Focus Points at Every Language Proficiency Level
It can sometimes be difficult to measure your progress, especially if you’re learning it independently. Trust me! It’s hard! When I was learning Spanish and German at the same time during my time in college, I felt like I was learning, but I was scared to speak to native speakers out of fear of their judgment. Everyone’s language goals are different, but based on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) for foreign languages, I want to give you some challenges and focal points as you progress from beginner to advanced learner.
Beginner
Whether you’re an absolute beginner or a beginner with some prior knowledge, these key areas you need to focus on are:
Pronunciation/Alphabet pronunciation
Basic Sentence Structure
Genders (if applicable to your target language)
Regular verb conjugations
It’s absolutely crucial in the beginning to master these four things to have a strong foundation to build on as your skills progress. If your target language uses a similar alphabet to your native language, you want to see if there are any sound differences; such as how in German, the letter W is pronounced like a V. It’s also important to see how accent marks are likely to change the sounds of those letters as well. Clear pronunciation is important when trying to be understood by native speakers.
Your goal at this point is to start forming your own sentences, which is why I don’t emphasize vocabulary as a major focal point (you can always learn new words along the way). Learning how to construct a simple sentence by studying your target language’s grammatical structure. In English, as well as most other Latin and Germanic languages, the structure is usually Subject + Verb + Object; in breaking that down, you need to know all the subject pronouns to start that sentence, how to conjugate a regular/modal/auxiliary verb (past, present, and future in the indicative), and how to connect the objects to the rest of the sentence. In going further, you will eventually find connector words like conjunctions or prepositions. English is not a gendered language, but for those that are (i.e., French, Spanish, German, Italian, etc.), you will need to make sure that you’re using the proper articles or adjectives to match the gender and/or case. This will help you when you move into more complicated concepts.
Objective: To be able to tell a story (written or spoken) in an indicative mood. Engage in a basic conversation.
Intermediate
At this level, you want to become more autonomous with the language and start using your native language as little as possible. This is where you need to be if you’re exploring international employment. In mastering this level, I would suggest focusing on the following focal points:
Circumlocution techniques to avoid your L1
Cultural insight
Exploring topics of interest (i.e., work, leisure, hobbies, etc.)
Making your sentences more complex
If you’re not sure what circumlocution is, this is a form of communication where you’re talking “around” what you’re trying to say. It’s like “beating around the bush” except when you don’t know the word for “bush”. This can come in the form of saying what you think someone said and asking if that’s what they actually said or not (to check for understanding), using proper nouns for things instead of using the actual noun, or even using words to describe what you’re trying to say in prompting the speaker to give you the word you’re looking for. This is going to help you when you encounter native speakers who don’t speak your native language and allow you to stay in your target language as long as possible.
This is a point where you might want to explore topics crucial to living abroad; going beyond ordering food at a restaurant or asking for directions, you could be learning how to have conversations you normally would have at your job or when you’re having a deep discussion with a group of friends. Cultural insights will definitely come into play if you’re really serious about visiting or living in a foreign country for any reason and educating yourself on the people that speak your target language in addition to their current events which will help with topics of conversation as well as how to conduct yourself socially.
You want to deviate from simple sentences at this point because no one really talks like that. Simple sentences are great when you’re first starting out, but you’re not a beginner anymore! From a grammatical standpoint, you want to learn how to construct more complex sentences. This is a great place to start learning other moods of verb conjugation, such as the conditional or subjunctive forms, to express yourself further. From my experience with French, many verbs in the subjonctif will have completely different stem changes with the verbs, but the ends are the same.
Example:
Pouvoir (to be able to)
Indicatif: Je peux (I can)
Subjonctif: Je puisse (I can)
Objective: Carry on a full conversation without using L1
Advanced
If you’ve made it to this level, you won’t really need your native language as much and can understand about a good 90% of what you read or hear. If you’re looking to study abroad in a program where your target language is the language of instruction, then C1 is ideally where you should be. At this level, here are some focal points:
Language maintenance
Recognizing various accents and dialects
Looking for native-speaking partners
Put everything you do in your target language
If you made it this far, you’re focused on maintaining the skills you’ve worked so hard to develop and adding nuances to them. If your target language has multiple countries and territories that adopt that language, then expose yourself to those dialects or accents, so you can recognize them when you hear them in the real world. You also need to be finding ways to apply your target language to everything you do, even regular activities like working out or doing yoga. Even as an advanced speaker of any language, there’s always something new to learn, as language constantly evolves over time.
Objective: To live in a foreign country with your target language as the official language
As a language learner, I hope this gives you some direction toward making progress on your own. It’s essential to make sure you find language learning methods that will work for you as you achieve these focal points. You can see the following video for a summary.