Advanced Fluency: 9 Secrets for Reaching High Levels in a New Language

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⏱ TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
0:25 - What’s Wrong with Intermediate?
2:26 - Tip #1
4:25 - TIp #2
6:00 - Tip #3
9:44 - Tip #4
12:46 - Tip #5
14:34 - Tip #6
16:40 - Tip #7
17:28 - Tip #8
21:27 - Tip #9
22:49 - What Advanced Looks Like

📜 SOURCES & ATTRIBUTIONS:

🎬 Video Clips:
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One | Official Trailer (2023 Movie) - Tom Cruise

Every Time Michael Scott Gets A Well-Known Phrase Wrong - The Office US

On devient DIGITAL NOMADS ?! - Intermediate French Conversation with subtitles

Kramer Statue of Limitations

🌍⛈️ Spanish Vocab: Natural Disasters

[Felixxxxxxxxx]

I had been learning Russian for 2 years but stopped active learning in 2019. I resumed my studies at the beginning of this year, and I believe that I have learned more this year alone than in the previous 2 years combined. The reason for this is that I make an effort to listen to podcasts while doing tasks that require minimal attention, such as washing dishes or cooking food. This realization has made it easier for me to dedicate more hours per day to learning. I simply incorporate a headset with podcasts into my existing routines.

[endlessteatime]

Two weeks ago, I started working a job in my target language (Japanese), and I'm intermediate, and currently I'm questioning all of my life choices because it's so hard but watching this video makes me think that maybe I can grow into the role... The job makes me feel like I don't know any Japanese at all and I'm constantly second-guessing myself... and I'm also in tourism and I have to deal with crowds of people while at the same time listening to commands of Japanese colleagues who use vocabulary that is entirely new for me. And the grammar and speaking style is so formal, I feel like a little child in comparison to the way the Japanese staff speaks. I convey most concepts but it's so obvious that my choice of words and grammar is miles away from an advanced level.

Today I comfortably chatted with colleagues on my way home from work and that reassured me of my skills a little again. I do speak some Japanese after all, just not the very specific terminology we need at work, I guess... I really hope I'll grow into this job.

[abernardes]

For me trying to speak with native speakers or someone that speaks the language I’m interested well was what helped me to improve in languages. At beginning sounds awful, I even felt drained after, but over time it became comfortable and easier 😅

[pedroadriano]

I'm an English language learner, so I tore my Achilles tendon and I underwent surgery, then I have so much time. I am spending my time trying to improve my English, so I started writing down a diary about my recovery and my feelings during this time, everything in English. My mother language is Portuguese.

[paulwalther]

Using a swear word in place of a normal word by mistake is great stuff. When I was in Japan I didn't really distinguish between hamaru and hameru. The kanji is 嵌 for both. I figured one used a direct object and the other didn't (if you follow the pattern of other verbs). They both have a few meanings but the one I intended to use was "engrossed in / addicted to" and that is definitely only hamaru. So when I said hameta the reaction was pretty well.. I got a reaction. Basically I was saying I was having sex instead of what I meant to say.

[paulwalther]

I think the big reason why people who have studied to a B2 level don't / can't forget the language is that they've invested years into this language. If you've studied / done something for years (unless you're a really young child), it's very likely become stored in your long term memory for life. I mention this because, I've been studying Korean for several years now and it's still not a B2. Korean is hard - please don't judge me. But I really have been studying and it really has been several years and therefore I don't think I need to worry so much about forgetting it if life were to get in the way now or maybe even I just got distracted. This is quite different now from when I made my first attempt at Korean shortly after I started Japanese. I took 1 semester of Korean, got an A in the class, but then decided to focus on Japanese only and ignored Korean for several years. When I went to visit Seoul I couldn't read hangul to save my life or say anything besides hello to people. I had forgotten everything. But even though I'm not a B2 now, I don't think I could ever possibly forget how to read hangul after reading it every day for several years.

[Pandorash]

I learned German in high school for 6 years. Then I lived in Germany for 4 months and hosted an exchange student for 4 months. I became fluent by the end of that experience, which school alone wouldn’t have done.

