ODPOWIEDZ! - English

100% GOOD (3 votes)OdpowiedzianoPytania językowe
What is level of English for this text (+)

Hi, Friends!
I'd thought that I knew English very well, how naïve I was :D 
I'm wondering  by which level of English can be described this following piece of text: 
Is it "advanced" or "proficient" or maybe some other one? Thanks in advance. 

"The old man paused, and in the hall one might see a stir of motion, as his hearers, stiffened by listening to his recital, changed their position. He—paused and looked around, as though loath to believe that he was not living again the brave days of his adventure. Then he began once more.
“It is unlikely that any, however expert cragsmen they may be, will follow my path; for we now have the wings and follow the raven, soaring over that perilous tower with never a break. But if, through courage, you should wish to attempt it, I warn you—do not venture! For I am convinced that only by the favor of the most high gods and by the omen of the golden eagle did I come through unscathed.
“When I had followed the eagle through the pass and stood indeed on the highest crest of the Mountain of the South, the storm cleared away as if by magic, and far beneath me I saw the Mountain spread out, and beyond the Mountain a smiling valley—like Alvrosdale, but broader and deeper. Through the heart of it trailed our own river—Oster Dalalven—after it had burst foaming from the rocks beneath the mountain. Beside it was a white ribbon of a road that ran off into the distance. Along the road I could see the habitations of men, gleaming in the afternoon sunlight, and forests that ran down almost to the houses and at times hid the road. I shouted for joy at the prospect and began the descent of the mountain; for in that moment I knew that the tales of a world of splendor were based in truth. "

Thank you for your help!


PS: Try out these free English learning lessons: Textbook: (a)round and aboutWhat is AmericaPositions of Reflexive Pronouns in SentencesQuestions

ODPOWIEDZ!

AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgApril 2021

The text is American English. For a non-native American English speaker, I’d describe the vocabulary as ”proficient” or at C1 reading level and the grammar as ”advanced” or B2 reading level.

  • AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgApril 2021
    I took a look at the original text. It’s the same repetitive disjoint narrative throughout and I wasn’t able to immerse myself into the story at all. I had earlier got it wrong regarding it being about Indians - the author seems, however, to have copy-pasted bits and pieces from these sorts of stories. In any case, the whole story reads like typical poorly-written pulp-fiction garbage from the 1930s.

    You are maybe fortunate that it is only 25 pages and not 250 or 600

    Perhaps translators of this author’s text into Russian have done a better job at narration in Russian than the original author in English. This would not have been the first time translation has vastly improved an original author’s text
  • victor_onl profile picture victor_onlApril 2021
    Yes! It’s like that from the begging to the end, it’s not that long but pretty popular one I like it, because it’s reading and studying in the same time
  • AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgApril 2021
    To be honest, I didn’t like the writing very much. As a native English speaker. I found the writing boring, disjoint, long-winded and something seen 1000 times before.

    There was a huge mismatch between the level of grammar used by the author of the text and some of the vocabulary he was throwing around. Generally, apart from several exceptions, the grammar is very simple and totally mismatches with the complexity of some of the words and expressions he is trying to use.

    Many of the sentences are tediously long and don’t really add much to the picture. Additionally, a lot of the expressions seemed very cliche - especially the depictions of a Native American travelling through the mountains and then observing settler houses.

    Overall, I get the impression of an author trying to show off ”how many big words he knows”. The story and his communication of it are very secondary aims.

    There’s quite a bit of vocabulary in the text which is very culturally American and which you can’t ”skip” without a significant loss of understanding. Unless you have seen quite a few ”cowboy and indian” type films from Hollywood in English, you might not have been exposed to many of the words and expressions before. Therefore, I would not take that text as being too much an indication of your real English level

    Furthermore, the writing itself is quite disconnected and doesn’t form a coherent flow of ideas. That also makes it much more difficult to understand, especially if you are not a native English speaker. I hope that the novel from which your piece of text derives isn’t like that from start to finish!!!
  • victor_onl profile picture victor_onlApril 2021
    Thank you, this piece is a part of one novel.
    I just found so many words i don’t know or even see first time. Oh, yeah, I just thought that level of vocabulary is ”proficient” coz I feel like newbie as I’m reading this book. I didn’t have such a sensation maybe for over 4 years. Now I’ve got the right book for sure!
debbie_goo profile picture debbie_gooApril 2021
What is the level of English of this text?