The stage at which a person can live without problems in an English-speaking society, communicate successfully, work and experience practically no difficulties associated with the language barrier is the level of English B2.
The threshold advanced level ( Vantage - Upper-Intermediate ) assumes knowledge above average and is needed by those who plan to take international exams such as IELTS, TOEFL for the highest scores, emigrate, submit job applications to prestigious foreign companies. At this level, offensive gaps in grammar, a “poor” vocabulary, stylistic blots and long pauses during a conversation are no longer allowed. Knowledge above average allows you to feel free, communicating with carriers and working on an equal footing with them.
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You are fluent and understand 95% of what is said to you. The exception is phraseological, figurative expressions, the meaning of which you will understand only in the process of immersion in the culture of the country.
B2 level skills
The lucky ones with B2 can:
- Express your opinion in detail and support the words with examples.
- Confidently keep up the conversation even with unexpected and spontaneous dialogues.
- React to any situation and stipulate your position.
- Cope with non-adapted literature: both specialized and fiction.
- Listen to rather long texts without losing the essence: speeches, live broadcasts.
- Compose texts on many different topics with details and stylistic features.
- Enrich your speech with excellent English: in my mind, it goes without saying, it turned out that, it doesn't matter that, that is self-evident that, etc.
Let's look at the basic competencies of an English speaker at an advanced threshold level.
Reading
It is not difficult for a person to understand a long and complex text: its main idea, climax, identify several storylines and answer questions about it. Literature without adaptation for Russian speakers can also be used in teaching - while the essence is captured without a dictionary.
Speaking
The use of 3000-4000 words without prior preparation and on a wide range of topics - B2 challenge. When communicating with native speakers, neither you nor the other party experience difficulties and misunderstandings. With regular verbal interaction, for example, on work issues, over time, the difference between you and the carrier will not be noticeable at all.
Hearing comprehension
Movies, songs, performances in the original can be perceived without difficulty and loss of meaning. You understand the interlocutor, his emotions, mood and what is expected of you in return. At this stage, it is useful to train on the speeches of politicians, actors, listen to original podcasts and replenish the piggy bank with idioms, phraseological units and introductory words.
Letter
Clear, well-structured, detailed text on a variety of topics, including unfamiliar ones, is one of the B2. You can answer a specialized question in detail, think about the architecture of an article on a topical issue, and write it using arguments, references, and arguments. You can respond in a formal or informal manner and conduct logical business correspondence.
Lexical base
You have a powerful vocabulary of 4,000 words and are constantly adding new, fresh, powerful expressions to it. Further training is aimed at constantly expanding the list of words, including professionalism, slang, authentic English everyday phrases.
Advanced Intermediate Topics
We have compiled a list of topics on which you should be able to express your point of view, compose essays, and also lead a discussion:
- Emotions, impressions, inspiration.
- Types of communication: business, personal, household.
- Dreams, motivation, realization.
- Philosophy of success, fakaps, achievements.
- Inspirational people, personality, authority in our lives.
- Friendship: acquaintances, colleagues, best friends.
- Jobs, duties, work plans.
- Ambition, personal and imposed goals.
- Temperament: homebody, goofball, activist.
- business and money.
- Addictions, illnesses, personality disorders.
- Healthy Lifestyle: nutrition, sports, mental health.
- Funny life cases: humor, ridiculous stories.
- Attitudes towards beauty: the difference between women and men.
- General research methods and techniques.
- Culinary tastes: cooking, cuisines of the world.
- Past and memories.
- Coziness in the house: interior and furnishings.
- Adventures and Covid: travel, global changes.
- Success or failure: the scale of life values.
- Self-actualization: the role of the person in social life.
- Gender stereotypes: changing roles of women and men.
- Myths and facts: verification and confidence.
- Different people: 21st century youth trends.
- Quarantine period: life and business online.
- My body: inferiority complex and self-acceptance.
The key difference between B2 and the previous A1, A2, B1 is that you can no longer just speak and take in quantity, but speak interestingly, with soul, with emotionally colored expressions, with a skillful posing of a question at the beginning and its correct solution in the course of your speech.
