The Language Learning Platform That Adapts to Your Employees’ Individual Levels

When choosing the right language learning method for your business, you’ll encounter two primary challenges:

1. Language courses must adjust to how much your employees already know (from their school days, living abroad or recent language courses).

2. Your employees’ learning progress should be obvious to them, so that they stay motivated and conscious of the learning method’s effectiveness. 

To achieve both of these goals, Babbel offers a placement test and makes all content compatible with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. This means that language learning is designed to be intuitive, individual and transparent for you and your employees.

But what, exactly, goes on behind these product promises? We explain here how Babbel fits both the needs of your employees and the goals of your business. You’ll also discover how the different language levels from the European Framework differ from each other, as well as how they are integrated into Babbel’s products.  

Placement test and the European Framework: How Babbel determines the learner’s individual language level 

The placement test is automatically offered the first time users access Babbel’s online language learning platform. After only a few minutes, this helpful online test determines the learner’s individual language level, and in doing so enables tailored learning from the start. Babbel’s course content also adjusts to each individual’s specific prior knowledge. Accordingly, the placement test promotes effective learning because users’ prior knowledge is reviewed, but not re-introduced. The placement test can also be repeated manually at any time.

The Council of Europe established the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages to guarantee a unified standard for language competency, and Babbel’s language learning platform follows these regulations when course content is planned and developed. This way, Babbel guarantees that every learner’s language proficiency is universally comparable and measurable – individually, at your business and internationally. 

Specifically, your company will gain the following advantages from these standardized language levels:

• Language proficiency is measurable and learner progress is easy to understand.  
• If you have specific business language skills that are tied to a particular language level (see below), you can quickly and easily acquire them in Babbel’s course offerings.
• Targeted learning and specific courses enable the acquisition of internationally recognized certificates.
• This learning structure leads to better self-assessment for learners.

A guide to the different language levels, with competencies and course recommendations 

Our guide helps you to set concrete and relevant learning goals for teams and individual employees: Who needs to be able to communicate via written text in a foreign language? Who would benefit from travel to other countries? And who will be negotiating complex affairs in a foreign language? 

The Common European Framework is organized on a scale of A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Every level is associated with certain competencies. With a direct reference to this scale, Babbel formulates every lesson with practical learning goals that are achieved upon its completion. In this way, you and your employees will be able to see clearly and obviously which competencies and language levels have been achieved.

Language Level 0 

Employees with no previous knowledge of the target language enter Babbel directly into Newcomer Course. 

Language Level A1

Employees with A1 proficiency in the target language are able to: 

• introduce themselves
• write a short email and fill out a simple form
• speak and ask questions about familiar themes
• clearly understand spoken sentences about familiar themes 
  
  

Language Level A2

Employees with A2 proficiency in the target language are able to: 

• speak about their work
• describe their living environment and education
• carry on simple correspondence
• read simple everyday texts
  
  

Language Level B1

Employees with B1-level proficiency in the target language are able to: 

• go on a trip to a country where the target language is spoken
• discuss familiar topics and personal interests in a coherent way 
• explain plans and justify opinions
  
  

Language Level B2

Employees with B2-level proficiency in the target language are able to: 

• understand the content of texts with concrete and abstract themes
• lead a professional discussion in their area of specialty
• converse with native speakers fluently and spontaneously
• identify and consider advantages and disadvantages
  
  

Language Level C1

Employees with C1-level proficiency in the target language are able to: 

• discuss a wide spectrum of topics both written and orally with little effort
• speak nearly fluently in a professional context 
• negotiate complex situations clearly, with structure and detail
• understand implied meanings and cultural particularities 
  
  

Language Level C2

Employees who have achieved C2 proficiency have mastered the target language at the level of a native speaker. 

Looking for more guidance?

We’ve put together a hands-on guide to language learning in your company, including a comprehensive management questionnaire and employee survey that will help you find out which learning solution and corresponding Babbel products best suit your needs. Click here to access it!