Feeling Confident About Your French at Any Skill Level
When on a journey to fluency in a language, feelings of insecurity can plague learners – especially when it comes to the French language. French is a very prescriptive language whose native speakers are quick to correct your mistakes. This doesn’t have to get you down! Continue reading to find out why you should be confident about your French skills at any level.
In this article, I will be using the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) to define levels of language acquisition. The CEFR is a scale used to determine a person’s language abilities. The scale uses the letters A, B, and C to denote beginner, independent, and proficient users. Each of these levels is split into two sub-levels, denoted by the numbers 1 or 2. Someone who has just begun learning French would be considered A1 while people like us, who have studied French for years, worked in France, and currently live in France, might be closer to C1 or C2.
A1
At this level, you are considered a beginner, but you might be surprised by all the things you can express! Someone at the A1 level can communicate simply with others by introducing themselves, using basic, everyday phrases, and communicating simple needs. You might even be able to converse if your interlocutor is speaking slowly, clearly, and is willing to help you throughout the conversation. At the A1 level, you can see your language skills budding and feel confident in your ability to tell people a little bit about yourself and express your basic needs, like hunger and thirst. You’ll even be able to show that you are a polite person with expressions like merci and bonne journée.
A2
At this level, you are considered an elementary learner. Your skills will have become a little sharper and your abilities will be more useful in diverse situations. A2-level learners’ worlds open up just a bit with the ability to have straightforward interactions like checking out at a store. They can use more adjectives to describe their surroundings, and they can understand more from others’ speech – especially when they are talking about topics of immediate relevance like family, shopping, or local geography. At the A2 level, you can be confident in your ability to have more meaningful interactions with people. You’ll be able to buy something at a shop, talk about the things you see, and even get to know more information about other’s lives, like their profession or how many siblings they have.
B1
This middle stage appropriately designates its learners as intermediate. As a B1 learner, your language abilities are all about familiarity. You will be able to write small, simple texts on topics of personal interest and understand major talking points in speech connected to topics with which you are familiar, including things like work, school, and leisure. This level is also an exciting place for the learner, as they will be able to begin expressing desires and ambitions as well as give brief reasons and explanations for opinions they have. At the B1 level, you can be confident in your ability to follow and participate in a conversation with another person, talk about familiar topics at length, and even comfortably do some traveling in a country of the target language, as you’ll be capable of handling simple travel situations that often arrive such as navigating to different locations, getting a taxi, or purchasing a train ticket.
B2
At this level you are considered an upper-intermediate learner. This is the level where Maria and I felt that we were really starting to become at ease with the language. At the B2 level, you are able to comprehend the main ideas in complex texts about both familiar and unfamiliar subjects. You are also able to produce similarly complex texts that explain viewpoints by giving the pros and cons of different options. At this point in your language-learning journey, you will also notice that you are able to communicate with native speakers in a fluid and spontaneous manner that puts minimal strain on the interlocutor and yourself. Some examples of what you can do at the B2 level include staying up to date on the news, being a part of a discussion that includes more than one person, writing coherent emails, and reading short novels. That’s no small feat!
C1
The C1 level is reserved for the advanced learner. At this level, you are beginning to reach your full potential as a language learner. The C1 learner can understand long, demanding texts and speech, recognize implicit meaning, flexibly use language appropriate for social, academic, and professional situations, and clearly express themselves by using connectors, cohesive devices, and organizational patterns. If you’re at the C1 level of language, pat yourself on the back for being able to pursue higher education in French, work professionally in French, read longer texts like novels with ease, and write lengthy essays.
C2
The C2 level is the level of mastery. At this top level of language learning, you can just about do it all! At this level, you can understand virtually everything that you hear or read, you can express yourself very fluently all while nuancing points of your speech that need clarification, and you can take in large amounts of information from written and spoken sources and present it in a summarized and cohesive manner. For the C2 learner, filling out administrative paperwork, speaking in nearly any situation, and communicating in writing should be no problem. Reaching this level is a real accomplishment, so be proud of what you’ve done!
All in all, you should be confident about your language skills at every level. In this article, I’ve listed only some of the things that you can do at each level, and all of these abilities can be useful in different situations at different times. Nobody uses their language in an exclusively C2 context, because there are times when A2-level skills will get the job done!
Don’t forget, however, that passing from one level to the next becomes more difficult and requires more time and skill as you move on. For example, going from A1 to A2 is much less daunting than going from B2 to C1.
It’s also important to remember that no matter your level, you will likely always make small mistakes here and there. There is always room for improvement and learning, even once you’ve reached C2! These language levels should be considered a relative guide, rather than a rigid system of “must-haves.” Many learners can have traits from two adjacent levels and can find themselves feeling like they are in between levels – which is perfectly normal.
We hope that this article has been a help to you and has given you more confidence in your French! With time and hard work, you will be moving through the levels! Leave us a comment telling us your French level and one thing you are proud to be able to do!
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