Your speech may consist of short sentences, but strive for a coherent, logically consistent structure with a climax and clear conclusions. In the future, you will be engaged in acquaintance with the finest phrases, humor, slang words, but you already have a framework. Let's look at what grammatical topics should bounce off the teeth at level B2.
Upper-Intermediate conversational cues
We have put together a small selection of communication words that will help you make your speech livelier.
| Phrase | Translation |
|---|---|
| I don't care | I don't care |
| It doesn't matter | Irrelevant |
| That's not the point | This is off topic |
| It is all the same to me | I do not care |
| Let us drop this subject | Drove it, let's drop it |
| That is why | That's why, that's why |
| I must admit | I must admit |
| As far as I can judge | As far as I can tell |
| It goes without saying that | Needless to say |
| It turned out that | It turned out that |
| It goes without saying that | I would prefer |
| In any case | Anyway |
| Instead of | Instead of |
| Indeed | In fact |
| In order to | To |
| I consider, I guess, I suppose, I think | I think, I think, I think |
| From my point of view | In my opinion |
| As far as I can understand | As I know |
| I'm convinced | I am convinced |
| The way I see things is that | how i see the situation |
| Expressively | Definitely |
| doubtless | Without a doubt |
| It can hardly be so | It's hardly true |
| I disagree | I disagree |
| In contrast to this | Unlike this |
| By my deepest persuasion | By my conviction |
| First and foremost | First of all |
| I would like to stress | I would like to emphasize |
| Saying objectively | Objectively speaking |
| To tell the truth | Honestly |
| As I have already mentioned | As I already said |
| To make a long story short | Shortly speaking |
| To draw the conclusion | Summarize |
Of course, there are many such expressions. However, in order not to get confused, it is worth remembering the base and over time supplementing it with new options you like.
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English idioms B2
We have put together some of the idioms that English speakers often use to decorate their written and spoken language, so that you understand what the structure of speech should be.
| Idiom | Translation |
|---|---|
| Break a leg | Good luck! Break a leg! |
| cutting corners | Make a blunder, focusing on speed |
| Easy does it | Slow down, slow down |
| It's not rocket science | It's easy! It's quite easy |
| No pain, no gain | You can't even catch a fish out of the pond without effort. |
| Pull yourself together | Take it easy |
| To get bent out of shape | get upset |
| wrap your head around something | Reach some thought, understand something complex |
| The best of both worlds | Perfect! |
| Go back to the drawing board | Start from the beginning |
| A penny for your thoughts | Share what you think |
| To do in a slapdash way | Do it through the sleeves |
| Barking up the wrong tree | make a mistake, go in the wrong direction |
| A picture is worth 1000 words | It's better to show once than tell a hundred times |
| By the skin of your teeth | Barely, with incredible effort |
| Costs an arm and a leg | Incredibly expensive |
| Every cloud has a silver lining | All goes to good |
| Good things come to those who wait | Gotta wait a little |
| It is a piece of cake | It's lighter than easy! |
| Live and learn | I screwed up |
| Look before you leap | Think twice before taking a risk |
| Rain on someone's parade | spoil, spoil something |
| The ball is in your court | It's your decision |
| The early bird gets the worm | Who gets up early - God gives him |
| You can say that again | Absolutely agree |
| Give someone the cold shoulder | Ignore, pay no attention to someone |
| Go on a wild goose chase | Doing pointless, stupid work |
| Play the devil's advocate | Fight for untruth to be right |
| A snowball effect | Snowball effect, accumulation of problems |
| Burn bridges | Break pots, ruin relationships |
Every English article, whether online or in print media, is adorned with phrases like this. This is one of the features of this language - it is lively and interesting. Therefore, in order to promote your English you cannot do without constant reading of professional articles on all possible topics. But the good news is that by reading such materials, you gain invaluable knowledge that you can masterfully apply.
Intermediate Advanced Grammar
Pre-intermediate preparation should correspond to the following key grammatical competencies:
- Active and passive voice.
- Strong knowledge of Present, Past and Future Simple, Present, Past and Future Continuous; Present, Past and Future Perfect; Present, Past and Future Perfect Continuous.
- Mixed Conditionals.
- modal verbs.
