fluency re-visited

While idly skimming a language learning forum shortly ago, I saw someone asking the question that never dies for long about what constitutes fluency.

One can blow a lot of time chasing that one. And some times I do for kicks.

Some of the suggestions I've seen involve the knowledge of enough vocabulary, rules, and colloquial speech to be able to do XYZ without having to look things up or mull it over.

Despite my unusually large and esoteric knowledge of English, I do still frequently pause while speaking to figure out how to express myself, and I look up terms for meaning, spelling, etc. So I will be surprised if I ever attain a level of Spanish mastery such that I don't have to do the same.

Some point out that terms such as "competency" and "proficiency" are far more useful than "fluency" in meaningful discussion, and I'm inclined to agree.

In my last entry I balked at the Minutemen patrolling the southern U. S. border and engaging Spanish speakers without any knowledge of Spanish. For some of these guys, a desirable level of competency might involve a core set of terms and expressions useful for conveying to migrant workers that one has no intention of shooting them but to smugglers that one is indeed willing to pull the trigger.

I'm more interested in being able to talk about food, computer programming, weather, current events, etc. I would like to be able to get through business meetings, enjoy a little recreational reading, and make friends.

So it makes sense for me to learn some specialized Spanish in addition to generalities. The Minutemen really just need to pick up a very small subset of Spanish in order to get by.

For day-to-day matters, it's less a question of "Am I fluent" and more one of "Can I do this thing I need to do?"