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You probably clicked on this video because you feel like your English has stopped improving. It's like you can have conversations, order food, write emails, but the way you speak, the vocabulary you use, your grammar, it all feels the same it did months ago, maybe even years ago. You feel stuck in this in between stage. You're not a beginner anymore, and you're not fluent either. That's what we call the intermediate plateau. And if you're watching this video, you're probably in it. This phase feels like it's never going to end, but I promise you it will. In
this video, I'm going to explain why this plateau happens. Not just from personal experience, but also using brain science and language research. And then I'll give you the exact steps to finally move from B1 to C2. Hey friends, welcome back to the channel. And if you're new here, hi, I'm Veronica. Here I help you become fluent in your target language if this is your goal through real relatable researchbackpacked advice. And today's video is honestly really special because to me it feels less like a YouTube video and more like a mini master class. So it would mean
so much to me if you gave this video a like, left a comment, and shared it with someone who is also stuck at B1 or B2. And if you want to download the full presentation I created for this video, it's completely free. Just use the link in the description, enter your email, and I'll send it straight to your inbox, and I'll also add you to my free weekly newsletter. This video honestly took a lot of time and a lot of research to create, and it was only possible because of today's sponsor, AUFlow. AFlow is basically my dream productivity tool. It combines time
blocking, AI planning, and all your tasks from different apps in one clean, easy to use space. Lately, I've been using it to plan out my week. I just drag my tasks directly into my calendar, color code my events, and it helps me actually stick to my plan without feeling overwhelmed. You can connect Gmail, notion, Slack, and even to-d doist, and all of your tasks automatically show up in one place in what they call a universal inbox. One feature that I really love is their new AI co-pilot. It learns your habits and starts autosculing your tasks based on how you work.
And if you're someone who loves tracking your progress, AUFlow also gives you productivity stats so you can see how much time you're spending on different types of work, your language learning, and where you might be getting stuck. Staying consistent and making progress in English does come down to how you organize your time. Tools like Acflow make it so much easier. If you want to try it for yourself, you can use my link in the description to sign up. And you'll also get access to a free one-on-one onboarding call, which is a really helpful way to set everything up and
learn how the platform works. All right, so let's begin and talk about what causes this intermediate plateau and why it happens at this B1 B2 level exactly. First of all, I really want you to remember that the plateau is a natural byproduct of how language learning works. So, if you're stuck in this intermediate plateau right now, please don't feel like something is wrong with you. Absolutely not. Being in this stage of your language learning journey is absolutely natural. Because at B1 or B2, there are several factors that come together that make you feel like you're
not making any progress. And let's talk about these factors right now. The first one is what I like to call the vocabulary wall. You know, when you're a beginner, every new word you learn feels like magic. Like you've discovered a new key, and now you feel so much more confident. For example, learning just 100 most common words in English can help you understand about half of all of the conversations. It feels really fun and exciting and motivating, and you see progress right away. But once you reach this intermediate level, B1 or B2, things change. You've already learned
all of the high frequency words like go, eat, tomorrow, very, because, and from this point, words that you still don't know, for example, moreover, resilient, insightful, all of these words are less common, and so you see them less often. And that means that it takes more time to remember them, to memorize them. And because you don't really see these words super often, your brain forgets them super quickly. And that is exactly what I mean by diminishing returns. Every new word you learn gives you less and less payoff. There's a very interesting concept that explains
all of this. It's called Zips law. I really hope I'm pronouncing this word correctly because it's German and I do not speak German. If you guys know how to pronounce it correctly, please let me know in the comments if you speak German. Here's how it works in language learning. A tiny number of words are used all the time and most words are used very rarely. It's like the 100 most common English words like I, you, the is, have make up about 50% of everything you read or hear. The next 1,000 words cover another 15 to 20%. But to understand almost everything, like let's say 99% of a novel,
article, or podcast, you need to know 10,000 plus words. And those last few thousand words, they're very rare. So you barely see them, which means that you have to read and listen a lot more to be able to memorize them. And obviously the forgetting curve doesn't help us here at all because it says that we forget things fast if we don't see them over and over again. And so to actually memorize all of those rare words that are used at C1 or C2, you need a lot more exposure like more reading time, deeper listening, space repetition to just keep those words in your head.
