/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Level B2: Basic Fluency

“Being the Hulk is difficult, because although I don’t want to smash things, it’s quite hard for me to resist the urge to” – the Hulk at B2

Reaching B2 is generally considered by most people as having basic fluency. You’ll have a working vocabulary of around 4000 words.

It’s not always effortless and it’s not always perfect, but neither you nor your native speaking partners are having a really hard time in most circumstances at this point. Conversations about wide ranges of things are pretty easy for everyone involved. Most television or movies in the target language are understandable.

Think of Massimo, Jennifer Lopez’s unrequited Italian courtier from The Wedding Planner, or maybe Jackie Chan in Rush Hour. You’re perfectly understandable and you don’t have issues understanding what native speakers are saying, even at the speed of a Chris Tucker.

Getting to B2 from B1 is another 200 hours probably, making it about 650 hours from zero. At one hour per day, this is nearly two years of work if you’re starting from scratch. With intensive language courses, missing nothing, and taking courses 4-5 hours every day plus a ton of homework, this is still 28 weeks (7 months) of work.