5 things I do to overcome the intermediate plateau

💜 Time stamps:
0:00 intro
1:07 focus on the culture
4:55 mix things up
7:21 aim for topical fluency
9:21 participate in a language challenge
12:15 my study plan

💜 MY FAVORITE APPS AND WEBSITES:

✨ LINKS

💜 ABOUT ME:
Hi and welcome! I'm Tanya and the only thing I like more than learning languages is probably talking about learning languages (well, that and hoarding language books).
My native language is Russian and I'm currently in different stages of learning English, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Korean, and Japanese.

[alexandrah]

Love topic by topic fluency! For Japanese, I’ve prioritized cooking, knitting, and interior design (in that order). My grammar is an early N3 level, but I feel very confident picking up a cookbook or listening to a knitting podcast. Getting to engage in actual native content on topics I love makes it feel super worth it, as well as giving me confidence with listening or using the grammar I know so far. 😊 With this motivation, I’m confident I’ll continue to “grind” on grammar and general vocabulary because I’m bolstered by seeing my progress.

[yavoth]

I hope this is not the last we will ever see of you, but that you are coming back to making videos soon!

[ruya]

Hi, Tanya. Why don't you record anymore. I love your content. I miss you ❤

[RachelB.BookReferences]

I really need to step up my Spanish game! I started my first full-length book (middle grade) and that has proven to be a bit above my reading level, which was discouraging at first. I've been taking way too long to get through it, and I don't want to start a new book until I finish, so that's my current goal: Finish the book by the end of the year!

[insimplerussian]

Another amazing video! Radio Ambulante is what keeps my Spanish alive while I'm focusing on other languages. Love it!

[kejeso]

Your videos are so aesthetic, it makes me wanna study.

[ducklingscap]

I‘m completely stuck in the intermediate pleateau in Japanese. Which unfortunately makes me demotivated to do more (because it feels like nothings gonna change) so I do less which means I see even less results… well it’s a spiral. So recently I just tried to focus on consuming content in Japanese in hopes of getting motivated again.
Kanji is a real struggle for me though. I do consistently learn Kanji and I know over a thousand… and yet I can’t read a book without having to look up words constantly because I don’t know kanji because a thousand isn’t all that much unfortunately. Sometimes I wish I was learning a language with a familiar writing system. All this time I‘m investing in learning to read Kanji could be used to learn grammar 😅 but I do love Japanese and want to become better at it. Maybe I‘ll try one of those challenges.

[Meirzhan]

Thank you so much for sharing tips on how to overcome the intermediate plateau. I find them very helpful. I will try to incorporate them in my daily routine. For now, my priority is English. Keep sharing, please! You are a source of inspiration to me. Focusing on culture, I think, is very beneficial. It makes us immerse in the target language even more.

[ARTISTESSER-]

Intermediate is different for every language. I would say if you are having trouble figuring out it what level you are, chances are that you are intermediate. Beginners know that they are beginners. Advanced speakers know that they are advanced.

[Alex-thxz]

Татьяна, вы вернулись! Отличное видео. Не пропадайте надолго.

[antoniromerocosta]

Hola Tanya, ¿Qué tal? Me llamo Toni y soy de Valencia 🇪🇦 Solamente quería agradecerte por haber subido un contenido tan interesante que está ayudando a muchos de mis compañeros de intercambio de idiomas a aprender español por su cuenta. Eres increíble 🤝🏻

[sofiar]

i’ve felt so stuck in the intermediate plateau for french for a while now, and i found this video so helpful! i really like the idea of focusing on different topics and following challenges as a way to feel like you’re making progress. thank you for the advice! also, i always love the editing in your videos :)

[AndreThebobs]

Hello Tanya!
I'm a Brazilian with a passion for culture and learning languages. I've just discovered your channel and I'll be following you from now on, as I love your tips and experiences. I don't speak any language apart from Portuguese. But I hope to reverse this scenario with your tips.
Thank you so much!

[peggychang]

I think I am also on the plateau in my Thai. I feel I have done everything about it and nothing interest me anymore. I think I am not in depression because I am still feel happy when I take French, painting class. So I back to my basic class in Thai which start with alphats. I feel I become happier. First of all, the classmates are new. Secondly, there can be more game activity in basic class, not just article reading, news listening. Even different topic, these topics are heavy. Even in my mother language, I am not interested in these more difficult topics either. I realized that I might be in the platau period too. It happened unplanned, I just tried to get rid of this unhappy feeling. I do not feel waste of time to back to the basic. Contrary I feel plateau is a hard time. And I plan not to go back to advanced class anymore, in stead of staying in basic. And I do not find that my degree declines, opposite, I take back some basic words that I forget because I take too much time on infrequent words. I hope what I think of work or anyone tried the some way who can give some advice.

[outlethorizon]

great video! I like how you talked about how sometimes lack of progress is just perceived and about switching things up

[carolinebenforado]

Tanya, this is excellent. I love the idea of a language challenge, much better than just plugging along in the same book. You are such an inspiration!

[Fulanito]

Los libros de García Marquez a veces son difíciles de entender. Sobre todo El otoño del patriarca que no tiene muchos signos de puntuación y varía de primera a tercera persona constantemente. Además de que utiliza palabras que en la vida cotidiana jamás usamos.

[zenbrandon]

Hey, I just wanted to say that last year you were my favorite language channel to watch. Every upload was a huge motivation, and I made so much progress in my Japanese from just being inspired by your videos. Whether you come back to YouTube or not, I just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work!

[carolfsanisme]

I found your channel as I'm studying Italian, but then you made me realize that I'm always studying English.
When I started to learn how to bake, I was using mostly English resources and for a while I couldn't tell or explain what I was doing in portuguese (my mother language)
Now I struggle explaining about ADHD in portuguese as I rarely find new info about it in brasil, most are in american papers.
I got too much time stuck in beginner to intermediate plateau in Italian, now I'm a bit more confident in exploring media.
And I took too long to accept that I'm fluent in English, I'm just "rusted" on my speaking lol

[SzczeryPoliglota]

Podobała mi się twoja przemowa. Troszkę odświeżyła mi umysł i zainspirowała mnie do poznawania kultury (o czym mówiłaś w punkcie 1.) ;)