Okay. So the next cause of your intermediate plateau might be good enough communication. Once you reach this intermediate B1 B2 level in English, you can communicate just fine. Like you feel completely okay when it comes to everyday conversations. You can say what you want. People understand you and you don't need perfect grammar or perfect pronunciation to get your point across. And so because of that, what happens is you stop pushing yourself to improve. Not because you're lazy, but because what you already know is good enough. It helps you in your everyday life,
and that is enough. But here's the catch. If you keep using the same simple grammar, the same pronunciation, the same expressions, your brain starts to lock them in. Here's how we say it. Now, this is the only right way. And this is what linguists call fossilization. It means that certain mistakes or shortcuts in English become so wired in your brain that they become automatic like second nature using the same basic sentence structures. For example, I want to go instead of more complex ones like I've been meaning to go for weeks. It's like you're pouring concrete over the
path you're on. Yes, you're walking this path more confidently now because of the concrete, but it's not really leading you where you want to go. Obviously, if your goal is to become advanced in English and reach this C1C2 level, the next cause of this intermediate plateau is the comfort zone. I can really relate to this because a lot of us language learners, we often fall into this comfort zone of familiar activities when it comes to learning a language. when it comes to your study time, like you do all the same things. You chat about everyday topics.
You keep re-watching your favorite TV shows and movies, and you do the same repetitive app drills. It's kind of like you found this really comfortable chair for yourself, and you stay there because it's familiar, it's comfy, and you don't really want to do anything else. And because of that, yes, obviously, you become very good at what you already know. You won't magically evolve to the next level if you don't introduce a new level of difficulty. The next cause is really funny. I like to call it the honeymoon is over. Just like in a relationship, at the beginning of language
learning, everything feels exciting and small achievements give you a huge dopamine reward. But unfortunately, by the intermediate stage, the initial thrill peters out and learning can start feeling like a slog. And that is exactly why a lot of us face this crisis of confidence, we know a lot about the language. But when it comes to those more difficult conversations, we really struggle using the language at higher levels. And that leads to frustration and self-doubt. And also, if you're an adult learning a foreign language, you have to juggle so many responsibilities like
your work, family, and all of that really limits how much time and mental energy you have left for language learning. And the final thing that might be causing your intermediate plateau is the gap between your active and passive skills. At B1 or B2, a lot of you often say, "I understand a lot, but I struggle to speak. I struggle to express my thoughts clearly. Of course, I can use simple sentences to express what it is I want to express, but I don't want to. Like, I know that I know more, but for some reason, it feels so hard to actually say all of this because
when I start speaking, I don't remember anything all of a sudden. The reason why this happens is because at this intermediate level, we haven't yet done enough intentional practice when it comes to your writing and speaking to activate the full range of vocabulary and grammar that you have absorbed. Thus, you plateau because you only use the things that you feel comfortable using. You quietly understand more complex language, but you never try to actually produce it. And this can create the illusion of stagnation. I feel like I know more but I still sound the same. Now let's
talk about how you can actually overcome this intermediate plateau. And here I really want you guys to remember these two things. First, everyone hits the plateau. It is absolutely normal and natural. And second, it can be overcome with the right mindset and the right strategies. And so now let's talk about the strategies. And the first thing that I really want to share with you is find your why. Those of us who persevere, we all have a very strong personal purpose for learning. Because if you have a very strong why, it becomes easier to overcome all of those crises of faith
that you're inevitably going to encounter on your journey. Try to recapture that fun you had at the very beginning of your language learning journey. Ask yourself why did I start to learn this language in the first place. Try to revisit and reinforce your reasons for learning. Try to look for your why and make your why extremely personal and extremely powerful. The next strategy that is going to help you overcome the intermediate plateau is deliberate practice. At this level, if you continue doing the same things over and over again, you won't really see a lot of improvement.
