It's Okay to Be an Intermediate Learner

Embracing the plateau is the hardest part of learning a language

I’ve been learning languages for almost half my life. I’ve gone through it all. The highs, the lows, the mehs. All.

I’ve also written a—let’s say—fair bit about language learning. I’ve talked about learning as a beginner, as an advanced, and about the intermediate level.

And yet, I keep forgetting to think about the plateau. This unavoidable beast lurks in the background of every language learner’s life.

Most new learners think it’s incredibly hard to get out of the beginner level. They believe once they’ll be done with this part, the language will open its arms wide open, welcoming them to the beauty of native content.

Hiding in the shadows, looking forward to destroying this hope, awaits the plateau.

What’s a plateau anyway?

Who doesn’t like looking at the beautiful scenery of a plateau? I sure enjoy it. The beauty of thinking you can go any direction from where you are is entrancing. The world is waiting for your next action after all!

There’s just one problem. Good ol’ FOMO.

If you go left, something great could be to the right. If you go right, you could be missing out on magnificent discoveries on your left, or even slightly less to your right.

For language learning, choosing one direction doesn’t just mean missing out on beautiful discoveries. It might also mean skipping on some vocabulary or grammar you’d love to know or that could be useful to you sooner than what’s in another direction.

Or you can choose to go both ways at the same time but then all your progress slows down even further than it’d have otherwise.

The intermediate plateau is the scariest place for a learner. Because you get too much choice. Way too much.

You can’t follow a straight path recommended by someone else anymore because nobody handles that level the same way.

Some focus on grammar. Some on vocabulary about cars, or medicine, or nature, or—I don’t know—hamsters! Some will focus on listening, but—then again, that could be news, conversations, or even speeches. Some will focus on writing, but—then again again—that could be essays, chats, or poems. You get the drill.

Anything and everything becomes available.

Your (visible) progress slows down drastically.

This is the plateau. And you’ll be there for a long looong time.

Should you get out of the plateau?

I tried for years to get out of my Korean plateau. 6 or 7. I’ve been stuck there for close to 10 years for Mandarin. You know what I discovered?

You don’t choose to get out of the plateau. You suddenly look around and the plateau is gone.

No matter how hard I tried, my Korean skills would not reach a point that suited me until, one day, I realized I didn’t care about it anymore and when I stopped to wonder why, I realized I didn’t struggle with anything anymore.

Now. I don’t mean everything was easy. I still have my tough days and wouldn’t dare try to get every nuance thrown at me. Overall though? I can do anything I want in Korean and know I can find a way to understand and get myself understood.

The only thing I did was, well, continue my language-learning journey.

I watch shows. I read stuff (not books back then). I listened to music. I checked a few grammar patterns here and there. I spent a week or two pushing myself before spending months barely making any effort.

But I kept on.

I reckon I’m still stuck on Mandarin because that effort and exposure has been much lower and less intense than it ever was for Korean. Still, I’ve never given up entirely—nor do I plan on doing it—because I love the language. Its mesmerizing rhythm and entrancing characters fascinate me.

But you know what’s great about the plateau?

Its negative is also its positive: because everything’s available, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But this also means everything becomes potential material for you to learn.

No more “there’s no point in trying this, it’ll be too hard for me.”

You can still think this¹ but if you push through this doubt for a second, you’ll realize you know more than you thought. That’s the beauty of the plateau.

Despite what I said earlier, the language truly is opening its arms to you.

How to choose where to go on the plateau

I won’t pretend to know the best way to deal with the plateau and where to head. As I said before, this stage is where all paths diverge. Nobody will ever follow the same path as someone else.

Hell, even if you’re taking “intermediate classes,” your classmates will expose themselves to other content from you in their free time.

Once you realize you’re on the plateau, take a breath and enjoy the view. Try a bunch of different topics and types of content. See what picks your interest and dig in there a bit to see if you want to go deeper.

When I read my first full novel in Japanese, it was only because I thought the name was interesting: The Home Where I Died (昔僕が死んだ家). Little did I know it’d send me down a spiral of novels by the great author Keigo Higashino.²

I also know tons of words about Critical Rate, Damage, types of magic, and so on in Korean because I played many games in Korean (but mostly Genshin Impact).

The plateau is a field to gain experience. Any kind.

Try out anything. See where you want to dig. And take notice of what you wish you knew. Noticing what you want to know more of is important but figuring out what’s missing matters just as much.

It may be vocabulary or grammar. Or practice of a certain skill. Or even confidence.

But most importantly, learn to enjoy this stage.

You’ll be here for a long time. We all have and all will again.

Oh, and finally, drop your humility. You did it! You’ve already lasted until a level 99% of learners never reach. Cheers to that! 🥂

How did you deal with it if you’ve ever been on the plateau? Let me know!

Cheers for reading,
Mathias

1. You probably will or you’re a machine.

2. Also, this was a period of my life when I didn’t read for pleasure at all. This is part of what got me hooked on reading again.