What is "ペラペラ" ?

Hey, guys! Thank you for reading my writings. In my last post, I think I said I was going to write about my trip to CA and my flight to Japan by Singapore Airline for my next blog post. Well, life is sometimes not easy, I had an urge to talk about what I have experienced past few weeks in my daily life. I promise I will share my great trip to West coast with tons of great pics. It's coming soon, so just be patient and waiting for the day. Lol

Since I came back to Japan from my study abroad in the United States, some new people who I met recently often asked me like "じゃあ、英語ペラペラなんですか？": it means that "so can you speak English very well / naturally / fluently?" My answer is always "NO"

What is the definition of ぺらぺら? (pronounced as pera-pera) I still have no idea what it does mean.
I can understand why people ask me about my English level. If I was a person who never studied abroad and met someone who had been in America for a year, I also would be curious how much he can speak English. Also, study abroad just sounds super cool (I would say it's cool but at the same time it's very hard, in my opinion) and people have some expectation such as "One-year study abroad must make the person speak second language very fluently because he is there for a year! A year!" At some point, it's true. I'm sure I can live in the United States without any serious problems. I got used to speak English in daily life, can communicate with my friends (even if they don't think so, I do feel I can do it :P) and tell my opinion to someone.

However, is that ペラペラ? Just using English is defined as ペラペラ?     

For me, ペラペラ sounds like you can speak, write, listen, and read English like a native speaker. I seriously hope that I will be ぺらぺら in the future, and also most Japanese people who study English as a second language might think they have to / must be ぺらぺら if they learn any languages.
It's important and cool to speak other languages very well. Who doesn't want to be cool? But as you learn you would face another big wall that blocks your way, wouldn't you? At an early stage, the wall might be not so tall. You could go beyond it with a little effort and power. Since the wall is getting higher, you would realize you need to put a lot of time to go the other side of the wall. It takes time and there's no guarantee you will make it.

Living in the United States made me grow up as a person. My English improved a lot and I could have experienced many things which I can't do in Japan. But, simultaneously (this is my favorite English word, by the way) America taught me that "I am Japanese" No matter how much I study English, I can't be a native speaker. I can't be ぺらぺら. That sounds like sad thing, but that is true. So I think we don't need to be ぺらぺら. It is cool, but I think more important thing is "trying to be ぺらぺら" You are already super cool because you are doing your best to be cool!

It's not mandatory you become native speaker. Your English is already good, so just keep brushing up for what you really want to be.