Your certificate says B2. But is that how your English works in real meetings? Here is how a Cambridge examiner tells B2 from C1, with a five-question self-check.

Live AI translation is now good enough for routine meetings, so use it where information is the point. When you are the point, in interviews, board presentations and negotiations, you still need your own English.

Sometimes English is the reason you are not moving forward. Sometimes it is not. Here is how to tell the difference, and what to do about it.

Spanish keeps politeness in the verb. English keeps it in sentence structure. Translate straight across and a normal message becomes a command. Turn instructions into questions, send the greeting with the message, and watch your full stops.

You cannot predict the questions. You can prepare the shape of your answers. Reflect the question back, narrate the pause, and build five or six answer blocks instead of thirty predicted answers.

At senior level, the interview is not testing your English. It is testing your judgement. Prepare six examples instead of thirty answers, say your numbers out loud, and keep your opening to ninety seconds.

Start with the questions, not the slides. Six weeks is enough if you use them in this order: your message, the questions, speaking out loud, interruptions, and cutting last.

Cambridge English estimates about 200 guided learning hours to move from B2 to C1. For a working professional, that usually means six months to a year.

Most senior professionals who freeze in English meetings don’t have an English problem. They have a timing problem. Here is how to start speaking sooner.

Executive English is shorter, not more formal. You do not need a bigger vocabulary to sound more senior. You need a smaller one, used with more precision.