You need to start focusing on your specific weaknesses, on your personal pain points when it comes to your target language. For example, maybe it's this very specific grammar rule that you kind of understand but always avoid using yourself. Or maybe you have some fossilized errors, like the things that you say incorrectly pretty often. Deliberate practice doesn't mean that you only do things that you're good at. It means being uncomfortable pretty often because you're growing. You're learning. You're putting yourself back into this student mindset. You're not just
doing things you're already good at. Okay. So, the next strategy here is increasing your immersion and native input. You're going to flood your brain with much more input and at a higher level. Let's use reading as an example. Obviously, I'm always talking about comprehensible input here. I don't want you to overwhelm yourself with something that is way beyond your current level. Personally, reading is something that took me to a very high level in English. I think one of the reasons I have the vocabulary range I do right now when it comes to my active vocabulary, when it comes to my
passive vocabulary is exactly because of reading. Let's be honest, in books the words they use are so different. the level is so much higher and that is extremely important if you want to reach the C2 level in English. I'm going to show you guys. I just finished reading this book, The Anxious Generation. The iPad nearly fell out of my hand, but that is okay. So, I just finished reading this book, The Anxious Generation, and there are so many words that I actually highlighted that were new to me. for example, inoculation, glumness, cubersome. Like I have definitely heard the word
cubersome before, but obviously I don't really see myself using it and that is okay. Galvanized, salient. Enscononed. I need to check how to pronounce this word. Ensconceed. Ensconce. Okay. Yep. Ensconed. This is exactly what I was just talking about. C2 vocabulary. But as you can see because it is comprehensible input probably all of these words that I highlighted I don't know 10ish words. So it becomes very easier for me to actually memorize them. My brain is not flooded with like a thousand new words after reading just one book. When it comes to listening
here aim to listen to English daily. Obviously at first you might need to rely heavily on subtitles and transcripts and that is absolutely okay. But if you can go through the same video, for example, and first watch it with subtitles and then watch it without subtitles to test your comprehension, that is going to be amazing. If you still realize that fast speech is pretty hard for you to understand, try narrow listening and narrow listening and narrow reading are amazing strategies. Basically, what it means is, let's say you pick a series on Netflix or maybe one
YouTube creator that you really like. You like their accent. You like the way they make their YouTube videos and you just watch a lot of their videos. you focus on that narrow listening so that you can understand this creator really well or this Netflix series really well because this way you get used to one accent, you get used to one topic style. Probably this one creator is going to use the same vocabulary over and over again and so it becomes easier for you to memorize new words that they're using and then gradually you can diversify. This is personally what I did when
I was at the intermediate level. I practiced narrow reading. Reading one series of books and also narrow listening, watching one YouTube creator and watching all of their videos. The next little principle here is shadowing. And it basically means that you listen to native audio and then you simultaneously repeat it word for word. You essentially shadow the speaker like an echo. I made a whole video about shadowing about a week ago. So I will leave the link in the description for you to check it out later. Also try to think in English and practice self-t talk.
