Most learners want to read: real books, news, a novel they loved in translation, comments under a video. Many buy a novel everyone calls “easy”, hit a wall of unknown words in the first paragraph, and decide they are bad at the language. They just picked a text three levels above them.
The CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) sorts ability into six levels, from A1 (just starting) to C2 (near-native). The Council of Europe defines each with plain “can-do” statements, describing what you can do rather than listing grammar, and has a separate set for reading. Knowing your reading level lets you pick text you can finish.
Below, each level through the lens of reading: the official descriptor, rough vocabulary, texts that work, and common mistakes. Vocabulary estimates vary widely between sources and languages, because researchers count single words, lemmas or word families, and the framework specifies no word count. Treat every figure as a rough range.
The levels describe what you read independently, with no help. Tools that translate a tapped word or show the original beside your language let you read above that level; more at the end.
A1 and A2: The Beginner Levels
A1: Reading single words and signs
Descriptor: you “can understand familiar names, words and very simple sentences, for example on notices and posters or in catalogues.” You decode labels (a menu, a door sign, a product name, a photo caption) for the one piece of information you need.
Vocabulary: often estimated around 500 words, sometimes less: the commonest nouns, a few verbs, numbers, days, colours, question words. Not enough for a connected story, which needs tenses, subordinate clauses and pronouns referring back.
What to read: A1 or “starter” graded readers with few-word sentences and deliberate repetition, bilingual picture books, children’s first-words books, labelled diagrams. The goal is fast recognition of high-frequency words. For a real book this early, use parallel text, the idea behind your first book in a foreign language.
Pitfall: looking up every word. Nearly every word is new, so a page takes two hours and you quit. Read short, with translation built in.
A2: Reading short, predictable texts
Descriptor: you “can read very short, simple texts”, “can find specific, predictable information in simple everyday material such as advertisements, prospectuses, menus and timetables”, and “can understand short simple personal letters.” You can read a whole text if you roughly know what it will say (a timetable, a menu, a friend’s note), even with a few unknown words.
Vocabulary: commonly 1,000 to 1,500 words, some sources up to 2,500; counting methods start to diverge here. Short everyday text becomes readable with effort.
What to read: A2 graded readers (simple plot and characters, tightly controlled vocabulary), short dialogues, “easy” or “slow” news for learners, personal messages and short emails, comics and graphic novels, whose pictures carry meaning. See graded readers and level-matched books.
Pitfall: jumping to an authentic novel because A2 feels like real progress. Literary novels sit at roughly B2 to C2, and the wall is demoralising. Stay with level-built text longer, or use parallel reading to bridge into harder material.
B1 and B2: The Intermediate Levels
B1: Reading straightforward connected text
Descriptor: you “can understand texts that consist mainly of high frequency everyday or job-related language” and “can understand the description of events, feelings and wishes in personal letters.” You follow multi-paragraph text, and feelings and wishes open up narrative and personal writing. You can follow a straightforward story and why things happen.
Vocabulary: often 2,000 to 3,000 words. The most frequent 2,000 to 3,000 word families cover a large share of everyday text but not enough for comfortable novels, so you still hit unknown words regularly and guess from context.
What to read: B1 graded readers (real plots and stakes), adapted classics, original young-adult fiction, intermediate learner news and some easy authentic news, short stories you can finish. Start reading without stopping for every word; that habit carries you to B2.
Pitfall: the intermediate plateau. Graded material is comfortable, authentic adult books exhausting, and progress seems to stall. You have not peaked; the gap between controlled and authentic text is real, and volume is the only way across.
B2: Reading authentic prose and argument
Descriptor: you “can read articles and reports concerned with contemporary problems in which the writers adopt particular attitudes or viewpoints” and “can understand contemporary literary prose.” This is what most learners mean by “read books”: an opinion piece where you can tell what the writer thinks, a modern novel where you miss words but not the thread.
Vocabulary: commonly 3,500 to 6,000 word families, often cited as around 4,000. Coverage studies suggest comfortable unassisted reading needs about 98 percent of a text’s words, which for a typical novel means about 8,000 to 9,000 word families. B2 sits just below, which is why it still takes effort.
What to read: authentic contemporary novels, especially genre fiction (crime, romance, thrillers), mainstream news and magazines, non-fiction on familiar topics (background knowledge replaces missing words), essays and opinion columns. Switch to extensive reading: lots of text you mostly understand, vocabulary growing from exposure. This is the most efficient phase, and why reading is such a strong way to learn.
