Earlier today, I wanted to ask somebody how well they speak Esperanto, and I had no idea how it could be done. Is it something like "Kiel vi parolas Esperanto bene?" (be wary, I haven't completely sorted out my correlatives yet, so that may be wrong in itself), or would proper Esperanto be more along the lines of a translation of "What is your level of Esperanto?"

Maulrus:Earlier today, I wanted to ask somebody how well they speak Esperanto, and I had no idea how it could be done. Is it something like "Kiel vi parolas Esperanto bene?" (be wary, I haven't completely sorted out my correlatives yet, so that may be wrong in itself), or would proper Esperanto be more along the lines of a translation of "What is your level of Esperanto?"

'ben-' is 'bless'; I think you meant 'bone'

Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton bone? (Do you speak Esperanto well?)

Kio vi taksas vian lertecon je Esperanto? (What do you rate your skill at Esperanto? I think we'd say 'how' in English but if we said 'kiel', would it come across as 'By what method do you go about rating your level of Esperanto?' Is that about right?)

bene è italiano, signore! la pizza assaggia come uno stivale!

---

There is the option of "kiom bone parolas vi esperanton" I believe. It's something like that at least.

Kiom and kiel are a funny one in that regard. When you say "kiom bona" you're literally saying "how much goodness" (rating it). When you say "kiel bona" you're saying "in what way is it good/describe how good it is/how it is good". Well, those aren't literal translations, but I believe that's the gist of it.

So to sum it up in a really bad (taste) joke about soviet era communism:
A) "Kiom ruĝa estas via ĉapelo?"
B) "Nu, kiam mi estis en la Sovetunio, la specnazo ĉirkaŭis min"
A)"Ho, kial?!"
B) "Ili protektis min ĉar ili kredis ke mi estis ano de Politburo'!"

'Kiel bone vi parolas Esperanton' would be the basic way of asking the question.

But Esperantists tend to use the expression 'spertulo' in a very restricted sense to refer to someone as being highly competent in Esperanto. So the question 'Ĉu vi estas spertulo?' becomes something like Do you speak Esperanto well.

Kiel bone vi parolas Esperanton?

3rdblade:

Maulrus:Earlier today, I wanted to ask somebody how well they speak Esperanto, and I had no idea how it could be done. Is it something like "Kiel vi parolas Esperanto bene?" (be wary, I haven't completely sorted out my correlatives yet, so that may be wrong in itself), or would proper Esperanto be more along the lines of a translation of "What is your level of Esperanto?"

'ben-' is 'bless'; I think you meant 'bone'

Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton bone? (Do you speak Esperanto well?)

Kio vi taksas vian lertecon je Esperanto? (What do you rate your skill at Esperanto? I think we'd say 'how' in English but if we said 'kiel', would it come across as 'By what method do you go about rating your level of Esperanto?' Is that about right?)

That would be my Latin education shining through Not even the first time I've made that mistake!

And of course I missed "Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton bone?", which is completely within my own experience level.

To my inexperienced eye, "kiom bona" makes the most sense, but a more popular consensus to be "kiel bone". Which makes more sense? Would you use an adverb or an adjective here?

Maulrus:To my inexperienced eye, "kiom bona" makes the most sense, but a more popular consensus to be "kiel bone". Which makes more sense? Would you use an adverb or an adjective here?

I would say stick with 'Kiel bone vi parolas Esperanton?'. I was reading an essay about this recently - and there it stated that Zamenhof, the creator of the language, would tend to stick with 'kiel' in such a case.

Maybe in some forms of English it's ok to replace an adverb with an adjective, but you should avoid doing that in Esperanto.

What is the intention to ask somebody for it's language level? Do i.e. I run into end of conversation if I would answer: "Mi estas komencanto kaj mi eĉ estas sube A1 nivelo"

3rdblade:
Kio vi taksas vian lertecon je Esperanto? (What do you rate your skill at Esperanto? I think we'd say 'how' in English but if we said 'kiel', would it come across as 'By what method do you go about rating your level of Esperanto?' Is that about right?)

Remember, both 'kia' and 'kiel' can be translated into English as 'how'.

Kia vi taksas vian lertecon je Esperanto?

I've also been asked:
Kiel flue vi parolas?

Which is always a question I hate trying to answer, even after the KER-ekzameno gave me an answer of sorts...

adrideo:
I've also been asked:
Kiel flue vi parolas?

Which is always a question I hate trying to answer, even after the KER-ekzameno gave me an answer of sorts...

That's excactly why I wouldn't ask somebody about it's language proficiency.