CEFR levels A1 to C2: what you can do at each level – and how long it takes
A1, B1, C2: what the Council of Europe's six language levels mean, roughly how many study hours they take, and where B1 is even written into law.
Contents
Where do A1, B1 and C2 come from?
The labels come from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The Council of Europe published it in 2001 and extended it with a companion volume in 2020.[1] The CEFR does not prescribe how to learn a language. It describes what you can do with it at each level – in can-do statements such as “can introduce themselves and others”. That is why it works for any language, from Spanish to Japanese, and why exams, courses and even laws refer to it.
The six levels form three pairs: A stands for basic, B for independent and C for proficient users. In between there are plus levels such as B1+, and the companion volume also describes a “Pre-A1” band halfway to A1.[1]
What can you do at each level?
The table summarises the Council of Europe's global scale in our own words. The hours next to it are Cambridge's guideline figures for English, counted from scratch.[1, 2]
| Level | What you can do | Hours from scratch (English) |
|---|---|---|
| A1 | Understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases, introduce yourself, ask and answer simple personal questions – provided the other person speaks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. | 90–100 |
| A2 | Understand frequent expressions about immediate everyday matters (family, shopping, local area, work) and handle simple, routine tasks. | 180–200 |
| B1 | Understand the main points of clear standard language on familiar matters; deal with most situations while travelling; talk about experiences, dreams and plans and briefly give reasons for opinions. | 350–400 |
| B2 | Understand the main ideas of complex texts, including technical discussions in your field; speak fluently and spontaneously enough that regular conversation is possible without strain for either side. | 500–600 |
| C1 | Understand demanding, longer texts and recognise implicit meaning; express yourself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for words; use the language effectively for study and work. | 700–800 |
| C2 | Understand with ease virtually everything you hear or read; express yourself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, making finer shades of meaning clear. | 1,000–1,200 |
A level is a simplification. The Council of Europe itself says that an answer like “B2” – or even “B2 receptive, B1 productive” – hides a complex profile.[1] Different levels in different skills are therefore built into the CEFR.
Are all levels the same size?
No. It shows most clearly in the middle: according to the Council of Europe, B2 is as far above B1 as A2 is below it.[1] It describes the route there as progressing slowly but steadily across an intermediate “plateau” – until at B2 learners find they “have arrived somewhere” and things look different: they can sustain their opinions, weigh advantages and disadvantages, and talk with users of the language without strain for either side.[1]
So if you feel you have barely moved at B1 for months, that does not have to mean something is wrong. According to the Council of Europe, the stretch from B1 to B2 is as long as the whole way from A2 to B1.
C2 – so, like a native speaker?
No. The Council of Europe states that C2 has “no relation whatsoever” with an idealised native speaker; such concepts were not used as a point of reference when the levels were developed. C2 describes the precision, appropriateness and ease that typify highly successful learners.[1]
Pronunciation is similar: its scale was redeveloped from scratch for the companion volume because the old one seemed to reinforce the idea of an idealised native speaker. The key criterion is now intelligibility – how much effort the listener needs to understand you. Even at C2, an accent from other languages may remain, as long as it does not affect intelligibility.[1]
How long does a level take?
For English, Cambridge gives about 200 guided learning hours per level – lessons and supervised study. Counted from scratch, that is roughly 350–400 hours to B1 and 700–800 to C1. The exam provider stresses that these figures are a guideline only. How long it really takes depends on, among other things, your language learning background, how intensively you study, your age and how much contact you have with the language outside lessons.[2]
How much the language itself matters is shown by the experience figures of the US State Department's language school (FSI). English-speaking diplomats study there full time – 23 hours of class and 17 hours of self-study a week. To the target level, FSI expects 30 weeks for Spanish or French and 88 weeks for Arabic, Chinese, Japanese or Korean.[6] More on what makes a language hard in The hardest language in the world?
A quick calculation: if you study 30 minutes every day, you get just over 180 hours in a year. That is in the range of Cambridge's figure for one level – although that figure assumes lessons and supervised study, and applies to English.
Which level do you need for what?
For many people the level is not a matter of curiosity but a requirement. In Germany and Austria it is even written into law (terms as in the official English translation of the German Residence Act):
| Where | What is required | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Germany, Residence Act | “basic knowledge” of German | A1[7] |
| Germany, Residence Act | “elementary knowledge” of German | A2[7] |
| Germany, Residence Act | “sufficient command” of German | B1[7] |
| Germany, Residence Act | “good command” of German | B2[7] |
| Germany, Residence Act | “advanced command” of German | C1[7] |
| Germany, citizenship | language exam at level B1 | B1[3] |
| Austria, citizenship | German at level B1 (module 2 of the integration agreement) | B1[4, 5] |
How do I find out my level?
A recognised certificate only comes from an exam. For an honest self-assessment, however, the Council of Europe has published a self-assessment grid: short I-can statements for listening, reading, speaking, writing, interaction and mediation, each from A1 to C2.[1] Go through it line by line and mark the highest level that really fits.
Sources
The numbers in square brackets in the text point to this list.
- Council of Europe (2020). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment – Companion volume. Council of Europe Publishing, StrasbourgThe Council of Europe’s official companion volume to the CEFR (original 2001). Global scale p. 175, salient features of the levels pp. 173–175, C2 and “native speakers” p. 37, profiles p. 38, self-assessment grid Appendix 2.
- Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Guided learning hours. Cambridge English Support Site (accessed 22 Oct 2026)The exam provider’s guideline figures for English: cumulative hours of lessons and supervised study from beginner level, “intended as a guideline only”.
- Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz (StAG), § 10 Abs. 1 Nr. 6 und Abs. 4. gesetze-im-internet.de (accessed 22 Oct 2026)Statutory text (German); exceptions include children under 16 and cases of hardship (para. 4a).
- Republik Österreich. Staatsbürgerschaftsgesetz 1985 (StbG), § 10a Abs. 1 Z 1. Austrian Legal Information System (RIS), accessed 22 Oct 2026Statutory text (German); refers to section 7(2)(2) of the Integration Act for the German requirement.
- Republik Österreich. Integrationsgesetz (IntG), § 7 Abs. 2. Austrian Legal Information System (RIS), accessed 22 Oct 2026Statutory text (German): module 1 = A2, module 2 = B1.
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Service Institute. Foreign Language Training. state.gov (accessed 22 Oct 2026)Experience figures from the US State Department’s language school: weeks to a score of 3 (speaking + listening) on the ILR scale, full time, for native English speakers.
- Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Aufenthaltsgesetz (AufenthG), § 2 Begriffsbestimmungen, Abs. 9–12. gesetze-im-internet.de (accessed 22 Oct 2026)Statutory text (German); the English terms in the article follow the official translation on the same site.
How this article was made
Translated from German with AI assistance. Researched and drafted with the help of AI, then checked claim by claim against the sources listed before publication. The cover is an AI-generated illustration. Responsible: Inan Software OG, Vienna. Found a mistake? Write to support@limny.app – corrections are listed with their date below the article.
