Got stuck at C1 in English

[DaveBee]

Awesome hard British English tv series: Sherlock, Doctor Who, Allo Allo. Practice with stuff like that and most natives will seem easy to understand (old people using a strange dialect, patients with dysarthria, and sobbing children are likely to stay incomprehensible). C2 comprehension is definitely possible to achieve. As far as non-fiction goes, you might profit from tv debates. Or unscripted comedy.

I'm surprised you've watched Allo, Allo! I would have thought that would be native speakers only.

[Ольга]

About writing: that was the only CAE part graded C2 in my case. How did I do it? Tons of free practice in a text based RPG multiplayer game, including fan fiction. The amount of practice had been extremely important.

Could you please give me a piece of advice, what kind of forums and fanfiction community did you use?
Most forums which I have found are dead.

[tarvos]

Awesome hard British English tv series: Sherlock, Doctor Who, Allo Allo. Practice with stuff like that and most natives will seem easy to understand (old people using a strange dialect, patients with dysarthria, and sobbing children are likely to stay incomprehensible). C2 comprehension is definitely possible to achieve. As far as non-fiction goes, you might profit from tv debates. Or unscripted comedy.

I'm surprised you've watched Allo, Allo! I would have thought that would be native speakers only.

That series is really popular in the Netherlands, or at least, it used to be.

[s_allard]

Hi there, guys!
I have come to ask a piece of advice.
I have got stuck at my C1 (Advanced) level in English.
I can understand 80% what natives write and speak, read lots of modern and classic literature, listen to English podcasts and audiobooks, write lots of essays and give to natives to check... But! My level has frozen around C1.
What should I do? I am ashamed of my speaking skills, I think I speak slowly and with a horrible accent.
I want to pass a CPE exam, but I can't, my mock exam's result is about 60 %.
I think I am not progressing at all.
Yesterday I listened to "All Ears Podcast". They spoke with such an awesome pronunciation, intonation, and speed of speech that I felt miserable and desperate.

Before I give advice, I first try to get a better understanding of the problem. In this particular case, I see a number of issues:

1. What is the current proficiency level? It's estimated to be C1. There is a feeling of stagnation
2. There is a problem of inadequate comprehension of native writing and speech. Supposedly 80% comprehension.
3. The goal is to go to the next level and more specifically pass the CPE exam.
4. Speaking is slow (laborious?).
5. There is a perception of having a horrible accent.

I won't cover at all these points in this post, but I'll start with 1 and 2. Let's first look at the Global definition of C1 proficiency.

Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit
meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious
searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social,
academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text
on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and
cohesive devices.
This, by the way, is taken from an excellent reference document on the definitions of the various CEFR levels:
http://ebcl.eu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/CEFR-all-scales-and-all-skills.pdf

How can this definition be reconciled with point 2 above? In another thread in this forum I have ranted at length on the lack of meaning of percentages when it comes to assessing understanding. I won't repeat that here. Suffice it to say that 80% comprehension seems very deficient to me. I find it hard to believe that a C1 speaker can only understand 80% of native-level speech. Let's look in more detail at C1 Overall Listening Comprehension:

Can understand enough to follow extended speech on abstract and complex topics beyond his/her own field,
though he/she may need to confirm occasional details, especially if the accent is unfamiliar.
Can recognise a wide range of idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms, appreciating register shifts.
Can follow extended speech even when it is not clearly structured and when relationships are only implied and
not signalled explicitly.

This is pretty serious stuff. There is no mention of percentages. So, is this the level of OP? My feeling is that this doesn't look good if comprehension is judged to be80%. It looks more to me like B2 or B1 to me.

Regardless of the current level, the main issue is how to improve and eventually pass the CPE. I won't go into any depth on this issue for now except to say that at some point one must recognize the need for outside help. I believe strongly that for high levels of proficiency corrective feedback is essential. You can't do this alone.

[Ольга]

Regardless of the current level, the main issue is how to improve and eventually pass the CPE. I won't go into any depth on this issue for now except to say that at some point one must recognize the need for outside help. I believe strongly that for high levels of proficiency corrective feedback is essential. You can't do this alone.