Try to immerse your mind in English even when you're alone. Narrate your actions or thoughts internally. I like to use this rule. Everything you have in your room, in your apartment, in your house, you have to know how to say them in English. So when we talk about immersion, the main principle here is English has to become a part of your daily life. It has to become a part of you, something that is just so integral to your everyday life. The more hours your brain spends engaged with authentic English, the more progress you will see, even if it's
gradual. Remember the vocabulary math I shared with you at the beginning of this video? To pick up all of these rare advanced words, you need to encounter them many times and immersion ensures that you are getting those repetitions. It also helps you develop this intuitive feel for the language that textbooks alone can't provide. It's, you know, when you ask a native speaker why this phrase has to be constructed this way, like a specific grammar rule, they say, "I don't know. It just sounds right." The reason why it sounds right to them is because they have this intuitive
feel for the language. And as a non-native speaker, you can develop it, too. Strategy number four that you can use is try to speak and write beyond your comfort level. That can mean you find conversation partners or tutors. The most important thing is try to ask for corrections. If you're trying to improve, if you're trying to work on your fossilized mistakes, for example, practice topic challenges, which means that you choose a very interesting topic for you, but a topic that you know you can go very deep on and that basically helps you expand your overall
proficiency. Right now, the approach that I like to follow is switching the topics very quickly. For example, I just share with you guys, I read this book about social media and anxiety. After this book, I started reading a book on free diving and the ocean, like a completely different topic, and I'm switching them very often because I want to practice those topic challenges. Also, public speaking is a great example here. If you don't have those public speaking opportunities at work, you can just do it with your phone. Just record like a 3inut video of yourself giving a talk on
something that you really like. You can talk to Chad GPT. Ask ChBT to challenge you. And finally here, try to write more. When you're journaling your thoughts, try to include all of the new words that you have memorized. I know sometimes it is going to be difficult. Like today, I mentioned that I learned the word incons like I don't think I'm ever going to use it when I talk about my daily life. But you can just say, "Oh, you know, when you're journaling, today I learned this new word and here is what it means." And you know, maybe when I'm writing about something or
having a very professional conversation, I can use it there at university, for example, or in my research paper. What we're trying to do here is we're trying to transfer all of your passive vocabulary to your active vocabulary, at least a little bit. Strategy number five is try to change your learning methods. The idea is to continuously surprise your brain with new stimuli so that your brain can't go on autopilot. And novelty can really restore the sense of progress and achievement and excitement because you're trying new things. So your brain is like, "Oh, we're
doing something new. We're trying a new learning method or maybe watching a new YouTube creator." Strategy number six is using neuralarning hacks. Is basically using space repetition to memorize new vocabulary. The app that I like to use is Ani. I've talked about this app for so many years because I personally use it pretty much every single week. The reason why this is a neuralarning hack is because space repetition helps us fight the forgetting curve. Because if you only see a word once and then you never ever see it again. This is what happens with your memory. Slowly
but surely you will forget this word. But space repetition does something like this. You learn the word, you start forgetting and then you see it again and then you start forgetting and you see it again. So basically you start acquiring this word naturally because of space repetition. Also when it comes to pronunciation a really nice neuralarning hack is doing minimal pair training. When you see words like sit and seat and you try to pronounce them correctly like you know the difference in pronunciation. Also please be mindful of cognitive load. When you push yourself
to try new things to expose yourself to more advanced content your brain will tire more quickly and that is absolutely okay. So give yourself enough rest, take breaks, and please sleep well. Strategy number seven is getting a mentor. At the very beginning of your language learning, self-eing with free resources works amazing. But at this intermediate plateau, what might really help you is expert guidance. Maybe it's formal classes or maybe it's purchasing a course that you can take or finding a knowledgeable mentor or coach like a person who has been through what
you're experiencing right now who has reached this native like fluency because they can give you tips. They can correct your path and they can inspire you. I think that is absolutely okay to seek help and seek guidance to stand on the shoulders of experts rather than constantly reinventing the wheel. That is what I do for example in my handstand practice right here. You guys can see my handstand kings. Yes. Um I want to join a circus. No, I'm kidding. Obviously, practicing handstands is something that gives me a lot of joy. And yes, there are a lot of free
resources, free YouTube videos, but sometimes what I need is another person to encourage me, to mentor me, and to tell me that, you know, the plateau I'm experiencing right now is absolutely normal. Okay. And finally, our last strategy here is going to be maintaining a positive mindset. And honestly, I know it is hard. I know that when you're stuck in this intermediate plateau, trying to embrace it sometimes feels impossible. In reality, hitting this intermediate plateau is completely natural. It is a part of your learning experience. And being stuck in this stage doesn't
mean that you're a failure. It doesn't mean that you're failing. It is okay to be intermediate. It is enough. It doesn't mean that you should stop improving if your goal is becoming advanced, but it does mean that you should stop beating yourself up for not being C2 yet. So, I think it's going to be it for today's video. If you liked it, please don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Don't forget that you can get access to the presentation I shared in today's video by using my link in the description. In today's video,
I talked a little bit about shadowing as an amazing technique to improve your language skills. If you want to learn how to shadow efficiently and how to practice English speaking this way, I highly recommend checking out this video right here. Just click right here and I'll see you
