What are the best ways to improve your intermediate language ability when you don't have access to native speakers?

Answer 1

Read as much as you can, not speed read but absorb each word in the context of the sentence it's in. Also, find podcasts of your choice, listen to them over and over again until you can repeat each podcast without listening to it. The old fashioned way, drilling, has much to be said for it. You can get tapes on intermediate language structures and you simply repeat back what you've heard until they become second nature to you.