We used to say language was a matter of self-motivation.
1/1 (beginner) - can get fed using the target language.
2/2 (intermediate) - can get fed and drunk using the target language.
3/3 (expert) - can get fed, drunk, and laid using the target language.
And then there were the guys who always found a way to do all three and establish the necessary rapport to accomplish the mission with barely a 1/1 in their native American English. 
Richard
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“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)
“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” - Robert Heinlein
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