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[Deinonysus]

I use self-defined rankings because I'm not comfortable assigning myself a specific rank (such as a CEFR level) without taking a test. I use the ACTFL scale as a very rough guideline.

Native: Native.
Fluent: I would want to take a test before self-describing as this. I'm not there yet in any language.
Advanced: If I was stranded somewhere where nobody speaks English but they do speak this language, I would probably be fine.
Intermediate: I can get through a children's book or simple news article without much problem.
Beginner: I can probably introduce myself, order food, and ask for directions, depending on how rusty I am.
Dabbled: I have spent some time on this language and it isn't complete gibberish to me.

[rdearman]

I couldn't ever work it out, so I just list the one language which I absolutely know the level I'm at. If anyone asks me now I just say "Studying".

[Iversen]

I have not passed any language tests since my university degree in French in 1980 (I got the final papers in January 1981), and I don't intend to. As for the A1-C2 framework I sometimes use it, but it has a clear bias towards speech and using the languages in conversations, where my main interest now is learning to read and write the languages ... and then brush them up for speaking when needed. Instead of the codes I prefer looking at what I actually can do with a given language and define my level based on that.

I claim that I speak a language if I have spent something like a week in a suitable place speaking that language to all natives and used their media and also made an attempt to think as much as possible in it during my stay. With Esperanto I have to claim ½ language since I only speak it during conferences, and no conference has so far taken place in an Esperanto-speaking country. Esperanto is also special insofar that my ability to speak it without warning is limited - but if I listen to Esperanto an hour or so or read something substantial I'm ready to use it again. A language like Romanian is also likely to need a bit of preparation, but here at least there a a couple of countries where I can do a fullblown monolingual trip - and I have already done so.

At the other end of the scale there are languages where my active skills are more limited, like when I couldn't remember the ingredients of a pizza during my latest stay in Thessaloniki and had to ask for some of them in English - but since I hate been lost for words in a discussion I don't do monolingual trips if I can't do things like buying tickets, checking in at a hotel, discussing the expositions of a museum with the employees or other guests or survive a common conversation about the weather or politics with a native person. In the framework that would probably count as at least B2 - and Greek remains at B1 until I can specify exactly what I want on my pizzas.

As for my writings here at LLORG it is evident that I can't write fluently just out of my head in all the languages I have been using here (something like 27 for the moment), and there is a downwards scale from Danish and English where I hardly ever look words up over Russian, Romanian and Modern Greek to languages like Irish or Slovakian where I laboriously construct the phrases using a dictionary and my green sheets. A special case are languages like Old French and New Norwegian (writing) which I can read without much ado, but where I simply haven't been able to find (and buy) the dictionaries that could help me when I don't know the word for something. That means that I have to look things up on the internet, maybe with some clever use of Google searches, which takes a lot of time and more often than not doesn't yield anything I can use.

However as a general rule I will always be more at ease writing a language than speaking it. And reading a language is of course always piece of cake compared to writing it.

[devilyoudont]

I always say studying rather than "I speak x" as well.

For me, I basically break it down this way:

Beginner: Unable to find native material that can be used as comprehensible input.

Intermediate: Can use native material that gives a lot of extra context (thru images etc) or use material aimed at children as comprehensible input.

Advanced: Can now use material intended for adults, without requiring extra context provided by images, etc.

I haven't really put much thought into what this would look like from a production angle.

[zKing]

I think I adequately covered that here:
https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =14&t=8793

But in all seriousness, I tend to mention the CEFR levels as a rough guide, even though they mean little to most people and even for those who are familiar with it, the dividing lines are FAR from distinct... particularly when you start talking about different levels in Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing.

My post above was actually a result of an attempt to understand what the different levels mean, and even after a lot of reading about it, I'm quite sure my understanding probably isn't "right". But I roughly think of them like:

A1 = Phrase book level and the basics. I.e. I 'intellectually' know a bunch of words, pronunciation, and grammar... but I can't really use much of it beyond some canned phrases and Tarzan speak and I understand very little of what is said to me.

A2 = Interactions. I have some short islands I can talk through and I can make my way through some 'interactions' like buying something in a store, but attempts at conversations longer than about 30-60 seconds usually die quickly as I run past my islands of knowledge rapidly, don't understand a lot of what is said and just can't keep conversation going.

B1 = Difficult conversations. With plenty of effort by myself and my very understanding TL partner, I can actually have long conversations lasting a half hour or more. I get lost often, can't always say everything I want and my partner sometimes needs to help me out of dead ends... and I usually feel like my brain ran a marathon afterwards.

