How To Improve Language Fluency When You're At A High Level

Enriching the vocabulary and getting clause to the natives language the way you explain make seance. Fluency is never enough, so paying attention and practicing helps a lot. I agree. I was in Italy and I experience some challenges in the beginning, now being fluent I feel not enough, it is more room for learning. Thank you so much.

I think am fluent when speaking Spanish, but I tend to use spanglish quit a bit more then Spanish and I have been practicing my Spanish when communicating with others who only speak Spanish and attempting to only speak one language without blending any English during my conversations.

These are amazing writing skills Donovan and thanks for this beautiful piece of information.

Thanks for your article! My problem is that I have been told several times that I sound very robotic when I speak Spanish (but I really don’t sound like this when I am speaking English, my native language). I am having a difficult time getting passed this. Do you have any tips you could recommend?

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Very practical and helpful article, Donovan. Thanks. Btw, did you mean “a real *conscious* effort”?

Thanks Cathal.

Yep! I just fixed that mistake. Thanks for letting me know.

I really liked your article man, I was looking for the same thing but in learning English since I am already fluent but its boring to be able to speak fluently and in a really good accent but not able to improve since nobody is correcting you anymore because this 5% error is not anymore noticeable so its like who cares! but i really do care about improving same as you in arabic

its surprising for me to find this article while someone is struggling with improving arabic since this is my native language and rarely to see ppl reach this point.

thanks for the info man and if you want even some to explain to you anything in arabic even the things ppl cant translate literally, I think i can help you better contact me over fb: msmralo

It happens with me also, i also feel like what do i do now after completing a book. Its great reading your article, thanks for sharing!

The point about finding media that contains “normal” everyday language is so great. I’m at the point now in Spanish where I consider myself fluent, and the best way to constantly improve has definitely been by watching telenovelas that are aimed at an elderly audience in latin america. The language used isn’t highly technical, but is laced with idiomatic phrases and vocab that everybody who is a native Spanish speaker should know by the time they’re 16 essentially.

Interesting ideas and responses. I agree with there being an important distinction between the idea of being an advanced learner and being fluent, considering how “fluent” can mean different things to different people. It may not be correct to say that a native speaker with a limited vocabulary is less fluent, but then again maybe it is correct to say that. After all, at an advanced level, you’re not usually struggling to do day-to-day tasks, you’re struggling instead to express yourself in the way that you would want to express yourself. You might be stuck saying “Lots of problems...” when what you really mean to say is “A never-ending list of problems...” They’re close enough, but they don’t really mean the same thing. It’s this kind of more imaginative, more expressive speech that I’m struggling to attain.

Great content Donovan. I am currently facing this in learning English. I have been at a plateau as well. Having worked seven years in Singapore, I have achieved advanced fluency. But I find it difficult to write well, compared to my native language. Any advice? Thanks.

Great article! I feel like this article is something I want to write for my English learners... but I haven’t got around to it yet.

You described the situation very well where an advanced learner thinks they need to know every-single-specific-little-word-about-every-topic in order to consider themselves fluent.

I’m going to share this article with my member group now!

Interesting article. My tip would be subscribing to podcasts. They involve people interacting, so you pick up a lot of the subtleties of how people react to what others are saying. They’re also on a range of topics, including current affairs, so you can choose your area to work on, and can be downloaded and listened to multiple times.

I live in Detroit and have the biggest Arab population outside the Middle East. I took classes in college but barely remember anything. After reading your articles, I began to take a different approach. I talk to native speakers and don’t worry if I make a mistake. I started attending a Arab Christian Church for Bible study (the pastor speaks and reads everything in Arabic). My goal is to learn my numbers so I follow along in the Bible and to ask if people need tea and cake. Also, to say all my purchases in arabic at the local gas stations and party stores. Do recommend me having flash cards on hand just in case I get stuck? Since we have people from all over the Middle East, should I stick with MSA?

I needed this article, thank you! I’m a long way off being at the advanced stage in my own learning endeavours but I’ve been thinking recently about how to help a couple of my advanced students of Welsh. As you say, it’s easier to see what needs to be learned at an earlier stage. I love the idea of learning different ways of saying the same thing and will certainly keep this in mind when teaching ‘nearly fluent’ students.

This was crazy helpful! I’m not yet at the level where I can use this information, but I’m hoping it’ll come in handy the more and more I learn about French. This is the only type of article I’ve found that really addresses this topic well, so thank you very much! I’m saving it in Evernote for later.

Great site and this article has helped me to figure out how to go about learning my target language with a private teacher. Previously I did use a book but I realize that the book and word lists in it did not actually (at least not greatly) improve my speaking ability. When it comes to situations, after a year of study now I can do basic things even without studying such situations specifically (haircut, repairman, buying meat etc) but the language I would use would be very simple....one or two words or brief sentences. I am going to try out this TBL strategy with my new private teacher and see if I can improve. Thanks.

