How to know which language level youāre at and tips for improving your skills - divided by proficiency level!
These are all my personal thoughts and experiences from reaching a proficient level in one language, and an intermediate in another!! Feel free to correct me or add whatever you wish<3
Ā 1. A0 - Knowledge Level: Nothing
At this stage, you have absolutely no knowledge or very little knowledge about a language. My advice is to start out slow: the alphabet, pronunciation rules, basic pronouns, colors, etc. At this point, thereās not much you can improve on (Reading/Writing, Listening and Speaking) since youāve got no actual knowledge to expand upon. Try apps like Duolingo, have fun with translating words such as your favorite animal, plant, or swear word. Donāt put too much pressure on yourself at this point, itās all in good fun! Try starting a notebook in which you write down new words, (i.e. all of them) or watching a couple videos on Youtube, even if you donāt understand much.
2. A1 - Knowledge Level: Just a Bit
This is when you slowly exit the stage ofĀ āis this even a languageā and enter theĀ ābeginnerā world. You know a couple basic verbs (to be, to have, eat, sleep, walk, talk, etc) and some sets of basic nouns/pronouns. (weekdays, months, numbers, colors, objects you find around the house, and all that fun jazz.) You can string together a couple sentences youāve heard twenty times on Duolingo! Regardless of the fact thatĀ āThe boys drink milkā is not really something youāll need in irl conversation, itās good that youāre getting familiar. By this time, you should start looking into proper grammar rules such as verb terminations, tenses, noun declinations, pronouns, etc. Childrenās books are a good way to learn a lot of stuff youād need. The language is simple and it goes straight to the point, which is the only type of writing you understand, mostly. Right now, speaking is not really an option aside from learning to pronounce words right. Listening, on the other hand, can be done really easily! If you find that Youtube channels in your target language are boring or too hard to understand, music is the way to go. Youāre especially lucky if youāre a Disney fan, because most of their songs are easy to remember and are dubbed in a lot of languages, so have fun with finding what fits you best!
3. A2 - Knowledge Level: Basic/Preliminary
Now weāre beginning to see some major improvements. You pick up words easier, you can read almost perfectly even if you donāt understand everything, and you can form really basic sentences by yourself. For speaking, by now you should be able to say your name, the place you live in, and maybe talk about your hobbies or your favorite stuff! It depends on if youāve worked with a teacher until now or not, so donāt worry if youāre still struggling. As a stepping stone between beginner and intermediate, this level can either be the one when you slowly improve or make a really big jump in your skills. Listening to songs and youtube videos should be easier, but nobody is expecting you to actually comprehend everything. As for vocabulary and reading, learning new words should come more intuitively by now, but again, youāre still in the early days. Writing is still something that can be difficult, so try maybe linking a couple sentences together to make a short story and translating some simple texts. But it you donāt find it difficult, writing a hundred words once a couple days may be the way to go.
4. B1 - Knowledge Level - Intermediate
Finally, weāve reached the intermediate stage! By now you should be able to hold very basic conversation and reveal information about yourself. You should be able to pick up words you know from the people around you, and understand mostly everything if spoken slowly and clearly to. Reading light books or magazines should be challenging but okay, while you should be able to remember certain words without making too big of an effort. By this stage, active learning is still essential, as you probably have a lot more ahead in your language learning journey. I encourage you to write short stories or several sentences about your day in a diary, depending on what works for you. Watching Youtube videos should be something you do often, because it improves listening skills greatly and gets you accustomed to informal speech patterns and filler words.
5. B2 - Knowledge Level - Advanced Intermediate
Yay! You have officially reached the advanced intermediate stage! You should be able to hold everyday conversation without too big of a headache, listening probably isnāt a breeze for you but still, if you watch a basic youtube video you can pretty much get all of it. YA books should be a regular part of your reading, since theyāre not too hard to comprehend but still a good reading exercise. Vocabulary probably isnāt a bother anymore, since you know most of the words you need and the ones you donāt, you hear them once or five times and they stick to you. At this level you can probably write some basic fanfiction, or anything that doesnāt require advanced language skills but is still challenging. Congrats! Youāre almost at an advanced level!
If youāre still here, means youāve got a strong sense of dedication. C1 is the advanced level, where you have pretty much everything that you need to comfortably live your life in a country which speaks your target language. If youāre already here and most of the above things seem far, far away to you, then maybe itās time to get down on some serious reading. Look up local classics, or contemporary works that stimulate your mind. Writing essays, reviews, reports, etc, should be something you are able to do, as you have a good grasp on both formal and informal language, both literary concepts and idioms/phrasal verbs/slang. Listening should come easily, with the ability to understand everything that is spoken to you without worries, as long as they donāt have an alien accent. Speaking, too, should be a breeze by now, with everyday conversation being a piece of cake and more formal conversations not posing too big of a challenge. If you want to reach the nextā and lastā level, it can be done through thorough preparation of skills that are usually required by exams or for language-related jobs. If you donāt care about either of these, congrats! You learned a language!Ā
Long past fluency, you now wish to master a language, down to its very core and history. Pick up some of the big classics to read. Watch a bunch of those complicated videos explaining complicated concepts. Write poetry and prose,and speak to people in contexts which require more than the average range of vocabulary. If youāre still not satisfied, get a damn teacher. Tumblr canāt help you now.
