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CEFR The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is the six-level scale — A1 to C2 — used across Europe and increasingly worldwide to describe what a person can actually do in a language. It was drawn up under the auspices of the Council of Europe and published in 2001, with a companion volume issued in 2018 that extended and revised the descriptors.

Its value is that it replaces unmeasurable self-report — "conversational", "fluent", "a bit rusty" — with a shared scale anyone in the field recognises.

Where it came from

The framework was drawn up under the auspices of the Council of Europe and published in 2001, the European Year of Languages. It grew out of decades of earlier work on defining language objectives in functional terms rather than grammatical ones — the Threshold Level specifications of the 1970s are its direct ancestor, and the name survives as the informal label for B1.

A companion volume was issued in 2018, extending and revising the descriptors. It added or substantially developed scales for mediation, plurilingual and pluricultural competence, online interaction and sign languages, and it is the current reference for anyone writing to the framework.

The design decision that makes the whole thing work is that descriptors are can-do statements — what a learner is able to accomplish — rather than lists of grammar covered. That is what makes a level portable between languages: A2 in Spanish and A2 in Japanese describe the same communicative capability, not the same syllabus.

Who accepts it

There is no single global CEFR certifying authority, and this is the most important practical fact about the framework. The Council of Europe publishes the scale; it does not run examinations and issues no certificates. Everything else is an institution mapping itself onto the scale.

What that means in practice:

• The Council of Europe and the European Union use it as the reference standard. The Europass CV asks you to state language ability in CEFR terms, which is why the scale appears on millions of European résumés.
• National education systems build it into curricula and school-leaving qualifications. France and Germany are the most thoroughly integrated.
• Universities across Europe and increasingly elsewhere state entry requirements in CEFR terms — typically B2 for undergraduate study in the local language, C1 for postgraduate or for degrees taught in that language.
• Immigration and citizenship regimes attach legal consequences to specific levels. Several European states require a demonstrated level for residence permits, family reunification or naturalisation, commonly A1 or A2 for an initial permit and B1 for citizenship. These requirements change with the politics of the day and must be checked against current rules in the specific country.
• Employers use it as shorthand, with wildly varying rigour — from a formal requirement backed by a test to a line on a job advertisement nobody verifies.

The limit is real: outside Europe, recognition is partial. North American institutions more often ask for TOEFL or IELTS scores directly rather than a CEFR band, and major Asian language examinations run their own scales — HSK for Chinese and JLPT for Japanese are mapped to CEFR only approximately and unofficially.

How a level is actually certified

An exam board writes an examination, aligns it to the framework, and certifies candidates at a level. The certificate is worth what that board's reputation is worth, which varies enormously.

The boards with genuine standing are old, national, or both:

• English — Cambridge English Qualifications, each targeting one level, with a documented history going back to 1913. See the level pages below.
• Spanish — DELE, issued by the Instituto Cervantes, which has had responsibility for the examinations since 2002; the diplomas are issued on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Education. Salamanca ran its own certifications until 1991. Originally three levels, now six.
• French — DELF (A1–B2) and DALF (C1–C2), awarded in the name of the French Ministry of Education. These are lifetime diplomas with no expiry.
• German — the Goethe-Zertifikat series from the Goethe-Institut, offered at every level from A1 to C2; the C2 is the Großes Deutsches Sprachdiplom.
• Italian — CILS (Università per Stranieri di Siena), CELI (Università per Stranieri di Perugia) and PLIDA (Società Dante Alighieri).

A rule of thumb that holds up: prefer the certificate issued by, or on behalf of, the country whose language it is. A diploma from a national ministry or a state language institute outlives the company that sold you a course.

The six levels, one page each

• CEFR Level A1 — Breakthrough. The beginning, and not a thing to be embarrassed about.
• CEFR Level A2 — Waystage. Routine matters, simple transactions, your own background.
• CEFR Level B1 — Threshold. The independence line, and the level most citizenship regimes ask for.
• CEFR Level B2 — Vantage. The university and workplace line.
• CEFR Level C1 — Effective Operational Proficiency. Flexible, effective, academic and professional.
• CEFR Level C2 — Mastery. Precision and shades of meaning. Not "native speaker".

The three bands and six levels

The Council of Europe groups the six levels into three broad bands:

{| class="wikitable"

! Band !! Level !! What it describes

|-

| rowspan="2" | Basic User || A1 || Can handle very simple, concrete exchanges: introductions, basic needs, familiar everyday expressions, with a patient interlocutor.

|-

| A2 || Can describe routine matters — their background, immediate environment, what they did today — and manage simple transactions at work and in shops.

|-

| rowspan="2" | Independent User || B1 || Can deal with most situations likely to arise while travelling, produce connected text on familiar topics, and describe experiences, hopes and reasons.

|-

| B2 || Can interact with fluency and spontaneity enough for regular interaction with native speakers without strain on either side, and argue a viewpoint on a topical issue.

|-

| rowspan="2" | Proficient User || C1 || Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes, and produce clear, well-structured text on complex subjects.

|-

| C2 || Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read, and express themselves precisely and spontaneously, differentiating finer shades of meaning.

|}

The framework is deliberately built as a flexible tree: institutions subdivide where they need to, so A1.1 and A1.2, or B2+, are common and legitimate local refinements.

The informal names often attached to the levels — Breakthrough, Waystage, Threshold, Vantage, Effective Operational Proficiency and Mastery — circulate widely on commercial language sites. They are conventional rather than official; the Council of Europe's own published descriptions use the band names above.

What the scale is for, and what it is not

The descriptors are written as can-do statements — what a learner is able to accomplish, not what grammar they have covered. That is the design decision that makes the scale portable between languages: A2 in Spanish and A2 in Japanese describe the same communicative capability, not the same syllabus.

There is no single global CEFR certifying authority. Exam boards — Cambridge, Goethe-Institut, DELE, DELF/DALF, and many national systems — map their own examinations onto the scale and certify against it. France and Germany use it in their school systems. This means a CEFR level on a résumé is only as good as the examination behind it, and it also means you do not need anyone's permission to state your level honestly if you are not claiming a certificate.

Using it honestly

Stating "B1 Spanish" on an application is more informative and more credible than "conversational Spanish", and it is checkable in thirty seconds by anyone who cares. The lower levels are nothing to be embarrassed about — A1 is, correctly described, the level of someone who has read some of a book and can produce a few phrases, and almost every competent speaker of a second language passed through it.

For teaching work, the scale matters twice: once for your own languages, and once because schools describe their classes and their students in exactly these terms. See Teaching English Abroad TEFL and TESOL.

Language programmes and tests are listed at credentials.soapbox.community.

See also: Making Money Certificate Pathways · Teaching English Abroad TEFL and TESOL

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