One concept that beginner language learners miss is that at certain point you should just start using it, the sooner, the better.
And not just using it – you should start learning your target language in that language. Yeah, English classes in schools and universities nowadays have workbooks and lessons in English. But some students and self learners still struggle to apply this method outside of classroom.

One of the most powerful things that opened my eyes to this concept was switching my apps and Google Search language to English. With apps, you familiarize yourself with translations of the things you already know.
And the use case for switching search language is this – you can search a word in your native language and Google will present information in your target language. Specifically, it shows you the definition of a word you are looking for in your target language. It feels like this unlocks a lot of vocabulary and context. At certain point you won’t have to translate anything back to your native tongue. This is the moment where you can proudly say that you understand English.