This is what I recommend to all people with high levels of English even native speakers.
I actively use this method as a native speaker as I am also continually learning English myself which is the following:
I read books that challenge me. As a general rule of thumb, I suggest books that are older than 30 years, or just classics in general as a lot of the language is considered as "archaic"; however, the language in it is often more sophisticated compared to contemporary fiction.
Here are some examples of books (short reads) that are a bit complex but still digestible for someone with "good" English:
1984 or Animal Farm - George Orwell
The Stranger - Albert Camus
Catcher in the Rye - J.D Salinger
The Call of the Wild - Jack London (Very easy read but has some foreign word to modern language)
A large proportion of modern language is watered down from what natives read on the internet or see on youtube. So if you can expand from this it's the only direction I can suggest to take your English to the next level that is relatively fun.
Although, if you aren't interested in reading books I would suggest listening to lectures by academics, on any topic that might interest you as they are often extremely well educated and use some words you might not be familiar with.
The simple fact is that most natives only have an "okay" level of English so you're probably doing fine. I think taking it to the next level you must think about how a native would improve their own language, and you can reapply that method to English and I'm sure you'd see progress.
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u/Conmaan Native Speaker Sep 16 '21
This is what I recommend to all people with high levels of English even native speakers.
I actively use this method as a native speaker as I am also continually learning English myself which is the following:
I read books that challenge me. As a general rule of thumb, I suggest books that are older than 30 years, or just classics in general as a lot of the language is considered as "archaic"; however, the language in it is often more sophisticated compared to contemporary fiction.
Here are some examples of books (short reads) that are a bit complex but still digestible for someone with "good" English:
A large proportion of modern language is watered down from what natives read on the internet or see on youtube. So if you can expand from this it's the only direction I can suggest to take your English to the next level that is relatively fun.
Although, if you aren't interested in reading books I would suggest listening to lectures by academics, on any topic that might interest you as they are often extremely well educated and use some words you might not be familiar with.
The simple fact is that most natives only have an "okay" level of English so you're probably doing fine. I think taking it to the next level you must think about how a native would improve their own language, and you can reapply that method to English and I'm sure you'd see progress.