Trilingual but stuck: Why do we stop improving once we hit 'survival fluency'?

Hey everyone! 👋

I’m Wolfgang, an indie developer (total rookie) from Frankfurt am Main/Germany, and a bit of a language nerd.

I wanted to ask the community: Have you ever reached a point in a language where you’re totally functional, but you feel like your progress just… stops?

I noticed that many expats stall once they feel comfortable using 1000-2000 words, decent grammar, and pronunciation. People who hardly spoke better after 10 years in a foreign country with a new language than they did after year one.

My theory is that once you master the grammar, pronunciation (and the feel) of the language, the only way forward is to increase your active vocabulary. But most people don't do that.

So wanting to make some improvements myself, I used various language apps in the past, from Anki to Wokabulary and many others. But I was never really happy with any prefabricated solution.

So, having some background in coding and with a little help from all the wonderful coding tools out there, I built my own little space for this called Vokabulo. I might introduce it here on Product Hunt later, but I am a total beginner when it comes to app marketing.

I built it for myself first and foremost, but I am very curious if others have the same plateau problem and would like to do something about it.

I’d love to hear from other learners or builders: How do you keep enlarging your vocabulary on a daily basis?

Looking forward to hearing your strategies! Thanks!