Quora Answer: Should Eloquence be a Yardstick for Competence?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Should eloquent speech or fluency in any way be a yardstick for competence?” 

Being eloquent is an indication of competence in the arts of communication and rhetoric.  It is not an indication of competence in other spheres.  You judge competence in specific spheres according to the markers of those skills, not eloquence. 

Being fluent in a language indicates competence in utilising it to communicate, adherence to grammar, and possession of sufficient vocabulary.  Fluency in language is not mastery of it.  Fluency in one language is not an indicator of fluency in another language, let alone being a gauge of competency in skills that do not require that fluency.