I agree that more known words are better, and writing and speaking need to be practiced if you wanna pass an actual B2 test. BUT, the only actual way of knowing whether you comply with the given definition of B2 IS by passing a B2 exam. The only reason why there is a descriptive definition of B2 is to serve as a guideline for the test. You’re not a B2 unless you actually pass a test.
The problem is no one here actually talks about taking the B2 exam, people just talk about “being at a B2 level” and then leave it up to the various interpretations of the community to determine what that means and in my opinion this is pointless.
If you wanna take a B2 test you need to study for it specifically, but if you don’t take a B2 test, you’ll never actually be a B2, even if you get to 50K words, you’ll just be a person who knows “X” language very well.
99% is pretty impressive!!! Congrats
I’d just take it easy. People can say whatever they want, that mysterious “fluency” thing will never be narrowed down to a rigid definition anyway, so why that fuss? Seems to me like there’s no need in taking those tests unless you really need it for some reason.
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I would not say it’s pointless. There is an official definiton of B2 and I guess everybody here knows it. If you need a formal proof you can pass one of those tests but the official B2-definition is perfectly fine as a reference point. That doesn’t really change if you call it intermediate proficiency. It’s just another name for the same thing.
Oh no, I did not mean it. All I am saying is why bother yourself with it when you don’t have to?
I didn’t mean your post, sorry if I may have clicked the wrong answer button. I think you’re completely right.
For some more actual data points, here is video on youtube, demonstrating B2 level speaking ability. This comes straight from the Cervantes Institute: Examen DELE nivel B2 - Friedrich - YouTube
Notice that the speaking ability here is a bit labored, but consistent – not what I would call fluent. The active vocabulary is not very elaborate or rich – this is in no way meant as a dismissive statement on the student himself, he is at a good intermediate level, and he’s able converse about everyday subjects.
In my experience, this is basically the speaking ability you’d have if you studied both Assimil 1 & 2 and got plenty of speaking practice along the way. Based on my research, Assimil 1 & 2 have a total of about 7,000 unique words, and I think you’d need more than that to pass the reading part of the B2 exam, which again, lands me back to my original estimate that the 13,200 known words to clear Intermediate 2 here on LingQ is a good threshold to consider for a B2 level, as far as passive vocabulary is concerned.