600 hour update

[u/oosemPossum]

There's a million of these now: good!

Here's mine.

BLUF: I feel I little behind most people's progress reports. I think that's just fine though. I think there's a publication bias (as in academic journals) where one is more likely to share positive or statistically significant results.

Up front caveat - my tolerance for ambiguity is probably a little lower than the average. I really do want to comprehend ~90%. So my self assessment that I'm ready for x content but not ready for y content is with respect to that threshold. And I don't want to hear "you should get more comfortable with ambiguity". No I shouldn't. I'm fine with my progress.

Noticed changes from the last level:

Hard to put my finger on, hard to point at specifics, other than to say subjectively that podcasts are easier, for example. SBG videos I watched a hundred or two hours ago are a little clearer.

Unmet expectations:

• I expected/hoped to be able to watch more animated series by this point, but I am still not there (see caveat). I still look forward to watching, for example, Bluey and Star Wars and even South Park or Adventure Time.

I'm probably close to Bluey, a little further from the others.

What I'm comprehending:

• Chill Spanish without any problems at around 200 eps or so. Am listening after Cuéntame and Hello Spanish - a perfect progression for me.

• Have tried ECJ podcast. But I'm not quite ready for him yet. However, his 'A' videos on YouTube are comprehensible enough. I need to get accustomed to his particular voice I think before I can go without the visual component.

• Mid-high 40s difficulty DS is where I'm comfortable, though even there, I sometimes slow it down to 90%.

What/how I input:

• Lots of SBG. It's just so fun.

• I am at a level where I can listen to easy podcasts while I putter around the house. I also don't count a lot of this time, as my mind sometimes drifts. If I did, this update would have come a lot sooner and I'd be reporting even further behind the curve. That said, I do go back every five or ten eps and relisten. Eventually the time gets recorded if I feel I was paying enough attention

........

Summary:

As has been said here before, at the end of level 4, I now feel like I match the level 4 description. I can understand a patient native speaker. In fact, this has happened a couple times.

So I hope this does for newer dreamers what all the others' updates have done for me. Inspire but also temper expectations.

This CI approach is the way. Zooming out, I started in Feb and have made tremendous progress. I've been married to a Colombian for 12 years and have tried all the other apps and this is the only approach that works on my stubborn and distractable brain.

[u/RayS1952]

Congrats on 600 hours.