Fast forward 10 years and I had forgotten a lot of it. But when I revisited Germany, I was surprised how much came back to me. So I believe it’s all still there, as you say, I just have to bring it to the surface. Anyway, I would now consider myself at an intermediate level (20 years post high school), and I will use these tips to regain fluency. Thank you for the suggestions. The internet makes this so much easier now ❣️

[anna]

So nice to see Stefano! He answered some questions in the beginner Spanish story learning! Good to see a face to the name!

[stuchly]

For me it was humor and puns and stuff. The corniest eye-roll-inducing things, but the joy of being able to joke around in another language is hard to replicate.
Great way to expand your vocabulary too. Finding words that sound similar but mean different things, i feel like it presents a fun way of engaging with a language and an interesting challenge that doesn't feel like a chore.

A: "How do I hire a church singing group?"
B: "You mean a choir?"
A: "Ok, how do I acquire a church singing group?"

Stuff like that. 😅

[jiraiya.]

Mimicking a native speaker that I admire and a big fan of? Glad I discovered your channel, Uncle, I've been learning RP accent by mimicking your style. My deepest gratitude to you, Uncle. 🤝🏼

[darioshub]

I'm Croatian and creating a content in Brazilian Portuguese which I suppose reached an advanced level thanks to using it on a daily basis with my wife, but at the same time I'm working on my Arabic where I believe I'm upper intermediate due to a lack of using it. However, I often watch content in target language, for example podcasts, documentaries, TV channels even when I don't understand absolutely everything, I always learn something else and at the same time, I feel immersed into the language when using that method because at the same time you don't just learn a language but learn about culture, history, politics etc. and in my case this is a very fun and interesting method when learning any foreign language.

[lazstan]

Get out of my head olly. 3 years of Spanish and a trip to mallorca had me feel I can add French. Now I listen every day to Spanish french and Hungarian (born bilingual)... Best feeling to actually learn a language on your own at age 50...

[jacquelinelowe]

Oily I agree with the last thing you said. Your brain knows more than you are letting to know. This us true for me. When I begin to speak all the information I know seems to disappear. So frustrating.

[xopowo]

I speak Chinese for 25 years already! During Covid, I didn’t speak it for more than three years! And the first time I met a Chinese, I remembered everything … so strange

[londongael]

Some great advice for upping your level! One thing, though - it's true that native speakers often make mistakes in their own language, but they're not the *same* kind of mistakes as learners make. I would say that you know you've reached true mastery of another language when you make the native-like mistakes in it!

[kiragillett]

¡Qué buen vídeo! He experimentado esto por meses con mi aprendizaje del hindi/urdu. Encuentro que no hay muchos recursos del nivel intermedio pa aprender hindi, todos los recursos son para muy muy principiante, o el opuesto, los para nativos. Entonce falto bastante vocablos para entender y leer al nivel más avazando. Me pasó volando el aprendizaje del español y me siento cómoda con hablar y sólo uso los recursos nativos. Hace dos meses me di cuenta de que mis podcasts mexicanos (sobre el amor la amistad y más) no me costaban escuchar para nada, y hay que exponerse al contenido diverso pa mejorar. Desde entonces, he estado escuchando a podcasts de noticias, de dialectos muy variados, y empecé a hacer voluntario como intérprete para un jardín comunitario. También compré un diccionario monolingüe para que me aumente la comprensión de libros. Me enamoré del idioma otra vez. Lo único con lo que debo enfrentar es alcanzar un nivel más alto intermedio en hindi por leer y aprender más vocabulario, pero pienso que el proceso está en mi contra porque no había descubierto la estructura debida que me facilitara el mejoramiento del hindi.

[luchodelgado]

That was such a powerful, inspiring video. I arrived in the U.S. 16 months ago at 40 years old with very basic English, so I decided to become fluent and put in the effort every day. I committed to practicing at least three hours daily, constantly updating my routine. My practice focuses on shadowing, reading, speaking, writing, and pronunciation. I'm now definitely fluent, and my goal is to reach an advanced level. Consistent practice is crucial

[nah]

Olly, you're just always killing it. Thanks for all your hard work in teaching all of us how to be better language learners.

[Adrianrams]

I just recently felt the "shackles of fear" of making mistakes just fall off with my language learning. It's so liberating 🥰 and my language efficiency just sky rocketed!

[julitamatuszak]

Thanks for this video. That's exactly what I needed. I've been learning German for two years now and I can't get over this bloody plato, even though I'm in Switzerland. It's about time to get out of my comfort zone and work at my pronunciation