Pitfall: dropping all tools because “I’m B2 now.” Most pages still have unfamiliar words. Read mostly without stopping, save words that block meaning or recur, and keep going. B2 is about volume, not purity.
C1 and C2: The Advanced Levels
C1: Reading complex and specialised text
Descriptor: you “can understand long and complex factual and literary texts, appreciating distinctions of style” and “can understand specialised articles and longer technical instructions, even when they do not relate to my field.” You read dense, abstract text, outside your field without background knowledge, and notice style: irony, register, voice.
Vocabulary: often 6,000 to 9,000 word families, frequently cited as about 8,000. That crosses the coverage threshold for general novels, so most adult fiction reads for pleasure with occasional lookups.
What to read: almost anything for native general readers: literary fiction, long-form journalism, history, popular science, biography. Finally, the book that made you learn the language. Remaining work: older or ornate classics, technical or academic writing in unfamiliar fields, dialect and heavy slang, writers who bend the language.
Pitfall: assuming growth stops once reading is comfortable. The gap to an educated native is still large. Read widely across genres and registers; a daily habit beats intensity, the logic of a reading plan you can actually keep.
C2: Reading virtually anything
Descriptor: you “can read with ease virtually all forms of the written language, including abstract, structurally or linguistically complex texts such as manuals, specialised articles and literary works.” That covers dense philosophy, legal and technical documents, poetry, wordplay, archaic and regional language, read fast enough that reading and understanding merge.
Vocabulary: commonly 9,000 word families and up. An educated native reader is often estimated at 15,000 to 20,000, so C2 is not lifelong-native vocabulary, and the framework never claimed it was.
What to read: whatever you like. Remaining gains come from original literary classics, technical writing in unfamiliar domains and notoriously difficult authors.
Pitfall: treating C2 as a finish line and stopping. Reading ability fades without use; at C2 the work is maintenance, which means continuing to read.
How to Find Your Own Reading Level
- The 98 percent test. Mark every unknown word on a page you want to read. Missing more than about 1 in 20 (roughly 5 percent) puts it above your comfortable independent level; about 1 in 50 (2 percent) or fewer puts it in range. It measures this text against your vocabulary, using the same coverage research behind the levels.
- Match the can-do descriptors. Find the highest descriptor honestly true without help: follow a modern novel while missing some words (B2), read a specialised article outside your field (C1), only find facts in menus and timetables (A2). Your independent level is usually one notch below how you feel, because comprehension with help flatters you.
- Try graded readers labelled by level. Read a few pages of a B1 reader. Easy and boring: you are above it. Comfortable with light effort: about right. Exhausting: below it. Move up or down until it fits.
- Cross-check vocabulary size. A few hundred words is A1, around a thousand A2, two to three thousand B1, four to six thousand B2. More in how many words you need to read in a foreign language.
Your level also varies by topic: B2 in your profession, B1 on poetry, because background knowledge does part of vocabulary’s work. Level is an average, not a fixed property.
Reading Above Your Level With Lingo7
The levels describe reading alone. Lingo7 lets you read above your independent level when help is good enough not to break the flow.
Lingo7 shows a book in two languages at once:
- Parallel text: the original beside your language, so a sentence that defeats you at A2 or B1 does not stall you.
- Tap any word for an instant translation without leaving the page.
- Synchronized native audio links how words look with how they sound, strengthening recognition.
- Spaced-repetition review of saved words, so the vocabulary that decides your level grows from your books, not a separate list.
An A2 reader can open a real book; a B1 reader can push into authentic novels without constant-lookup exhaustion; a B2 reader reads faster and tires less, and that volume moves you toward C1. Lingo7 supports 49 languages, runs on iOS and Android, and is free to start. It will not turn A1 into C2 overnight; it raises how much you read along the way, and volume is what raises your level.
The Bottom Line
For a reader, the CEFR is a map of what you can finish alone:
- A1-A2: signs, labels, short predictable text.
- B1: straightforward connected stories.
- B2: authentic novels and opinion, with effort.
- C1: complex and specialised text across fields.
- C2: virtually anything, with ease.
The vocabulary behind them (very roughly a few hundred words at A1, a couple of thousand at B1, four to six thousand at B2, eight thousand and up at C1 and C2) varies by source and language: use it to orient, not to grade yourself. The most reliable check is counting the words you miss in the text you want to read. Then read a lot at or just below your comfortable level, with parallel reading and tap-to-translate to reach a little higher.
Sources for the CEFR descriptors and level structure: the Council of Europe CEFR level descriptions and the CEFR self-assessment grid. Vocabulary-size figures come from published research and learner resources and are estimates, since the CEFR itself specifies no word counts.