Sproochentest photo description: a 5-step method

The photo description is the second part of the speaking test in the Sproochentest. You are offered three pictures, you choose one and describe it in Luxembourgish for about 5 minutes, at A2 level. The instructions in the INLL examples are simple: “Wat gesitt Dir?” (what do you see?), then describe the situation, the activity or activities and the people. To succeed, always follow the same order: what the photo shows and where, the foreground and the background, what the people are doing, a guess, then a link with your own life.

How the picture description works

According to the INLL’s Sproochentest page, the speaking test consists of an interview, followed by the description of a visual prompt: the candidate chooses from three prompts. Each part lasts 5 minutes.

The examples published by the INLL (example 1 and example 2) are headed “Zweeten Deel: E Bild beschreiwen” (second part: describe a picture) and give these instructions:

• “Wat gesitt Dir?”: what do you see?
• “Beschreift: d’Situatioun, d’Aktivitéit(en), d’Persounen …”: describe the situation, the activity or activities, the people…

The examiner may then follow up with questions. As with the interview, your performance is marked according to the INLL grid: vocabulary, morphosyntax, phonetics and task completion, plus an overall assessment. Here, “completing the task” means really describing the picture, in an organised way, and not talking about something else.

The 5-step method

1. What the photo shows, and where

   Start with an overall sentence: the place and the situation. For example: a family in a kitchen, people in a park, colleagues in an office, a market in town. This first sentence reassures the examiner: you have understood the picture.

2. Foreground and background

   Describe the picture in space. In the foreground, what is close to you; in the background, what is far away. Add on the left, on the right, in the middle. Name the objects you know: a table, chairs, trees, a car, bags.

3. What the people are doing

   This is the heart of the instructions. How many people? Children, adults, elderly people? What are they doing: eating, talking, playing, working, waiting? What are they wearing? Do they look happy, tired, in a hurry? Use the present tense.

4. A guess

   Go a little beyond what you see: maybe it is a birthday, maybe they are on holiday, I think it is the weekend. A guess shows that you can build a longer sentence, without taking a risk.

5. A link with your life

   Finish by talking about yourself: this reminds me of…, at home too…, personally, I prefer… because… This is often where the examiner follows up with a question, and you are back on familiar ground, as in the interview.

Sample plan for a picnic photo

• Step 1: I see a family in a park, the weather is nice.
• Step 2: in the foreground, there is a blanket and a basket; in the background, trees and a lake.
• Step 3: the parents are eating, two children are playing ball, a dog is running.
• Step 4: maybe it is Sunday, or a birthday.
• Step 5: this reminds me of Sundays with my children; we often go to the park in summer, because…

Say this plan in Luxembourgish, in your own words: each step can take from 30 seconds to one minute.

Common mistakes

• Stopping too early. A list of five objects does not fill 5 minutes. Follow the 5 steps: they always give you something to say.
• Listing words. “A table. A tree. A child.” Make complete sentences, with a verb: there is, I see, he is eating.
• Forgetting the people. The INLL instructions mention the situation, the activities and the people: do not describe only the setting.
• Choosing the most original picture. Choose the one for which you know the most words, with people doing things.
• Getting stuck on an unknown word. Work around it: “a kind of…”, “a thing for…”, or talk about something else in the picture.
• Changing tense without meaning to. Describe in the present; keep the past for step 5, when you talk about a memory.
• Speaking too fast. Clear pronunciation counts towards your mark. Pause between the steps.

A few simple Luxembourgish expressions

Here are six expressions to structure your description. They have been checked in the Lëtzebuerger Online Dictionnaire (LOD) or come from the INLL instructions.

• Wat gesitt Dir?: what do you see? The question in the INLL instructions: learn to recognise it.
• Ech gesinn …: I see … (gesinn)
• Am Vierdergrond …: in the foreground … (Vierdergrond)
• Am Hannergrond …: in the background … (Hannergrond)
• Vläicht …: maybe … (vläicht), for your guess
• Dat erënnert mech un …: that reminds me of … (erënneren, used with “un” and the accusative)

The LOD even gives an example that sounds like a picture description: “am Vierdergrond vun der Bün hunn d’Leit gedanzt, am Hannergrond huet d’Musek gespillt” (in the foreground of the stage, people danced; in the background, the music played).

Practise with real pictures

Use the photos on your phone and describe one a day, out loud, following the 5 steps. Time yourself: aim for 3 to 5 minutes. The my-sproochentest.lu Sproochentest pack, which opens soon, offers 60 photos: you draw three, choose one and describe it, and the voice corrector gives you your mark according to the exam grid, with a model answer read by Luxembourgish voices. For the first part of the speaking test, read our guide to the interview topics, and for the full format, our overview of the Sproochentest.

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