Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Moving from B2 to C2

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
177 messages over 23 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 1 ... 22 23 Next >>
Kc2012
Diglot
Groupie
South Africa
Joined 4232 days ago

44 posts - 65 votes 
Speaks: English*, Afrikaans
Studies: Dutch, Mandarin, Russian

 
 Message 1 of 177
14 February 2015 at 4:56pm | IP Logged 
I'm sure this topic has been covered before but I'm going to start a new thread anyway.
I'm hoping I can get some advice on moving from the intermediate upper level to the
advanced upper level in a language. My Afrikaans has been sitting at around a B2 level
and seeing as that's always been sufficient for me I've never really had the motivation
to bring it up, until now. My Russian is also hovering around the intermediate level and
sometime in the next couple years I will definitely be looking to bring that up to a C1
level. So how do you go about getting a language from the intermediate level to an
advanced level (C1/C2). What are your stories? Is reading many novels the key? ;P
1 person has voted this message useful



guiguixx1
Octoglot
Senior Member
Belgium
guillaumelp.wordpres
Joined 3851 days ago

163 posts - 207 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, Dutch, Portuguese, Esperanto, German, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Polish, Mandarin

 
 Message 2 of 177
14 February 2015 at 5:17pm | IP Logged 
I personally think that you would need to try and immerse yourself even more in the
language. Try to still read more books, and of a more advanced level, or books written in
different style (formal, non-formal, street language, ...) and so diversify the kind of
vocab and grammar that you would come across. keep on watching TV and use any opportunity
to use the language, find skype penpals, ....It will take time (it took me years for both
English and Dutch), but if you are motivated, you WILL eventually get to it.
8 persons have voted this message useful



Ari
Heptaglot
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 6341 days ago

2314 posts - 5695 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese
Studies: Czech, Latin, German

 
 Message 3 of 177
15 February 2015 at 10:43am | IP Logged 
No stories for me, since I haven't felt the need to get any of my languages up to that level. But I've always thought that if I do find myself wanting to do this, I'd register myself on a forum for writing enthusiasts. They tend to be full of people who have lots of interest in good writing and you'll probably get lots of corrections for free.
2 persons have voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4466 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 4 of 177
15 February 2015 at 10:48am | IP Logged 
Kc2012 wrote:
I'm sure this topic has been covered before but I'm going to start a
new thread anyway.
I'm hoping I can get some advice on moving from the intermediate upper level to the
advanced upper level in a language. My Afrikaans has been sitting at around a B2 level
and seeing as that's always been sufficient for me I've never really had the
motivation
to bring it up, until now. My Russian is also hovering around the intermediate level
and
sometime in the next couple years I will definitely be looking to bring that up to a
C1
level. So how do you go about getting a language from the intermediate level to an
advanced level (C1/C2). What are your stories? Is reading many novels the key? ;P


Lots of exposure and lots of using the language in a context where you would usually
use your native tongue or English.
1 person has voted this message useful



smallwhite
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 5067 days ago

537 posts - 1045 votes 
Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin, French, Spanish

 
 Message 5 of 177
15 February 2015 at 11:46am | IP Logged 
I'd get hold of past or sample C1/C2 exam papers, work out the gap, and work on the gap.
1 person has voted this message useful



patrickwilken
Senior Member
Germany
radiant-flux.net
Joined 4292 days ago

1546 posts - 3200 votes 
Studies: German

 
 Message 6 of 177
15 February 2015 at 1:45pm | IP Logged 
What brought my wife's level of English from C1 to strong C2 was some immersion, plus lots of reading, and I think importantly lots of writing (she even ended up writing a full book).

Writing is not only good for forcing you to get a handle on grammar, but also to try to work out which word/phrase to use in which context.

I bet joining some fiction writing group online would really help, or perhaps doing some sort of online course which involves essay writing. I think the point is write and get corrections as if you were a native (i.e., write to communicate ideas/thoughts to other natives, not as a learning exercise).
4 persons have voted this message useful



s_allard
Triglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 5189 days ago

2704 posts - 5425 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, Spanish
Studies: Polish

 
 Message 7 of 177
16 February 2015 at 1:50am | IP Logged 
If I can respectfully add a few comments to great advice given so far, I would first suggest that a
distinction should be made between increasing proficiency for the purpose of passing a C-level exam
and enhancing proficiency just for personal satisfaction.

If it's the first case, then you need a specific game plan. Let's say you want to pass a C1-level Afrikaans
exam - if such a thing exists - in a year, then you need a game plan. Here you would set out specific
objectives, strategies and milestones to achieve this goal.

If it's the second case where we are looking at generally enhancing one's general proficiency, things
are more relaxed. You can't go wrong with the suggestions already given.

The one thing I would add, especially for exam preparation, is a good tutor. For some strange reasons,
not everybody likes tutors. I'm not talking about a conversation buddy over Skype; I'm talking about a
professional language teacher. It's not cheap of course and may not be justifiable if there is no specific
need to pass a test, but I believe that a good tutor can make a world of a difference.
3 persons have voted this message useful



robarb
Nonaglot
Senior Member
United States
languagenpluson
Joined 4818 days ago

361 posts - 921 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese, English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, French
Studies: Mandarin, Danish, Russian, Norwegian, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Greek, Latin, Nepali, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 8 of 177
16 February 2015 at 2:56am | IP Logged 
s_allard wrote:
The one thing I would add, especially for exam preparation, is a good tutor. For some strange
reasons, not everybody likes tutors.


What do you suggest an advanced student do with a professional language tutor? Let's assume you're already
getting lots of input, so listening and reading skill are progressing fine without needing a tutor.

In my opinion, for speaking fluency, the most important thing is to speak more for communication, including in
daily life or with a conversation buddy.

For speaking accuracy, the effectiveness of targeted instruction is hotly debated. Maybe a tutor could help, but
what specifically should one do with them, and why should we believe it works?

For writing, if writing instruction is available that specifically targets the kind of essays that will be required for
the exam, then great. Otherwise, you would probably want a native speaker with good writing skills to correct
your writing. Is that the kind of thing you mean? I guess you would need a professional for that if you don't have
any highly educated native speaker friends.


2 persons have voted this message useful



This discussion contains 177 messages over 23 pages: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.3750 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.