Episode 77: The Intermediate Plateau

[00:00:00] Welcome to English, please, the podcast where we explore interesting topics in under 10 minutes in clear, intermediate English. I’m your host, Christopher. I live in New York City, and I’ve always been passionate about languages and how we learn them. Whether you’re listening on your way to work or while cooking dinner at home, this show is designed to help you with your English listening and comprehension skills.

Quick note before we start. This show has a new home, englishpleasepod.com. That’s where you’ll now find the two free guides, 25 Everyday Idioms and 60 Common Phrases, along with the newsletter, all free at [00:01:00] englishpleasepod.com.

Here’s something I don’t usually talk about. I’ve spent years learning languages, and every time it’s the same. There’s a long period where I work hard, I make real progress, and then I just... stop feeling like I’m improving. I can understand a lot. I can get through most conversations, but I feel stuck, like I’ve hit a wall, and nothing I do is moving me past it. And here’s the strange part: even now, I sometimes still feel that way. But I know, looking back, that I did move past it every time. It just didn’t feel like progress while it was happening. It felt like nothing at all.

Since you’re at the intermediate level in English right now, you may know exactly what I’m talking about. So many people feel [00:02:00] this way that it actually has a name: the intermediate plateau. You have real skills, you understand a lot, and it can still feel like you’re not going anywhere.

So today, I wanna talk about that feeling and about what actually helps.

Some of this may sound familiar if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while. Talking to yourself during daily tasks, finding a conversation partner, getting comfortable with a little uncertainty, these all genuinely help, and even if you haven’t tried them, they’re absolutely worth doing. But there’s one thing that I think matters even more than people realize, and it’s simple: stop studying English in general, and start using English for something you already care about.

Here’s what I mean. If you study architecture, or you work in finance, [00:03:00] or you’re passionate about football, or art, or travel, don’t just study English as its own subject. Read articles about architecture in English. Watch finance videos in English. Follow football commentary in English. If you love art, read about artists and their work in English instead of in your own language. And if you’re planning a trip somewhere, go find English-language travel videos about that exact place. The language stops being the point, and it becomes the way you get to something you already want.

This works for two real reasons. First, you already understand the subject, so you’re not fighting two problems at once, new vocabulary and new ideas. You already [00:04:00] know what a goal is in football, or what a painting technique is called, or what a landmark is. You just need the English word for it. That’s a much smaller task than learning a totally new concept and a new language at the same time.

Second, and maybe more importantly, you’ll actually want to keep learning this way. Motivation is the real reason most people get stuck at the intermediate plateau. Generic English practice starts to feel like a chore, and chores are easy to skip. But if you’re reading about something you already want to know more about in your own language, the English stops feeling like homework.

So this week, pick one subject you genuinely care about, then find one podcast, one YouTube channel, or one website about [00:05:00] that subject in English, and then spend just twenty minutes with it. Don’t study it. Just consume it, the way you already do in your own language.

One more thing I want to tell you about because it took a lot of work, and I’m genuinely proud of it. There was another change that helped me, too, while I was working through my own intermediate plateau in French: finding a site that gave me full transcripts for the French podcasts I was listening to. Sometimes I would read the transcript first, so I knew roughly what to expect, and then I would listen with much more confidence. Other times, I would go back afterward to check something I wasn’t sure about. Either way, it made a real difference. Instead of just hoping I understood, I actually knew. I wanted this show to work the [00:06:00] same way to help you.

So I spent the last several weeks completely rebuilding this show’s website. Every single episode of English, please, all the way back to episode one, now has its own page with a complete written transcript alongside the audio. That’s almost 80 pages, built one at a time. No matter which episode you’re listening to, the transcript is right there if you need it.

You’ll find that at englishpleasepod.com. That’s the new URL, englishpleasepod.com. While you’re there, you’ll also find two free guides, the newsletter, and the accelerator if you want more structured practice. But honestly, just spend some time exploring the site itself. I built it because I believe in what it does for a learner exactly at your stage.[00:07:00] 

The plateau isn’t a wall, it’s just a period where progress is harder to see. Keep going, and one day soon you’ll look back the way I did and realize you’re not stuck there anymore.

Again, I’m Christopher, and I want to invite you to join me in future episodes of English, please to hear about a variety of topics, all focused on helping you with your English. Subscribe now wherever you listen, and let’s continue this adventure together in clear, understandable English.

Sincere thanks, as always, for listening.

See you soon!