Beginner (A1)

Your abilities

You understand and can use some basic English phrases to say hello, goodbye, thank you, etc. You can also say a few things about yourself (name, nationality, age, possessions), but you are not able to understand or engage in a conversation or any form of written exchange.

Your goals

Your goals working through this level are to:

1. Learn the basic structures and the most common daily vocabulary and phrases.
2. Open your ears to English sounds and rhythm by hearing English in the background (without trying to understand anything).

Elementary (A2)

Your abilities

You can communicate about very familiar topics (your family, work, country) using some of the basic English structures and vocabulary. The mistakes in your speech and writing can make your message difficult to understand. You may find it challenging to understand other speakers and long written texts.

Your goals

Your goals working through this level are to:

1. Improve your listening skills and work on your pronunciation.
2. Assimilate the basic structures and use them reflexively.
3. Assimilate the most common daily vocabulary and phrases and use them reflexively.

Intermediate (B1-B2)

Your abilities

You can communicate about most everyday topics (work, leisure, environment, personal experiences) using a good range of structures and vocabulary. The mistakes in your speech and writing occasionally make your message difficult to understand. You can understand written texts about familiar subjects easily, but unfamiliar subjects pose difficulties. You understand both native and non-native speakers as long as they speak slowly and clearly, but certain native accents challenge you.

Your goals

Your goals working through this level are to:

1. Continue to improve your listening skills and pronunciation.
2. Learn and start to use all the main structures.
3. Expand your passive and active range of general vocabulary and expressions.

Advanced (C1)

Your abilities

You can communicate about any topic (concrete and abstract) using a wide range of structures and vocabulary. The mistakes in your speech and writing rarely make your message difficult to understand. You can understand written texts about all subjects easily and understand both native and non-native speakers except those with strong regional accents.

Your goals

Your goals working through this level are to:

1. Continue to work on your pronunciation, especially rhythm and intonation.
2. Assimilate all the structures and use them reflexively.
3. Expand your passive and active range of both general and formal vocabulary.

Fluent (C1+)

Your abilities

You have now reached written and spoken fluency. You can communicate naturally, effectively, and appropriately even in demanding oral and written tasks and situations. Occasional mistakes do not lead to a misunderstanding of your message. You understand with ease both writing and speech except when faced with highly technical subjects or extremely challenging accents.

Your goals

Your goals are now to:

1. Use your excellent reading and listening skills to consolidate your mastery of structures and pronunciation patterns.
2. Continue to expand your range of vocabulary and expressions in a variety of subjects and registers. This is achieved by reading and listening to academic articles and lectures (formal vocabulary), and by reading novels and watching English movies and series (everyday vocabulary).

Proficient (C2)

Your abilities

You are now highly skilled in the use of the language both when you speak and when you write in any context. You hardly make any grammatical or pronunciation mistakes. You use a wide range of collocations and idioms in your speech and appropriate phraseology and punctuation in your writing. You can understand with ease everything you hear and read regardless of topic, accent, or style.

Your goals

Your goals are now to:

1. Maintain this level of fluency by constant exposure to fresh input of oral and written language in a wide variety of topics and registers.
2. Create as many opportunities as possible to engage in written and oral exchanges in English.

To reach the next level, which is near-native fluency (see definition), you would need to immerse yourself in the language in an English-speaking environment where you hear and speak only English for an extended period of time.

Expert (near-native) (C2+)

When can you call yourself a near-native speaker?

You are a near-native speaker when you can speak the language fluently and spontaneously in all situations. However, as you were not exposed to the language in infancy, you may occasionally require more conscious concentration when using idioms and colloquialisms in your speech. In terms of written fluency, as someone with an in-depth knowledge of the language, your writing skills are equal to those of a highly educated native speaker. Native-like fluency is usually achieved through extensive study and, often, with time spent living in full linguistic immersion in one or several English-speaking communities. In the latter case, your accent and choice of lexicon and syntax may be a mixture of different 'native' influences.

Definition of a native speaker

Native speakers speak their 'mother tongue', the language that they were born into and heard consistently for the first few years of their life. Their accent and choice of lexicon and syntax place them in predefined geographical and social groups around the world. As long as they remain fully immersed in their native language, they will speak it completely spontaneously in all situations. In terms of writing skills, however, their performance depends entirely on their level of academic training.