Why You Feel Stuck: The Truth About Progress in Intermediate English

Nov 18, 2025

Lindsay Dow, an expert language teacher who helps global citizens master new languages, joins the conversation to tackle the frustrating intermediate plateau. She explains that this feeling of stagnation is common and doesn’t indicate poor learning. Instead, progress shifts from visible gains to subtle, granular improvements, akin to tiny grains of sand adding up over time. Lindsay emphasizes the importance of mindset, encouraging learners to appreciate the deeper learning happening beneath the surface and to stay persistent in their journey.

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INSIGHT

Progress Becomes Granular

Progress at intermediate English becomes granular and less visible compared to early rapid gains.
These small improvements accumulate over time like tiny grains of sand building a beach.

INSIGHT

Feeling Stuck Is Just Perception

The feeling of being stuck is a perception, not a halt in learning.
By intermediate level you already know frequently used words so gains shift to refinement and nuance.

ANECDOTE

Common Experience Of The Plateau

Lindsay Dow reassures learners that the plateau happens to almost everyone studying languages.
She describes initial rapid gains then a shift to much more granular learning at intermediate levels.

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Are you an intermediate English speaker feeling frustrated that your progress has stalled?.

Many professionals hit the "intermediate plateau," feeling they aren't improving, especially when needing advanced work and business English. Learn why this flat line is only a perception and how progress is actually becoming deeper and more granular at this stage. Discover the mindset shift needed to keep adding those "tiny grains of sand" and unlock your professional potential.

Meet Our Guest: Lindsay Dow is an expert language teacher who helps global citizens learn how to learn languages. Inspirational quote or tip from guest: It's really important to say that hitting the plateau "does happen pretty much to everyone learning English" and it has "nothing to do with you learning wrong".

Helpful Links & Tools: Lindsay Dow’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LindsayDowLanguages

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Episode Transcript:

David: Welcome to the Fluent English Pro Podcast, the resource for professionals looking to improve their English language skills. Every week you'll have a new episode that addresses your specific English language needs, providing tips to help you excel in business meetings, deliver impactful presentations, or engage in casual conversations with international colleagues. Don't let the lack of time hold you back. Tune in and unlock your full potential as a fluent English speaker.

When you start learning English, progress feels fast at the beginning. You can see it and feel it, but once you reach the intermediate stage, things change. New knowledge comes in apparently smaller pieces.

This is the famous intermediate plateau. A plateau is an expression that comes from geography. It is a mountain with a flat top. In other contexts, plateau means there is no progress. You are expecting an ascending curve representing progress but you see a flat line, which means no progress.

Many people in intermediate and advanced English levels sometimes feel like they are not making any progress. But the truth is, you're not stuck. It is only a perception. You're just learning in more granular steps.

Progress at intermediate and advanced levels is like adding tiny grains of sand to a beach. You won't notice them day by day, but they definitely build something big in the long term.

Now, let's hear what an expert English teacher, Lindsay Dow, has to say about the plateau. That feeling where progress seems to hit a flat line.

Lindsay Dow: Well, first of all, it's really important to say that it does happen pretty much to everyone learning English. So it's nothing to do with you learning wrong. I think that's really important that we start there because it often makes us feel like we've got as far as we can go. "I've done as much as I can do. Maybe I'm not meant. I don't have the magic talent or the key to just unlock the next level of English. I guess this is where I stop".

It's not what it has to mean at all. I really want to start from that point. And also, a plateau, first of all, can happen at any level, but typically, we're talking about intermediate level.

So when you first start learning a language, you learn one word and you know 100% more than you did yesterday when you knew zero. You then learn two words, and that percentage is going down. Every time.

And then it will get to a point where it does feel like a flat line because we've gone from an increase in knowledge being massive to it suddenly being much more granular. And also by the time we get to that point, typically, we know the words that we're going to use most frequently so we can get by in a lot of situations.

David: To wrap up this episode, remember this: Reaching an intermediate level isn't the end of growth. It's the beginning of deeper learning.

At this stage, progress becomes quieter, less visible, but progress is absolutely real. Your progress is happening in silence, one tiny step at a time. Keep adding those grains of sand to your beach.

Our guest in this episode was Lindsay Dow. She is an expert language teacher and she helps global citizens learn how to learn languages. If you want to know more about her and see her YouTube channel, please check all the links in the description of this episode. Thank you for tuning in.

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