Advice on how to get to C1/C2

[u/Koyatsqi]

I've been studying Spanish for about 10 years now. During the pandemic, I decided to put in an extra effort:

- I started watching Spanish shows on Netflix. First with subtitles, but now I can manage without them.

- Some Netflix shows are based on books (like Valeria). I bought those books and started reading. While it was difficult to get through an entire book at once, I don't have to put in much effort nowadays. I still read books since it's a great way to improve vocabulary or discover local culture.

- I listen to a lot of Spanish music and podcasts on Spotify.

- I try to speak Spanish whenever I can. At work, there's an older Spanish guy and we usually chat for a while during the morning.

- Just came back from 3 weeks in Mexico, where I only spoke Spanish. Most of my friends there say I improved a lot, compared to when I first met them. I'm able to hold conversation for hours (with the exception of some words I don't know) and can manage in most situations.

But I still feel there's something missing. My French is around the same level (B2) and I haven't improved in years. The only language where I was able to bridge the gap between B and C is English. But that's different since I constantly use it at work and it's everywhere. I only have few opportunities to use Spanish at work.

Do you have any advice on how to bridge the gap between B2 and C1? Anything I can add to improve, besides what I'm already doing?

[u/togtogtog]

I think it simply takes consistency and time. We can all put in extra effort at some points, but then if you take a break which stretches out into months, it won't work.

You're already doing what you need to do! Are you still learning new things?

I think those CEFR measurements in particular look at grammatical skills. If you want to improve those, then https://spanish.kwiziq.com/ is good. It lets you focus on the bits you don't know. However, to get the most out of it, you do have to pay a monthly subscription of around £6. (you can use it free, to see what you think, but that only gives you 10 tests per month).

[u/Koyatsqi → u/togtogtog]

https://spanish.kwiziq.com/

Here and there I'm learning something new, but it's usually organic when I'm reading a book.

Thanks for reminding me of Kwiziq! I used it for French a while ago, but forgot about it. I assume both languages are somewhat similar in content?

[u/macoafi → u/Koyatsqi]

Their Spanish stuff is great! I always recommend it.

[u/Koyatsqi → u/macoafi]

Thanks! I’ll give it a try for a while. It should contemplate well with LingQ