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The Latter Stages C1-->C2

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tarvos
Super Polyglot
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China
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Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
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 Message 1 of 2
06 June 2015 at 5:33am | IP Logged 
Something that I feel I am still struggling with is improving my stronger languages to
the level of C2. I'm very positive I can get to B1 in any language (I've done it over
ten times now so I'm not fussed) and learning how to the basics in any language comes
to me naturally, and even pushing to a fairly advanced B2 level is something very much
within my skill range.

However the stage of perfection you have to reach when you want C2 is something that
is still eluding me. I am aware that this is partially (virtual) immersion, and given
I have achieved native-level English I know that I can do it. I've also got advanced
levels in at least three other languages that hover in the C-level range - but that
last step of making it perfect seems to elude me. I'm closest in Russian I think (it's
the language I use the most) but I seem to be running low on ideas how I can improve
just that bit more towards the latter end of fluency, that point where even the non-
trivial seems effortless.

What I mean is that those languages are very automatized and I can use them extremely
effectively, but they bug up inexplicably sometimes. It's like well-functioning
software that still just needs one bug fix too many.

Does anyone have any ideas?
2 persons have voted this message useful



patrickwilken
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1546 posts - 3200 votes 
Studies: German

 
 Message 2 of 2
06 June 2015 at 11:01am | IP Logged 
For my wife the big step from C1 to C2, apart from a lot of high quality reading (literary books; high end newspapers) was writing. And by writing I mean a lot of writing for her doctoral thesis, which basically entailed writing 1000s of words a day for about six months. She then converted her thesis into a book, so it was rewritten, went out to review, got lots of comments, rewritten again etc.

I found my own English actually improved a lot when I wrote my thesis as well even though I was writing in my L1. It's not just the writing, but the sheer amount of it for a very specific communicative purpose, with regular critical feedback, that makes a huge difference.

I don't know what opportunities you have for your L2, but doing something like a native university course, joining a writing group (these must exist online), or writing regular articles would move you in the correct direction.

I think the main thing is not to worry about using less frequent words, but finding the best words to communicate, which often (but not always) involves using very precisely more common words and expressions. The trick is knowing when this is appropriate and when not.

Edited by patrickwilken on 06 June 2015 at 11:04am

4 persons have voted this message useful



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