- Gerund or Infinitive.
- The difference in use Present Perfect Continuous "have been doing" and Past Perfect Continuous "had been doing".
- The turns: used to / get used to / be used to / would.
- All forms of questions.
- Word formation with suffixes and prefixes.
- Rules of indirect speech.
- Sequence of tensions.
- linking words.
- Comparative structures
- The use of nouns with defining words.
- Definite, indefinite, and null article.
- Complex Object: I want you to stay, etc.
- Participle I and Participle II.
- Quantifiers: all, every, both.
- Correct use of future forms: will / may / might / to be going to / will have done / will have been doing.
To these requirements are added everything that a person must know at level B1, A2 and A1.
What do you need to know for B2?
If you're not sure which group of experts you belong to, here are some interesting indicators that may mean that you are definitely "above average".
- You perfectly know several dozen idioms and skillfully apply them in conversation.
- It is not difficult for you to use correctly: the more / the better, so / such, neither / either, whenever / whatever / probably, likely / meanwhile / while.
- It doesn't make you shudder when you are addressed in English.
- You will be able to actively correspond in a working chat, understand what it is about and keep up the conversation.
- You confidently talk about the past, present and future with the maximum variety of tenses.
- It is not difficult for you to monologue for several minutes about the weather, news, world trends, even if you were taken by surprise.
- Your speech is not abrupt, you know how to speak in coherent sentences of more than 5 words.
- You easily understand non-adapted fiction, even if you encounter unfamiliar words.
- You read the news in English in Telegram and understand what they are about.
- You turn on a YouTube video with an English-speaking host and you can tell what he broadcast after watching.
- You translate popular songs into English the first time.
- You understand more than half of the original film without subtitles.
- You will quickly write a competent essay on any topic and express your views.
- You easily conduct personal correspondence and order things from America online.
- You fill out the documents correctly and will be able to ask a clarifying question if you do not understand something.
- You watch B1 movies without subtitles, vocabulary and popcorn, understanding all the vicissitudes of the plot.
At this stage, it is important to accurately and accurately identify your weaknesses in order to correct this and reach the C1.
Training
To advance speaking skills further, we advise you to train not in dialogue, but in conversation with several people at the same time. The more questions, various comments and remarks, the better.
Your speech should consist of medium-length sentences, be meaningful and interconnected. Its quality will be assessed by your ability to give it "tasty" with the help of additional markers: idioms, sayings, references to historical and nationally significant events.
Thus, learning a language at an advanced intermediate level implies integration into the culture and mentality of the nation. Here it is worth deciding which version of the language and, accordingly, culture, is closer to you - true British or modern American.
Learned activevocabulary now also be different. You already know the basic vocabulary A1 , a set of words A2 and words B1 , which means it's time for synonyms, antonyms, professional terms and jargon. You begin to separate the formal and informal style and own them equally skillfully.
Further polishing listening will also be carried out taking into account your previous knowledge: a B2 should not only understand the speaker, but understand him despite the accent and pronunciation speed. Look out for BBC, Discovery shows, American talk shows, and star Oscar speeches.
For reading, it is necessary that the total percentage of unfamiliar words in the text does not exceed 10-15%. To do this, you have to read a lot and regularly.
Practice writing and write various reports, stories, scripts, essays, essays, summaries and cover letters.
As a conclusion
On average, mastering B2 takes about 9-10 months. However, it is worth taking into account the initial level and the applied efforts. With equal initial knowledge, a person who devotes 60 minutes every day to preparation will read, speak and understand at a B2 faster than someone who devotes 15 minutes. You can level up in six months if you really want to!
The Upper-Intermediate level requires really tangible and serious efforts and investments: both temporary and financial. But all your investments will pay off in the first few salaries, because such knowledge is a great competitive advantage that allows you to find a job in the States, Australia, Canada quickly and successfully.
In addition, even just knowing the language, you can get a TEFL/TESOL, work as an English teacher and receive a salary several times higher than your compatriots.
Get your TEFL TESOL certification
Travel, work online, get a job abroad, or be
an EFL and ESL teacher in your country.
Tell us what helped you reach B2? Or, if you're just on your way to it, how do you plan to study it?