Unfortunately, I don't have money to hire a highly professional tutor or a native.
I have to improve my level on my own, whatever level it can be.
Now I use one method which I like a lot - listen to an audiobook and follow the lines in the book.
By the way, my most problematic skills are Use of English and Speaking.
Listening, Reading and Writing are ok, at least I had good results when I had passed the mock exams.

[aaleks]

Suffice it to say that 80% comprehension seems very deficient to me. I find it hard to believe that a C1 speaker can only understand 80% of native-level speech.
<...>
This is pretty serious stuff. There is no mention of percentages. So, is this the level of OP? My feeling is that this doesn't look good if comprehension is judged to be80%. It looks more to me like B2 or B1 to me.

I’ve thought, s_allard, that you of all people wouldn't take these numbers on face value . The 80% is just a self-assessment, which could be, and very probably is, inaccurate.

[iguanamon]

...Unfortunately, I don't have money to hire a highly professional tutor or a native. I have to improve my level on my own, whatever level it can be. Now I use one method which I like a lot - listen to an audiobook and follow the lines in the book.
By the way, my most problematic skills are Use of English and Speaking...

You can improve your speaking through a language exchange. There are several people here on the forum who are learning Russian as a second language. Perhaps one of them may be interested in doing an exchange with you. Language exchanges are free of charge, but the partners are usually not teachers of their own language. They may be able to tell you that something is incorrect but not why it is incorrect.

You can take notes, or even record your exchanges, and look up the problematic words or phrases later on your own. "Self-talk" is also a good way to practice but, in my opinion and experience, it can't really replace speaking with someone. There are plenty of sites for language exchanges available online. While a professional teacher would probably be best, an exchange can also be quite helpful in improving your speaking- combined with specific work on pronunciation and grammar on your own. A language exchange is a situation where two people, each learning the other's language provide help to each other by speaking in the language for roughly equal amounts of time over voip.

Obviously, there are hassles involved, such as time zones and some partners may be unreliable or problematic. You will probably have to tolerate a much lower level of Russian from your partners than you have in English. You may have to try several before settling on one or two, but it is worth the trouble, in my opinion. I'd start by going to the Russian Study Group here on the forum and asking there if anyone is interested in an exchange. If you get no interest here, then look elsewhere. Good luck, Olga.

[Ольга]

You can improve your speaking through a language exchange. There are several people here on the forum who are learning Russian as a second language. Perhaps one of them may be interested in doing an exchange with you. Language exchanges are free of charge, but the partners are usually not teachers of their own language. They may be able to tell you that something is incorrect but not why it is incorrect.

You can take notes, or even record your exchanges, and look up the problematic words or phrases later on your own. "Self-talk" is also a good way to practice but, in my opinion and experience, it can't really replace speaking with someone. There are plenty of sites for language exchanges available online. While a professional teacher would probably be best, an exchange can also be quite helpful in improving your speaking- combined with specific work on pronunciation and grammar on your own. A language exchange is a situation where two people, each learning the other's language provide help to each other by speaking in the language for roughly equal amounts of time over voip.

Obviously, there are hassles involved, such as time zones and some partners may be unreliable or problematic. You will probably have to tolerate a much lower level of Russian from your partners than you have in English. You may have to try several before settling on one or two, but it is worth the trouble, in my opinion. I'd start by going to the Russian Study Group here on the forum and asking there if anyone is interested in an exchange. If you get no interest here, then look elsewhere. Good luck, Olga.

Thank you

[Ольга]

My humble opinion of my level: I have passed the textbook Outcomes Advanced (the coursebook, student's book, workbook, audios, etc), and I passed the mock exam CPE (Reading, Listening and Writing parts -60 %).

[reineke]

Awesome hard British English tv series: Sherlock, Doctor Who, Allo Allo. Practice with stuff like that and most natives will seem easy to understand (old people using a strange dialect, patients with dysarthria, and sobbing children are likely to stay incomprehensible). C2 comprehension is definitely possible to achieve. As far as non-fiction goes, you might profit from tv debates. Or unscripted comedy.

I'm surprised you've watched Allo, Allo! I would have thought that would be native speakers only.

Allo Allo was big in several countries along with shows like Blackadder, Fawlty Towers and Only Fools and Horses. I am not sure that there are many English-language shows that are native speakers only. Not even the stuff like Shaka Zulu, Still Game and Round the Twist.