B2 = Fluid conversations. I can now converse fluidly, most of it without a lot of effort and I don't get fully 'stuck' very often. I've now developed the skill to circumlocute around most things I don't know... which is still quite a lot. I simplify my speech quite a bit and still make lots of mistakes; sometimes I don't say exactly what I wanted to, but I get close. I often have to guess what my partner is saying, but I'm usually right as long as they are using mostly common use language and I have enough context. I can still easily get lost when listening to natives speaking to each other, especially if there is anything complex or slangy about it... so TV can be a mixed bag.

C1 = Fully Functional. I'm able to follow most standard native speech and generate mostly correct output without too much simplification or circumlocution... although there are still some constructs I'm fuzzy on and avoid. If people get really slangy or have a strong non-common accent I can still get lost. Really rare words, archaic or pop culture references also throw me.

C2 = Near Native. (I'm so far from this, I'm reluctant to say much...but my wife is a good case study) I can follow pretty much anything and probably know formal grammar better than many natives... but annoyingly I still find slang and seemly 'common' older pop culture references I don't know.

I doubt these are the exactly 'correct' assessments, but that's how I think about them.
Note that I've only reached about B1 in my two TL's.

[Cavesa]

I have passed the official exams for some of my languages and did have to solve this question before these exams, to sign up for the right levels. In my other languages, I am self-assessing my level and it is usually not easy.

https://www.laits.utexas.edu/fi/sites/l ... ropean.pdf
This is my main tool for making an educated guess. Not the stupid short and vague description from wikipedia people quote all the time. This detailed list of communication functions you should be able to do.

The secondary tools are some online tests (with a huge grain of salt, since they can test only some aspects of the language and their results can vary a lot, based on the form of the test.) and the CEFR label on coursebooks and similar resources. If I am comfortable with the content of a B1 coursebook I have been working with, then I am probably at the level. Sure, it is not exact, especially at the higher levels, as one coursebook cannot lead to the level on its own and this is more true with each level. But they still give me some idea of what I am expected to have mastered.

Some languages also have tools for determining a curriculum for each level. On Kwiziq, you can test your grammar level in French and Spanish reliably in my opinion, or you can go through the grammar library and see how much of each level you know. On the Cervantes institut website, there is a very detailed curriculum for each level and each skills, you can use it as a learning resource and a checklist. There are websites sorting English vocabulary to the individuals levels at which it should definitely be known. There are lists of JLPT and HSK vocabulary, from what I've heard. Tools like this can be very useful, but sometimes need a bit of effort to be found.

Another way is having someone test you for free or a small fee. How reliable that is depends on the teacher and institution. Many language schools do such testing, as it is part of the sign up for their courses, but they will test you even without sign up for a small fee usually. Some teachers on Italki may be able to test you correctly during a paid lesson. Sure, this is not free like self-assessment, but it can be ten times or fifteen times cheaper than the real and official exam. It is useless for any official company, but it can serve you as guidance for your studies or for presenting yourself on platforms like our forums.

[eido]

A1: present and basic past tense, a few memorized phrases ("How are you?", "Where are you from?", "My name is..."), basic scripts or alphabets memorized, numbers 1-100 mastered, not much theory behind grammar known

A2: all tenses known (if not able to use), a good range of basic vocabulary known (like "to say", "to eat", "to sleep", "to get dressed"), able to hold a semi-complex conversation, making creative use of all the basic words known, theory behind grammar known - for instance, if there's basic particles attached to nouns, know the particles and how to use them. not expected to create complex clauses found in YA texts or even everyday conversation, like "I had gone there to eat but they were all out of the brown rice, so I gave up. Then I went to another restaurant to eat, and they're better anyway." (In languages like Spanish sentences like that can be fairly easy, but all the words necessary to form it might not be there, neither "function" words like "so" which in Spanish has many forms.) can tell what you did that day, ask your friend, but might not be able to understand the response, probably due to a lack of vocabulary (if we're talking about a Romance language, say)

B1: where I currently place myself as of this post in Spanish. able to hold a long conversation on a fairly complex topic, but with simplified language and circumlocutions abound. to the point where if you wanted to say, "I wanted him to book it out of there, but he was all like, no bro, get off me" and you could only say, "I wanted him to leave, but he told me no". people don't have a hard time understanding you, but you make the same mistakes probably over and over, and they're weird to native speakers and they're probably laughing at you because they're typical of your ilk. like confusing the subjunctive with the preterit in Spanish. can understand a lot of what people say out loud, but more often than not, it sounds like one big blur and unless you're daring, you don't speak to people in real life because you can't rewind them.

B2: can read almost any type of book with ease, only looking up 2-5 words every five pages or so, with a book on a niche topic. I'm not at this level yet, but this is what I imagine it to be. can speak on almost any topic with a pretty high degree of accuracy. you might miss things like the dreaded subjunctive still, or miss prepositions or confuse them. but your speech just flows out of you. you can understand most speech, but sometimes need help with slang or accents.

