Hi everyone,
We’ve had some questions come up in recent weeks regarding language settings. In particular, three main topics have come up. Two are related to the “English Verified” label that appears on some freelancer profiles and one is related to our recent change of the terminology for self-selected language levels, i.e. changing the wording for the option of “Native” to “Masterful.”
See below for responses to your inquiries. Thanks for your patience while we’ve worked to gather this information:
Q. How does a freelancer get an “English Verified” badge on their profile?
A: If you are in a native English speaking country (Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States), then your only option to obtain the “English Verified” badge is to obtain one of the certifications noted below. You can do this by adding the certification under the Certifications area of your profile.
Certifications that qualify for English Verified:
Duolingo Proficiency Exam in English
Cambridge English: First (FCE)
Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)
Cambridge English: Business Vantage or Higher
IELTS - English Proficiency Exam
Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE)
If you are in a non-native English speaking country you have two ways in which you can obtain this badge:
Option one: Submit any of the Certifications noted above. Submitting a certification is the best way to ensure you get the English Verified badge on your profile. If you take this approach (submitting a certification), the “English Verified” badge will not be removed unless you remove the certification from your profile.
Option two: For freelancers in non-native English speaking countries (who have self-assessed their English proficiency as “Basic”, “Conversational” or “Fluent”), at the end of a completed contract, clients will be asked how they would, “Rate their English proficiency ( speaking & comprehension).” After receiving several (3 or more) of these ratings, the badge can appear on your profile. This is a more complicated process because the badge will be dependent on a combination of a) the self-selected proficiency level you set in your profile settings and b) several of these ratings. This answers one of the questions we’ve been hearing over the past couple of weeks, i.e. “Can a client affect my English Verified badge.” Technically yes, which is why we recommend pursuing Option one above if having this badge is important to you.
Q. I was “English Verified” and now I’m not, what gives?
A: We had a bug that caused some users to lose this verification on their profiles. This bug should be fixed in the next few days so your verification will return. There is a legitimate circumstance in which the badge can be removed if you are in a non-native English speaking country and you have not uploaded a certification. Specifically, if you received the badge via Option two and you subsequently change your self-assessed proficiency level, we will re-evaluate and might remove the badge. If you don’t change your proficiency level, the badge remains. So again, if this badge is important to you, we recommend uploading a certification.
Q. Why did you change the label for my language settings from “Native” to “Masterful?”
A: We found the “Native” labeling may have discouraged some users with a complete command of the language from selecting this option. We wanted a label that focused on the language proficiency itself, rather than causing any potential confusion as users tied it to country of origin. We apologize for not announcing this change earlier.
We have been reviewing the reaction from all of you here on the forums and evaluating your suggestions. As a result, we will be updating this option to “Native or Bilingual - I have complete command of this language, including breadth of vocabulary, idioms, and colloquialisms.” It will take a couple of weeks for this change to be implemented live on the site. We appreciate the dialogue and suggestions you offered on this and we hope this helps resolve some of the concerns we’ve heard around this change.
Thanks again for your patience as we worked on responding to your questions.