It is sometimes easy to be misled by German adverbs, which may not be quite what they appear at first glance. Take the adverb bislang: if you break it into its constituent parts bis ("until") and lang ("long"), you might conclude it means "for a long time"—but you would unfortunately be wrong. 

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There are, however, a number of other expressions in German that mean "for a long time":

seit langem (or seit Langem, both are correct):

Dieses Tier wollte er schon seit langem filmen.

He has wanted to film this creature for a long time.

Caption 47, Abenteuer Nordsee - Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen

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lange Zeit:

Im Jahr neunzehnhundertdreiundfünfzig gab es in der DDR einen Aufstand, an den lange Zeit in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland ein Feiertag erinnerte.

There was an uprising in the GDR in nineteen fifty-three, which a holiday has memorialized for a long time in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Captions 22-23, Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Einbürgerungstest - Part 11

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seit langer Zeit:

Comedy geht mir seit langer Zeit aufn Keks.

Comedy has been getting on my nerves for a long time.

Caption 2, Filmtrailer - Hexe Lilli - Part 3

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or simply lange: 

Und wir haben uns mit, äh, Siegfried lange unterhalten dürfen.

And we were able to speak with, uh, Siegfried for a long time.

Caption 29, 3nach9 - Ehrlich Brothers - Show-Magier - Part 2

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But back to bislang: it can be variously translated as "up till now," "until now," or "so far," depending upon the context: 

Die vierzehnjährige Floh hat bislang noch keine eigenen Kinder bekommen.

Up till now, the fourteen year old Floh still has never had any children of her own.

Caption 13, Unter fremden Fittichen - Uhu-Mama zieht Hühnerküken auf

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Überraschungssieger und damit neuer deutscher Meister ist der bislang in der Szene unbekannte Alexander Lehmann aus Kiel.

Surprise winner, and therefore the new German champion, is Alexander Lehmann from Kiel, who was unknown in the scene until now.

Captions 5-6, Die Insel Fehmarn - Speedsurfen auf Fehmarn

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Bislang konnte das die Ausbreitung der Läden aber nicht stoppen.

So far, however, this hasn't stopped the spread of the shops.

Caption 35, Perlentee - In allen Mündern

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Further Learning
Go to Yabla German to search for other examples of how the adverb bislang and expressions meaning "for a long time" are used in a real-world context.

Many of you probably know the stock line Halt oder ich schieße! (Stop or I’ll shoot!) from old American and British WWII movies, but did you know there are many other ways to say “stop” in German? The German verbs halten and stoppen are easy to remember, since they have the English equivalent verbs “halt” and “stop,” but separable verbs such as aufhören and anhalten are a bit trickier! 

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Let’s first take a look at a couple of examples using the verb halten in the imperative mood, both from the classic children’s book series Der Struwwelpeter:

Halt! Das ist noch gutgegangen

Stop! That just barely turned out ok

und die Fischlein sehen's mit Bangen.

and the little fish watch it with fear.

Caption 12, Der Struwwelpeter - Hans Guck-in-die-Luft

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Robert, halt! Dein Schirm fliegt fort.

Robert, stop! Your umbrella is flying away.

Caption 11, Der Struwwelpeter - Der fliegende Robert

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Next we see the use of the verb stoppen: 

Bislang konnte das die Ausbreitung der Läden aber nicht stoppen.

So far, however, this hasn't stopped the spread of the shops.

Caption 35, Perlentee - In allen Mündern

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And even an example using both halten and stoppen in the imperative mood: 

Stopp! Stopp, stopp, stopp, stopp, stopp! Halt!

Stop! Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! Hold on!

Caption 24, Deutschkurs in Blaubeuren - Der Relativsatz

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Note that Yabla purposefully translated halten as “hold on” in order to differentiate it from the translations of stoppen as “stop.”

Another very useful German word for “stop” is aufhören, which is a separable verb that is most commonly used when you want an activity to stop. Here in the conditional mood:

Nein, wenn wir keine Lust mehr hätten, würden wir ja aufhören.

No, if we had no more desire, yes, we would stop.

Caption 25, Die Beatles - in Deutschland

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In the imperative mood, the verb’s lexical core is separated from its particle:

Hör auf! -Du musst genau hinsehen.

Stop! -You must watch closely.

Caption 13, Filmtrailer - Wir sind die Nacht

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And here an example using the present perfect tense:

Sie hat überhaupt nicht mehr aufgehört mit Eismachen.

She just never stopped making ice cream.

Caption 6, Eis - Eiskalte Leidenschaft

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The separable verb anhalten, on the other hand, is used primarily to indicate the stopping of moving objects or vehicles: 

Ein Mann fährt mit seinem Auto.

A man is driving in his car.

Dann wird er von der Polizei angehalten.

Then he is stopped by the police.

Captions 2-3, Sabine erzählt Witze - Die Pinguine

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It is possible to confuse anhalten with the verb for “to keep” (halten) and the preposition “on” (an). Usually the context makes it obvious: 

Ihren Pfiffi sollten sie aber lieber an der kurzen Leine halten.

But you had better keep your Fifi on a short leash.

Caption 39, Für Tierfreunde - Geparden

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Another version of “stop” with a very specific context is stehen bleiben, alternately written as one word (stehenbleiben), which is when a person stops walking or running:

Das heißt, jedes Mal, wenn man ihn gefangen hat,

That means, every time you catch it,

muss man stehen bleiben.

you have to stop.

Caption 10, Ultimate Frisbee - Spielregeln

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How would you translate the following?

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Stopp, halt, hör auf mit dem Anhalten!

Note that in the above sentence, the verb anhalten has been nominalized into the noun Anhalten. Many of the alternate German words for "stop" may be translated, depending on the context, with other English synonyms for “stop,” such as “cease,” “discontinue,” “interrupt,” “turn off,” “shut down,” “finish,” “break off,” “close,” or “end.”

Learning suggestions:

When you're watching Yabla videos, see if you can spot any other German versions of “stop.” You may learn some more synonyms for “stop” here.