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This is the last in a series.

When you initially start learning a language, the idea of one day reaching the Advanced level might seem like a remote, faraway dream. But if you’re consistent and patient, getting to an Advanced level of Spanish is definitely within the realm of possibility.

Let’s take a look at the three sub-categories of Advanced and figure out what it takes to get there.

ADVANCED LOW: A person in this category has a good handle on Spanish grammar. He can describe things and narrate in the past, present and future tenses and when an unexpected bump in the conversational road emerges, he can roll with the punches if it is related to a routine situation. However, the Advanced Low student still has a tendency to use literal translations or structures from his native language in Spanish. He also does a lot of self-correction in mid-sentence, which highlight that he’s not fully a native speaker. Also, the Advanced Low tends to have a vocabulary that can seem very generic. Instead of knowing several different ways to express a single idea, he only knows one way and that’s the way he always uses.

ADVANCED MID: At this stage, the student is rocking. He is an active participant in both formal and informal conversations and has no problem whatsoever narrating and describing things in different Spanish tenses. He definitely knows enough Spanish to work in the language at this point. Where Advanced-Mid speakers get tripped up is when they have to back up their opinions or talk about abstract concepts, like politics or morality or religion, for example, in an extended conversation. That’s when they typically might hit a brick wall because they lack the right vocabulary or conversational structures to ease in and out of these linguistic alleys.

ADVANCED HIGH: The student at this level can pretty much do it all. He can provide a structured argument to support his opinions and he can construct hypotheses. He still makes errors, here and there, but they’re minor and may even go unnoticed because of the fluency of his speech. The Advanced High is also good at compensating for his deficiencies. He knows how to talk around a situation by paraphrasing or describing, if he lacks the precise words to express himself.

So what’s the bottom line? Getting to the Advanced level and continuing to progress really comes down to building your confidence in using the language and expanding your vocabulary. A great way to do both is to find conversational language partners who you can meet with on a regular basis to chat with in Spanish. Another great way is to read and write in Spanish. Reading in Spanish, exposes you to new words and new ways of expressing ideas. Writing in Spanish helps you uncover your weak spots in the language and gives you a non-stressful way of working out those kinks.

And if you do all that and you’re successful, one day you will finally reach the summit of Mt. Spanish and look down at all that you’ve conquered. By that point you will be at the SUPERIOR level, which is essentially native-level (or near native-level Spanish).

Hey, you didn’t think that “Advanced-High” was the end of the journey, did you?

Saludos,

Eleena

Eleena also blogs about the Spanish language at Voices en Español, a bilingual blog and conversational Spanish podcast.