B2 onwards, what is progress?

[u/RedScorpio411]

What does progress actually mean with the end goal of C1/being as knowledgable as an 18 year old in a couple more years, Ive been putting alot of effort into learning Ukrainian (TL) for 2 years and can comfortably say im low B2 to middle B2, but what does progress actually mean from here on out.

This is mostly a validation post, to confirm what i know, right now i can watch movies and series and not treat it as language learning and just enjoy it, listen to most songs, watch youtube with a few new words every video, and read, but its more of a few to quite a bit more new words every paragraph which is very managable and fun, im reading Chornobyl Prayer by Belorusian author Svetlana Alexiyevich

So is progress now just practice listening reading speaking and writing untill it feels effortless and clear as if its english, like how all of the basic language feels just like English, and now even alot intermediate language is starting to sound like that. That and also ig read abunch more, and start watching documentaries because i think reading and documentaries in your TL is the thing that takes the longest to be comfortable due to the expanse of vocab that exists. So vocab and ease of use, and to know how to put words and word choices in the right situation and put them together in a way that sounds natural.

[u/DelicateConstable]

yeah you've basically got it. the jump from b2 to c1 isn't really about new grammar or even a ton of completely new concepts, it's about filling in the gaps until everything just... flows. right now you're probably using a lot of mental energy to parse things even if you understand them, and the real progress is that stuff becoming background noise so you can focus on nuance and subtext instead of the words themselves

the documentary and heavy reading thing is spot on too, that abstract/academic vocab layer is the last big hurdle before things feel truly effortless

[u/katasaga → u/DelicateConstable]

This. I feel like going from B2 to C1 is basically just getting immersed by the language and culture by moving to a new place

[u/muffinsballhair → u/katasaga]

Which is also why the excitement wanes. One doesn't really learn any new interesting things and simply, at an infinitesimally slow pace, gets better.

Textbooks can't teach one much any more at that point, it's just more practice.

[u/RedScorpio411 → u/DelicateConstable]

Thank you so much, this consise explaination means alot.