C2 Lessons - English Proficiency Course

English language proficiency is an ambitious goal, especially if you’re just starting out. Furthermore, it’s not a requirement for most people. Suppose you only plan to work, study, travel, or live in English-speaking countries. In that case, your B2 or C1 proficiency will be enough to succeed. You might miss a few colloquial expressions or references, but it won’t hurt your experience.

However, you will want to achieve English Proficiency if you constantly interact with others and have a demanding job with a lot of teaching, leadership, or management. Naturally, even if you don’t plan on becoming a writer or motivational speaker, you can still benefit from a C2 course to improve your communication skills and become fluent.

At the English language C2 stage, you have native-like fluency. You can do anything that a native speaker raised with the language can. You can freely express your thoughts, work in demanding cognitive fields such as higher education or science, and convey abstract creative ideas. 

Furthermore, you can understand speech without effort and speak English on the same level as your native tongue. Also, you can quickly switch between two (or more!) languages.

According to CEFR, C1 stands for the Advanced level, whereas C2 is the Proficient level. Both indicate a high level of mastery and effortless comprehension. 
However, C2 takes these skills further and stands for native-like fluency. At C2, you can recognize complex shades of meaning and have little to no trouble with colloquialisms and idioms. 
For example, a C2 speaker might use “chuckle” to describe a quiet laugh, “snicker” to show that it was scornful, or “giggle” to show that it was silly. In the same way they’re more likely to describe someone incredibly happy as “walking on air.” While a C1 speaker would understand all of these from context, they’re less likely to use them in daily conversation.

English C2 is the highest English proficiency level, meaning it’s the most difficult to achieve. In general, you can only get there if you live the life of a native speaker. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to move to an English-speaking country. 

Put simply, you have to spend a lot of free time consuming English media, reading specialized literature, communicating with native speakers, and so on. Proficiency in English takes hundreds of hours to develop and only comes with practice and exposure.

Fluency is a subjective idea that means having no difficulties expressing your thoughts in a language. In other words, it’s a continuum - even as an A1 student, you can fluently express yourself on very familiar topics. So naturally, you may not feel fluent, but it’s true for some topics, some of the time.

Proficiency is a formal term that stands for the C2 level of language mastery according to CEFR. It effectively stands for native-like English language skills. Using the earlier definition of fluency, it means at C2 you’re fluent across almost all contexts and rarely face difficulties expressing yourself.