C1: virtually no verbal or written mistakes. only rare words throw you when interacting with the language. dialects and slang pose less of a problem because the dialect you've chosen to work with has exposed you to most of the common ones. but the Busan dialect? you didn't study that, so you have no idea what they're saying, much less when they go fast.

C2: not equal to a native speaker, but pretty close. no more trouble with accents or dialects most of the time. near perfect production. full comprehension of everything read, like 98%.

Maybe I'm too optimistic.

[zjones]

I used to list my level as A1, then A2, then B1... but I felt increasingly uncomfortable with those assumptions, especially on a website filled with language-learners. So now I use the tag "intermediate" -- it gives me a lot of room, while giving others a general idea of my capabilities. I think of A-levels as beginner, B1 as intermediate, B2 as upper-intermediate, and C1+ as advanced/very proficient.


I still refer to the CEFR levels when I'm trying to find a language partner, because I think it's helpful for someone wanting to choose an LE. I always make a caveat that speech is my weakest skill, and reading/writing is my highest. I refer myself to B1, because I strongly believe that I could take the DELF B1 right now and pass, especially after looking at example tests.

It does kind of bother me when people peg themselves as CEFR levels that seem higher than their actual abilities (i.e. from reddit: "I know a little German, I can't read any native materials, I can't really speak, but I'd definitely peg myself as A2/B1").

[SGP]

For any forum members who have not taken an official proficiency test to obtain their level: what are your definitions or criteria for deciding what your level (beginner/intermediate/CEFR/whatever terms you use) is in your target language(s)? Did you base your self-assessment on number of hours studied, or on what you can understand in native media, or on how you perform when speaking and writing, or all of the above, or something else?

These are the steps I, personally, am taking:

1. Reading the CEFR criteria of the different levels, or recalling them.

2. Thinking of these four language skills: reading, writing, listening, speaking.

3. Keeping in mind that I do not feel myself being bound to a wide-spread idea. And it is, "You can only consider yourself on a certain CEFR level if you know all of its very specific words like frying pan and dishwasher. It wouldn't be sufficient if you are able to speak about some of this level's topics with very straight-forward words, while using work-around words for its other topics".

4. Mentioning the minimum speaking ability and the maximum reading ability, separating them by a slash.

5. Implicitly implying the listening and writing ability. Because the first is as high as speaking at least, and the second is as high as reading at most.

By the way, in case anyone would be surprised right now, especially because of "3.", well, I did mention all of it in my log, too . Some points more than once even. And to me, any level "classification" that is based on the CEFR criteria could be used, including, but certainly not limited to, my own one.

What's more, I recently changed my approach to "on demand learning". So any of my list's languages could also get rusty in the future, because of currently additionally focusing on others. Even if this happens, I do not intend to remove it nor down-grade it, as long as the underlying level doesn't change. If someone needs to re-active any language by first getting into the mood and so on, I do not consider this the same as forgetting it.

Otherwise I would have had to mentally down-grade even my mother's tongue when my ability to use it declined. Because of mostly speaking in a few other languages back then, being outside of my home country. This was many, many years ago, without any present traces. But I didn't include ancient Greek in my list because I fully have forgotten it, other than being able to recognize some modern Greek words.

[Axon]

I sometimes feel as though I'm cheating by not using CEFR levels, but I've never taken a test and don't have any external motivators for doing so.

I think saying "Comfortable" is very fitting for me because I'm not even bound to the implied all-around competence of "Advanced." It takes very little effort for me to speak in Mandarin, German, or Indonesian when talking about most things, and my comprehension of all three also pretty much covers my needs (though Mandarin literacy is still elusive). Living in China does expose me to quite a few holes in my Mandarin ability, but the fact remains that most of what I need to do during the day can be accomplished without thinking. I frequently listen to other languages on public transport and then take out my headphones and speak Mandarin with no preparation. By virtue of not speaking them every day, I don't have quite the same feeling with German and Indonesian, but each time I reach for them they're right there.

"Rusty" implies the opposite: it takes concerted effort on my part to produce any Spanish, French, or Russian, though I can read and understand Spanish without much trouble. My French has a lot of holes in it from being "picked up" instead of studied, and I'm not very confident with Russian grammar. After I made these categories I did a lot more listening in these three languages and they feel less "rusty" now and just more "not needed."

"Also" are three more languages (just to bring the total+English to ten) that I've studied off and on for a while, completed 6WCs in, and spoken for travel with people that were not as comfortable with my other languages. I know many words and phrases, and there's a lot I understand both written and spoken. However I doubt that I could pass an A2 exam in any of them, though I would like to bring my Vietnamese up to at least A2 level by the end of next year.

Then I have other languages lurking in the background like Italian, Danish, Dutch, Javanese, and Hokkien, where I am a false beginner but give the language no regular attention and so don't mention my studies. My New Year's Resolution for 2018 was to not add serious study of any more languages anyway. This will change.