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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.

For the past few weeks I’ve been blogging about the Beginner level of Spanish in terms of how to define it and steps to take to advance beyond it. Today I’m going to take a look at the Intermediate level. Defining this level is tricky because it is what it is….right in the middle. But to keep things consistent with the format of my previous post about beginners, I will divide the Intermediate category into three sub-categories: UPPER INTERMEDIATE, TRUE INTERMEDIATE and FALSE BEGINNER.

Let’s start from the bottom and then work our way up.

FALSE BEGINNER: This is essentially Low Intermediate. The reason why I’m calling it “False Beginner” is because frequently people at this stage don’t consider themselves at an intermediate level. Orally, they understand more Spanish than they can speak. They know enough Spanish to communicate in every day situations. However, they struggle to answer direct questions or requests and typically speak in a halting manner with a lot of pauses. They generally feel very self-conscious and awkward speaking Spanish and can’t maintain a conversation beyond a few sentences. If you were to ask them if they speak Spanish, they’d laugh and say “Aww, not really. I’m just a beginner.” But based on how much basic grammar and basic vocabulary the False Beginner already knows, he is better labeled as a Low Intermediate because somebody at the beginner level is unable to do many of the language tasks that the Low Intermediate student is capable of doing. That said, the distinction between a “False Beginner” and an “Advanced Beginner” can, at times, be negligible. I’d say that what distinguishes those two is the higher comprehension level of the False Beginner and an ability to “last longer” in a language situation by speaking in sentences.

TRUE INTERMEDIATE: A language learner at this level is beginning to hit his stride. While his conversational level is still limited to predictable and straightforward scenarios, he’s got more linguistic confidence and a bigger vocabulary than the False Beginner. He’s capable of handling what linguists consider “uncomplicated communicative tasks” that deal with his everyday life and he’s fine with asking questions when necessary to get information. While he still makes a lot of mistakes, he’s often aware that he’s making them and corrects himself. There may be a lot of pauses when he speaks but he pretty much knows how to structure sentences in Spanish. His biggest problem is linking his ideas when speaking and mixing different Spanish verb tenses and moods. He still needs to work on that. But in terms of maintaining a 5 to 10 minute conversation about himself, he can do it.

UPPER INTERMEDIATE: At this level, a person can speak Spanish with a lot of confidence. When it comes to routine social situations, the Upper Intermediate is a star. He can generally talk about almost anything and have fun while he’s at it. He clearly knows a lot of Spanish and has little difficulty initiating and maintaining simple conversations. What separates the Upper Intermediate student from the Advanced is accuracy and expressiveness, what is called “expresividad” in Spanish.

The Achilles’ heel for the Upper Intermediate is using all the different Spanish tenses and moods correctly and entering into a conversation that verges into abstract ideas or topics. In particular, while the Upper Intermediate is familiar with the Spanish subjunctive, he’s not comfortable using it. Although he still makes a lot of mistakes, thanks to his confidence and larger knowledge base of Spanish, he has an easier time masking his shortcomings.

Now for the good news/bad news about the Intermediate level. The good news is that the Intermediate level can be quickly achieved with motivation and focus, and once you reach it maintaining the level is not difficult. The bad news is that many people hit a plateau at the True Intermediate or Upper Intermediate levels and stay there. Forever. After all, the Intermediate stage is a comfortable place to be in. You know enough Spanish to enjoy social situations, strike up general conversations with people, give directions, talk your way out of some scenarios, etc. Life is good. And hey, at this stage you’ll definitely know more Spanish than most of your friends and family. So for many people, getting to this stage is enough.

What to do next: Figuring out where exactly you fit on the intermediate scale is definitely not something one can do with any real precision, especially at the lower level of the intermediate category. Generally speaking, you’ll know that you’re in the Intermediate category when you have a good grasp of basic Spanish grammar and a vocabulary sufficiently large enough to talk about yourself, your daily life, work/school, free time pursuits, etc.

Set a personal goal for yourself that you will be able to maintain at least a 10-minute normal conversation with someone about yourself and your life. Spend some time focusing on the Spanish past tenses and some tricky aspects of Spanish grammar (ser vs. estar, por vs. para) so that you know that stuff cold and won’t be second-guessing yourself on those areas. As you begin to learn the Spanish subjunctive, focus primarily on the present Spanish subjunctive so that you can really get a feel for how to use it correctly before adding on the other forms.

If you aspire to reach the Advanced stage, I’ll be back next Wednesday with another installment.

¡Hasta pronto!

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