provide diplomas or certificates as evidence of Portuguese fluency, such as the DAPL diploma, which indicates that one has reached the C1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

However, certificates only act as proof of the language skills that the individual had when they took the exam. 

Here are a few other ways to evaluate candidates that will give you a more accurate idea of their current language skills. 

1. Phone interviews

If you only want to evaluate an applicant’s verbal and listening skills, a short phone interview can give you a good sense of their language level. 

However, if you also need to accurately evaluate a candidate’s reading and writing skills, you’ll need to consider other evaluation methods.

2. Asynchronous video interviews

Asynchronous video interviews (or one-way video interviews) are modern “audition tapes.” During asynchronous video interviews, you ask candidates to record video responses to a list of pre-selected questions. 

With TestGorilla, you can create custom questions designed to test candidates’ Portuguese language and communication skills. Their video answers will give you a solid idea of how well they can understand and express themselves in Portuguese. 

3. Pre-employment language tests

Pre-employment Portuguese fluency tests are a quick and accurate way of assessing applicants’ proficiency in Portuguese. 

With TestGorilla, you can ask candidates to complete the language test before you invite them to an interview. The results of the tests will help you determine which applicants have sufficient Portuguese proficiency and which ones are underqualified for the role. 

Plus, you can access deeper insights into candidate profiles by adding other tests to the assessment, such as personality, situational judgment, and role-specific tests. 

Which communication skills do Portuguese fluency tests evaluate?

Any pre-employment Portuguese language test worth its salt evaluates candidates’ abilities in four key areas: grammar, vocabulary and spelling, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension. 

Testing all four of these areas ensures that the candidate not only has a strong command of spoken Portuguese but can also engage in high-level conversations and communicate clearly in written Portuguese.

TestGorilla’s Portuguese – Portugal (Proficient/C1) test evaluates the following language skills: 

• Grammar: This part of the test asks applicants to consider a concept and write about it in Portuguese. 

• Vocabulary and spelling: Candidates must talk in Portuguese at the C1 level to prove they can form clear, accurate sentences while discussing complex topics. 

• Reading comprehension: This part of the test asks candidates to consider a piece of written Portuguese and evaluates their understanding of the text. 

• Listening comprehension: The test prompts candidates to listen to a conversation in Portuguese and discuss what they heard to assess whether they understand high-level conversations, idioms, and other language nuances.

How to build a Portuguese assessment to test Portuguese fluency

If you’re looking for a comprehensive Portuguese test that helps you accurately evaluate candidates’ abilities, TestGorilla has everything you need.

Here’s how to use our Portuguese – Portugal (Proficient/C1) test as part of the initial candidate-screening process to ensure you move only the best candidates on to the interview stage. 

1. Create a customized Portuguese assessment 

TestGorilla’s Portuguese fluency test assesses applicants’ skills in the four key areas of the language. However, to get the most out of pre-employment tests, we recommended creating an assessment that evaluates candidate profiles as a whole. 

With TestGorilla, you can combine a variety of tests, such as role-specific skills tests, situational judgment tests, and personality and culture tests, to create a comprehensive pre-employment assessment that provides you with more granular insights into your applicants’ broader profiles.

Ultimately, this helps you determine how well candidates will fit into the role and the company. 

2. Send candidates the Portuguese language test to complete 

Sending applicants the customized assessment before the interview stages streamlines the recruiting process and ensures that only qualified candidates make it to the next round.

With TestGorilla, you can easily invite candidates to complete the assessment via a single or bulk email, embed a public link in the job posting, or add the assessment to one of the applicant tracking systems that TestGorilla integrates with. 

You can also customize your emails by adding more information about the hiring process, how candidates will be assessed, and a deadline for completing the assessment. 

3. Evaluate candidates’ Portuguese fluency assessment results

Once all applicants have completed the Portuguese assessment, you can easily narrow down which candidates to move to the next stage of the hiring process. 

To help you sort the wheat from the chaff, TestGorilla automatically ranks candidates from high to low according to their average test scores. You can also access individual results and results for each part of the test, which helps you to decide how much weight you want to assign to different parts of the assessment. 

Finally, you can make notes about candidates and allocate star ratings from within TestGorilla, providing you with all of the information and data you need to make smart hiring decisions within one platform. 

Find your next Portuguese speaker with ease using TestGorilla’s online assessments 

If Portuguese fluency is a requisite for your open role, you must assess candidates before you begin the interview process. 

Since TestGorilla’s C1 Portuguese proficiency test evaluates applicants across all four language skills, you can be sure that those who do well on this test will be able to communicate fluently.

You can also combine our Portuguese fluency test with other pre-employment skills tests to gain deeper insights into candidate profiles, ensuring that you hire the right language expert for the role and the organization. 

Sign up for TestGorilla’s free plan today, and start using our C1 Portuguese proficiency test to find the perfect candidate.