Every German school and every exam talks about A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Parents nod, sign their child up for something, and only later find out what the letters meant. This is the plain version, written for parents rather than for teachers.
The six levels come from the Common European Framework, which is simply an agreement across Europe about what counts as what. The useful thing about it is that it describes what a person can do, not how many words they know.
The six levels in plain language
A1: getting by
Your child can say who they are, ask for things, name what is in front of them, and understand slow, clear speech about familiar subjects. Think of a visit to relatives where everyone speaks carefully and a lot of pointing happens. That is A1, and for most children it is reached faster than parents expect.
A2: everyday situations
Short conversations about family, school, shopping and free time. Your child can describe their day, say what they like and do not like, and follow a simple story. They still stumble when someone talks at normal speed.
B1: independence
This is the level that matters most in practice. At B1 a person can handle most situations that come up on a trip to Germany, describe experiences, explain an opinion and manage a conversation without the other person slowing down. B1 is also the level most commonly asked for by employers and authorities, which is why so much of the adult world stops here.
B2: school level
Complex texts, a discussion with arguments on both sides, writing something structured. A child who wants to attend school in Germany needs to be heading toward B2. It is a large step up from B1 and takes considerably longer.
C1: fluent and precise
Reading long, demanding texts and using the language flexibly for study or professional life without obviously searching for words. C1 is normally the university requirement.
C2: near native mastery
Everything, with ease and precision, including nuance and subtle differences of tone. Very few learners need C2, and quite a few native speakers would not pass the written exam.
What the levels do not tell you about a child
Here is the part that trips up families in Accra more than anything else, and it is worth reading twice.
The levels assume that speaking, listening, reading and writing grow together. For a child in a bilingual family, they do not. A child who hears German at home every day may speak at B1 and read at nothing at all, because speaking is absorbed from people and reading has to be taught. Meanwhile a child who learned German only in a classroom may read well and freeze when someone speaks to them.
So when a school asks which level your child is, the honest answer is often that the question does not fit. A good assessment looks at the four skills separately. We wrote about the reading gap specifically in how to help your child read German at home.
How long each level takes
The Goethe-Institut publishes guideline hours for adults, and converted into our 60 minute lessons the rough picture is about 90 lessons to A1, another 100 to A2, and another 150 to B1. Those are guidelines, not promises, and they assume regular practice between lessons.
For children the numbers work differently, and usually in their favour if they already hear German at home. If you want a figure for your own situation, the calculator on our German for Ausbildung and study page works out the range for a chosen starting point, target level and number of lessons a week. It also includes time spent practising at home, because lesson hours alone never tell the whole story.
Which level does my child need?
It depends entirely on why they are learning.
To keep the family language alive: there is no target level. What matters is that German stays useful and that reading and writing are not left behind. Progress here is measured in whether the child still chooses to use it.
For a German school exam or a Goethe certificate for children: A1 or A2 for the younger certificates, B1 later. Ask which exact certificate is being asked for, because the children’s versions and the adult versions are different exams.
To move to Germany and attend school there: aim for B1 as the practical floor and B2 as the comfortable level. Below B1, a child spends the first year translating instead of learning.
A word about tests
You do not need a certificate to know where your child stands, and for most families the certificate serves no purpose at all. It is worth paying for when an institution specifically demands it, and rarely otherwise.
What is worth doing is an honest assessment, which takes about twenty minutes and costs nothing. In a free trial lesson at our centre in Airport West we talk with your child, read something together, and tell you what we actually see across all four skills, not one letter.
If you would like to see what each stage covers, our course overview sets out the levels, and the groups for children and teenagers and for ages three to five explain how each age is taught. Current group times are on the timetable.
