Feeling "stuck"...How did you overcome it?
In my learning experiences in Spanish I had that period of time where I felt "stuck" between beginning and intermediate Spanish. I just buckled down and studied harder and eventually came out victorious. Here I am again! Asking for help! I can't seem to make that jump to advanced. I don't want to stagnate in my journey....how did you do it? Please help!
6 Answers
Hi Renae,
One of the things that helps me is the knowledge, passed on by others, that plateaus are normal. While it may be frustrating, I know that if I stick with it, I'll eventually get off the plateau. And from what I've heard and experienced, what often follows a plateau when you are seemingly learning nothing is a great leap ahead!
It's also important to avoid ruts and do something new. Tired of flashcards? Read blogs. Bored with lessons? Watch novelas. Do something, anything , to bring back the excitement. And remember that your brain is taking in every word and storing it somewhere. Eventually it will reach the surface and you will leap ahead.
Buena suerte amiga.
Goyo's advice is perfect. When in a rut, you should always change things up a bit.
The only other suggestion I have is to spend time with a Spanish speaking person or better yet, in a Spanish speaking country. Nothing helped me advance more rapidly then spending over three weeks in Latin American countries this past year. Not only are you forced to learn for mere survival, but immersion has always proven to be the best method. It kicks the whole learning method up from casual to intense immediately!
I know it is not always possible to travel. But if you can find at least one person in your community,a class to attend or a Spanish speaking church, that would be best. Just having someone to practice talking with will really help you to improve. They will also correct you when you say things incorrectly. On paper, I know the difference between different words, but when speaking, I often make the strangest mistakes. On New Years Eve, I actually said to a friend from Puerto Rico "Feliz año nueve." Because he corrected me immediately and told me that I had just wished him a "happy year nine" jeje, I was forced to immediately focus on a common mistake I make when speaking, which is to confuse my ending vowels. Without his help and the help of all my Spanish speaking friends, who knows how many crazy things I would be saying! 
Buena suerte,
Nicole
Rather than a plateau,I regard the occasions when I seem to be "stuck" as a gentle slope ! But by nature I am like the tortoise and just keep plodding away!
When on holiday in spanish speaking countries I buy lots of "word search" books (Sopa de Letras) and magazines etc. I keep one in the car ,one in my briefcase etc.and if I get an odd moment I do these, there are usually a number of words I need to look up.
I doubt that anyone ever makes the "jump" from intermediate to advanced. More than anything, language learning is a matter of time and effort and requires the absorption (and internalization) of many things (vocabulary, grammar, idioms, etc.). Obviously ones progress is likely to be more rapid if one is living in a Spanish speaking environment rather than take a 1-hour class once/week (but, in that case, time should be measured not in "weeks" but by "hours" [or some such, more relevant, yardstick]).
The "plateaus" are often a matter of ones own perception of ones progress. As mentioned above, part of the learning process is the internalization (it's not enough to simply know how to say/understand something, one also needs to do so "automatically" / "rapidly" / "unthinkingly"). One cannot understand (or participate in) a conversation if one is constantly thinking "masculine/feminine?" / "preterit/imperfect?"/"indicative/subjunctive?"
At the same time, it's not entirely a matter of automatically producing/understanding sentences. As one becomes more advanced, one becomes aware of more possibilities/choices (especially, with vocabulary but also with grammatical choices). This awareness comes after the basics/mechanics have been learned/internalized (in other words, when one no longer needs "to sweat the small stuff").
Oh yeah, happens to me all the time. Then one day everyone is complimenting my spanish and I don't know what I did right all of a sudden! Except it wasn't all of a sudden, my brain just finally put it all together.
I think my brain does it in my sleep just to mess with me.
Todos tienen sugerencias tan buenas. Pero me siento obligado repetir varios puesto que reflejan mis propios ideas. 
Everyone has such good suggestions. But I feel obliged to repeat several because they mirror my own thoughts.
Goyo said:
It's also important to avoid ruts and do something new.
Nicole said:
spend time with a Spanish speaking person or better yet, in a Spanish speaking country.
Samdie said:
language learning is a matter of time and effort and requires the absorption (and internalization) of many things
I have a feeling that most of us gringos (most, not all) started learning Spanish from books and other written materials. Making that 'jump to advanced', as you put it Renae, will involve 'thinking in Spanish'; speaking automatically, as Samdie mentioned. And conversing in Spanish is where the 'thinking in Spanish' part really starts to develop. So...
Find a Spanish speaking Buddy!! That's such a great way to 'do something new', and 'absorb' more Spanish. 
