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About LangLibra: from the first letter to C2.

LangLibra teaches Russian, Spanish, German and French from English, all the way to C2, the level of an educated native speaker, in speaking, listening, reading and writing. Alongside the languages we publish the Writing Library: reference guides to the emails, letters and documents of working life. Free, with no accounts.

Я ñ ß ç RussianSpanishGermanFrench A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2 Breakthrough Waystage Threshold Vantage Effective proficiency Mastery
The route every LangLibra language follows. The six stations are the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), the scale used by language exams across Europe, with their official names underneath. All four lines run to the last station.

About LangLibra: what “all the way” means

A CEFR level describes what you can do with a language, not how many words you know. Each level is set separately for the four skills, so a course that stops at speaking simple phrases leaves three-quarters of the language untaught.

LangLibra teaches all four skills at every level. The table shows what you can do at each station. Pick a skill to read along one row of the route.

  1. A1Breakthrough Introduce yourself and ask simple questions about where people live and what they have.
  2. A2Waystage Order food, buy tickets and describe your day in simple sentences.
  3. B1Threshold Handle most situations when travelling, tell a story and give reasons for an opinion.
  4. B2Vantage Talk fluently with native speakers and argue a point of view on a wide range of topics.
  5. C1Effective proficiency Express yourself fluently and precisely at work, in study and in social life.
  6. C2Mastery Speak with ease on any subject, using idiom and shades of meaning like an educated native speaker.

Two halves of one site

Languages

All four

Written for someone who knows none of the language yet. Each example is shown in four layers: the word itself, how to say it, what each word means, and a short note on why.

Russian
Здра́вствуйтеZDRAST-vooy-tyebe-healthy
“Hello.” The polite greeting literally wishes good health. The first в is written but not said.
Spanish
BuenosBWEH-nohsgooddíasDEE-ahsdays
“Good morning.” Spanish greets in the plural: “good days”. The accent on í marks the stressed syllable.
German
GutenGOO-tengoodTagtahkday
“Hello.” Tag is a noun, so it takes a capital letter. A g at the end of a word sounds like k.
French
Bonjourbohn-ZHOORgood-day
“Hello.” One word made from bon (good) and jour (day). The n is not said; it makes the o nasal, spoken partly through the nose.

Writing Library

Browse the archive

Reference guides for writing at work, in English. Each one gives the structure, a complete template you can copy, and a worked example showing why it works.

Plus free tools: a word counter and a case converter.

A short dictionary of how we teach

The words below come up on every LangLibra page. Together they describe the method: what each part of a lesson is, and why it is there.

C2see-TOOnoun
The top level of the CEFR scale: using a language with the ease and precision of an educated native speaker. Where every LangLibra course ends.
glossglosnoun
The English meaning written under each word of an example, so you can see how a sentence is built before you read its natural translation.
respellingree-SPEL-ingnoun
Pronunciation written with English letters, the stressed syllable in capitals: ZDRAST-vooy-tye. Placed under every word, with audio where available.
stress markSTRES mahrknoun
The accent over a vowel, as in чита́ю, showing which syllable is said loudest. Russian textbooks print it; ordinary Russian text does not.
why noteWY nohtnoun
One plain-English sentence after an example explaining the grammar it shows. It turns a phrase to memorise into a rule you can reuse.
casekaysnoun
A change to the end of a word that shows its job in the sentence, such as the doer or the thing acted on. English mostly uses word order for this.
templateTEM-playtnoun
In the Writing Library, a complete piece of writing you can copy and adapt, with each part labelled to show what it does.
primary authorityPRY-mer-ee aw-THOR-i-teenoun
A reference work that settles a question, such as a style manual, reference grammar or exam specification. Every claim is checked against one.

Colophon

A colophon is the note at the back of a book that says who made it and how. This is ours: who runs LangLibra, how it is paid for, and what it is made of.

Publisher
Kalenux, which builds and operates LangLibra.
Editors
Language teachers, linguists and professional writers. Every page is written by one and approved by a second; language examples are also checked by a native speaker.
Standards
Set out in full in our editorial standards: sources, review stages, corrections.
Funding
Display advertising (Google AdSense) and disclosed affiliate links in some tool reviews. Neither decides what we write or recommend.
Price
Free. No accounts, no login, no paywall.
Taught from
English, to Russian, Spanish, German and French.
Cloud#f4f7f8
Space#0d1b2a
Ocean#1e5f8c
Forest#2f7a55
Atmosphere#8fd0e8
The palette is Earth seen from space: cloud white for the page, space navy for text, then ocean, forest and the thin blue line of the atmosphere. Language pages swap in their country’s flag colours.
Golos Text · Привет IBM Plex Sans · Здра́вствуйте, ¿qué tal?
Two typefaces, both with full Cyrillic and stress marks, so a Russian word and its English gloss sit in the same type: Golos Text for headings, IBM Plex Sans for reading.

Write to us

We read every message and reply within one to two business days. Choose the address that fits, or use the contact form.

General contact@langlibra.com Questions, ideas for new guides, and privacy requests. Editorial editorial@langlibra.com Corrections, sourcing questions and advertising enquiries. Partnerships partnerships@langlibra.com Schools, publishers and organisations working with us.