Known the world over as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages–I assume that all the diligent, methodical precision used to create these levels in the first place has to be applied to the title itself, which is very precise but a pain in the **s to remember–the CEFR is used most commonly in Europe to classify the proficiency of learners of a foreign language.
Given that I reside here in the United States, where language learning and proficiency levels in a foreign language seem to have taken the same illogical path to oblivion as the metric system (known but barely used, and even maligned by some), we use the proficiency guidelines offered by what’s called the ACTFL, or the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. (From what I can tell by the name of the organization, it’s pretty obvious that they’ve been taking prolix pointers from their European counterparts.)
For an interpretation of the letters below, just follow this more concise and reasonable guide: the A-levels mean beginner in a foreign language, the B-levels intermediate, and the C-levels advanced. Much more reasonable.
And as a note before reading anything into this self-assessment: it’s been designed on the basis of my own experience and insight, which means that some of the criteria are true, some partially true, and some just pure fabrications. I’ll leave you to guess which is which.
A1: Can read and interpret traffic signs. Can communicate with lots of hand waving. Occasionally spills coffee. Tends to spray saliva inadvertently.
A2: Can successfully avoid getting arrested or doing anything outrageously stupid, illegal, or unusual in public. Can occasionally read menus. Prefers shorter menus with lots of pictures.
B1: Makes use of a highly precise, highly limited vocabulary. Can order food, talk with people, and make love as long as the sexual partner is not too demanding in the target language. Can start to watch things that he/she would enjoy if the language level were higher.
B2: Can watch everything that he/she would enjoy if the language level were higher. Watches Netflix bitterly, scribbling notes and making flash cards without actually enjoying anything. Lives out every day a joyless, humdrum existence. Can communicate thoughts, emotions, and feelings, though none of them very complex. Can come off as slightly dull among educated native speakers, but still comes off.
C1: Can officially be annoying in the target language. Possesses a vocabulary broad enough to confuse people on purpose, play tricks, or otherwise scare them. Can order food, then ask to have it sent back. Can apologize in different registers. Enjoys only half of what he/she watches or consumes, since the other half is spent trying to understand why it’s not 100% understandable. C1 isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
C2: Can officially be pretentious in the target language. Can annoy people with formal registers that are used in the wrong context. Can speak like a thickly accented professor. Hates being called foreign. Wishes to be a native speaker, feels excluded, and occasionally writes frustrated missives in the native language that are then answered in the target language. Can understand and enjoy mostly everything. Does not get arrested, unless that is his/her intention. Can hold his/her own in a police interrogation, unless otherwise compelled by emotions, feelings, or strong desires that create outcomes that could be called unfortunate, with the learner ending up without pants somewhere in a back alley. Can express anger and outrage in an idiomatic way.