I have experienced this with Farsi. I am half Persian myself and have been improving my Farsi over the years. Now I’m at a point where I can speak to people without any problem while there is still the occasional term or phrase that I simply don’t understand. I’ve been trying to improve my vocabulary by reading more and improve my knowledge of abstract phrases by watching shows/films.

One problem I’ve encountered is that the vocabulary used in advanced material (such as the news) are words that you practically never say in conversation (unless you’re a college professor). Persians like to keep things simple just as speakers of Levantine Arabic have very simple pronunciations. I have recently started learning Shami, by the way, and I love it. Knowing Farsi definitely helps when learning Arabic. There is so much in common.

You’re right. When you’re at an advanced level, you can get across comfortably in many situations. But sometimes, that’s not what you want. You want more, you want to sound like a native, you want to be like a native, and in this, situational lessons can help.

One thing that I missed in the post is culture. Culturally, Egypt and Australia couldn’t be more different. (Please correct me, if I’m wrong.) How do you manage that?

Let’s assume (no intention of offending anyone) that you find wearing the hijab an oppressive practice. Will you want to speak like a man (it’s usually men) and tell a woman in your house to put it on? Will it be easy for you? I think, it’ll not.

English is my third language. My boss--who is an Indian-Australian--suggests me to read Westerns books. I find them horrible. So, I spend my reading Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Russian books translated into English. I prefer Chinua Achebe to Stephen King.

Do you think this habit of mine will keep me glued to the plateau I’ve reached? How important do you think it’s to be a part of the culture whose language you’re learning to be truly great at it?

Personally, I know little about the U.S.--let alone, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K.--culture and have little desire to learn. It’s not that I’ve any animosity towards anglophones. I think I’m not as extrovert as they say a typical anglophone is.

Great article Donovan. Being shared immediately!

In my opinion self-practice of a foreign language should go hand in hand with regular long-term oral communication of learners with native speakers of that language on every topic of practical communication. I think it ought to be effective to combine input (listening, reading) with output (speaking and writing) when practising one’s target language even on one’s own to develop one’s speaking, reading, listening and vocabulary skills.

It would be quite helpful for language learners to select ready made materials with natural wording with different levels of difficulty on every topic of communication to practise the target language(s). Language materials can be found in phrase books, conversation books, on the Internet, on audio and video aids, etc. for all levels from basic to advanced high levels. Language learning materials can include helpful thematic dialogues, practically useful texts on each topic for potential practical use of learners, thematic sentences with colloquial set phrases and expressions (idioms), extensive thematic reading material, etc..

Multiple reading and listening to samples of such conversational materials followed by retelling or reproduction or imitation of dialogues and narrative texts/stories based on one’s needs can result in substantial improvement of one’s language skills.

The more vocabulary a learner knows how to use correctly the easier it is to convey a thought in a language when speaking, in writing and to understand what a learner is reading and is listening to. In my opinion vocabulary should be learned and practised first through input (listening and reading), and then used through output (speaking and writing) on each real life topic.

I highly value comprehensive monolingual and bilingual thematic English learning dictionaries that arrange vocabulary by subject matter and topics, and provide word meaning explanations with usage examples in several sentences for each word or phrase meaning.

A language learner can combine reading texts (from newspapers, magazines, books, online, etc) with reading thematic dictionaries to accelerate learning of vocabulary in addition to listening and speaking practice. Thematic approach (not random content) matters a great deal in learning and practising a language to master it sooner.

As someone who’s at a high level and who has hit as plateau, this article was very helpful to me. I definitely need to work on my slang/colloquial expressions. I always joke that I speak Russian like a KGB man from 1970s Leningrad. Sad, but true. :)

I’ve found this is my problem as well. The language I’m learning at this level is becoming less and less useful in my everyday life because everything I’m learning now refers to very specific topics and situations. I still get plenty of general practice with friends in Chinese, however it wouldn’t be fair for me to bother them with these specific topics. Anyone up for speaking to me about China’s one child policy for an hour? In order to improve I’m finding I need a one on one teacher who is willing to talk to me about a very specific topic for an hour. Sometimes I might need to speak to several teachers about the same topic in order to cement it in my brain.

Your method sounds similar to mine, although I’m sure you are much more consistent at applying it. I’ve had to create a little grid on excel detailing what topics I’ve studied and what I’ve done with them. I start off just by listening and understanding, then I move on to shadowing, transcribing and memorizing the dialogue. I aim to have a conversations with my italki tutors and then finally either put something up on Lang-8 or Soundcloud. I haven’t been sticking to this regime as rigorously as possible but I find that having a record of what dialogues I’ve studied and what I’ve done with each one is quite helpful.

Great article!

Great article Donovan. I love the taxi example of using the same phrase all the time as a beginner. It’s something everyone can relate with.

Of course you know my favorite way to continue learning a language when you are already at an advanced level: learn the local slang, regional variations and dialects. It’s amazing how much more you can learn about a culture, a country, its people and history, by studying the variances in the language.