whatiftheblog wrote:I think Xmmm's point was that if you feel like you're plateauing, it's likely because you're not leaving your comfort zone of B2 material (and yes, I would say that even a "C1" graded reader is probably still objectively B2 material with maybe slightly trickier grammar structures and some fancier vocab). I can understand your frustration with not progressing toward C1 as quickly as you'd hoped. I know you've already received this same assessment from myself and many others across several threads here, but the reality is... it's very difficult to get to C1 on B2 material.
Throwing in an example from a completely unrelated field, I spent a very significant portion of my youth figure skating. It's a sport where you also have pre-defined levels, and each level has a set of required elements that get progressively harder as you move forward. Among jumps, a flip is harder than a loop, a lutz is harder than a flip, an axel is harder than a lutz, a double toe loop is harder than an axel, and so on. However, you're not supposed to train step by step. Any coach worth their salt will tell their skaters that they should already be attempting axels once their loops are solid, and that they should already be going for double toes before they even perfect their lutzes. The reality is, plenty of people manage to land double toes before their axels, and many end up with better axels than lutzes, even though the latter is considered the "easier" element. I've found this leapfrogging approach to be perfectly applicable to language learning as well, particularly on the B -> C journey. You don't actually need to memorize the precise subjunctive form of every single verb in order to listen to, understand, and fully enjoy a cool podcast/book/debate show that was created by and for natives. I still look up the spelling of certain verb forms, my pronunciation isn't perfect, and I mess up genders with some regularity, yet I somehow managed to wriggle my way into a (très) grande école. Imperfection is okay (their English is worse).
Progressing toward C1, and especially C2, effectively means accepting that your training wheels have to come off and that intensive study, particularly with courses, has to give way to loads and loads of native-for-natives consumption. That's how all that grammar and vocab is going to click into place; it's also how you get to the point where you instinctively reach for French phrases and, perhaps most significantly, amass a corpus of phrases in your head that you just "know"/"get" in French, without an English translation lurking in the background. As an example, I have no idea what "dispositif" would be in English, I've never looked it up; I just "get" it in French because it's a word I hear/consume 10x a day. This, of course, is also the same method we all used to learn our native languages, so that's proof of its efficacy right there.
The good news is that you're studying French, not Kazakh, so you don't need to rely on Buffy and graded readers. Do you actually enjoy Buffy or are you just using it because there are subs/transcripts available? If you're only using it because it's commonly recommended to B-level learners and you derive no real pleasure from it, you have all of Youtube and literally thousands of podcasts at your disposal - pick something native you actually like and move forward with that. If, as you say, you've gotten to a point where your pronunciation is great because you've done a bunch of intensive listening and repeating, you won't actually need transcripts or subs.
No course can propel you into the Cs because a) that's not what they were actually made for, and even if it says C-something on the cover, it's a marketing tactic designed to keep higher-level learners paying into "the system" when they objectively don't even need it anymore; b) every course is finite, it simply can't expose you to enough grammar/vocab/sentence structure variety in a language as rich as French. The more (varied!!!) native material you consume, the more you'll be exposed to, and the richer your body of knowledge/expression will become. That's how you hit the Cs.
TLDR: in order to really progress into the Cs, you have to make yourself comfortable with the uncomfortable. Basically.
I absolutely agree with everything you have to say here whatiftheblog. And thank you speaking in Xmmm’s defence as both your comments and his are justified.
I don’t at all disagree with you, nor have I for some time now. To clarify a few things... My resources have not necessarily been the problem in more recent months (although I acknowledge that they are in part), yet the amount of study time is. For months I’ve been struggling to find enough time to study everything I’ve wanted to. I’ve gone on reading, watching, course and listening binges more or less, because I’ve lacked time to do it all synergistically. I just haven’t put in the work consistently enough. When I watched, I was tired and just watched because I had little energy for anything else.
I know easy readers are not C1 level material, but I’ve just not gotten through my easier material to get to the tougher stuff yet (but I have read standard books in between), again inconsistent studying. Why not skip the easier stuff? I actually do want to do it, and I will. Then the real books.
I am aware of the limitations of courses (and their marketing). However I do actually get a lot out of them. Again, if I stubbornly refuse to drop them, I must ensure sufficient extensive activities take place, so as to have sufficient exposure to the language.
Again this means consistent routine, in which I’m not lazy (i’ve had a lot of late nights in the last 6 months resulting in an hour study one day, none the next day, two hours the next. Hardly effective for rotating through numerous resources of intensive and extensive varieties. So resources aren’t the entire issue here- I need to work hard and more consistently over a long period as well as consider my resources and getting on with it all in order to progress to harder material (thinking reading there again).
I’ve not even made it past midway in the first season of Buffy due to watching other things orbreadingbor courses instead. I do want to use this resource. Not my favourite show, but i’m still motivated to use the resource, it’s not useless to me, it’s still loaded with unfamiliar words- the result perhaps of too little extensive exposure to the language.
I have a desire now too as you describe to get a feel for French via loads of extensive exposure, I’m simply working towards that gradually.