Case 1: Specialist John

[rabia198]

For learners of the language at the B1 level, everyday situations no longer pose major problems, they communicate well while on vacation abroad. They are able to talk about their hobbies, childhood, future plans and argue their opinions. In order to achieve an even higher level (B2), we must be able to concentrate and summarize arguments “for” and “against”, speak on abstract topics and hold a conversation quite freely on topics of our professional and leisure interests. At the B1 and B2 levels, the communication barrier disappears, people begin to speak more freely, mistakes occur less and less often, and topics expand to social problems. In addition, the speaker's statements become longer and smoother.

The C1 level is often compared to that of an educated native speaker. A speaker at this level is already able to speak fluently on a variety of academic or professional topics. The speaker colors his or her utterances with various moods, is able to be playful, sarcastic, or a little biting. costa rica telegram phone numbers The C2 level marks the ceiling of linguistic abilities. In reality, this means that at this level there are no linguistic limitations. The speaker is able to spontaneously and clearly express any thought and freely share his or her knowledge of the world. It should be noted that many native speakers never acquire such skills. Therefore, the Skrivanek language school should be attended with a good understanding of the possibilities - otherwise you may be disappointed.

Let us note that these considerations relate only to speaking, although similar requirements apply to other types of linguistic activity. We often identify language learning with memorizing words or grammatical structures, and the ability to analyze the author's intentions, mediate or switch from the everyday conversational register to the formal or literary one is relegated to the background. It is not difficult to imagine what misunderstandings this can cause between a student and a teacher or a student and a lecturer. Let us consider three typical situations.



Jonas has a university degree and has been working as a specialist in an international company for many years. He communicates in English every day with colleagues from all over the world. Jonas writes five emails during breakfast, reads the specialist press during lunch, and his end-of-quarter presentation in Berlin is a great success. Everyone considers Jonas to be an English specialist, and in the placement test, Jonas is classified as level B1. Wrong? Shouldn't it have been level C1? After all, English courses for adults should be organized taking into account such daily language experience, right?