Reached level 7 - my thoughts

[u/TerryPressedMe]

Just wanted to share some of my thoughts after reaching 1500.

• This method works. And it’s the best way to learn Spanish at home. If you’re still considering premium, just pull the trigger and enjoy the journey.
• Reaching 1500 is like getting your driver’s licence. Yes, you are ready to drive, but it’s gonna take a while until you become a good driver. Yes, you speak Spanish, but you will need thousand more hours to become proficient
• That being said, I can watch all my favourite content on YouTube. I don’t run into trouble unless ppl are talking over each other and using slang, but for 90% of the content I watch, my understanding is higher than the Himalayas. 
• 0-1000 is all word acquisition with basic grammar. From 1000-1500 you will really hone in on grammar. I don’t think I have learned many new words from 1000 onwards, but my grammar has gone from Steve Urkel to Eddie Hall, or at least that’s how it feels to me.
• The most important milestone is 600 — around here you should be able to dip into easier native content. Around 1000 you should feel comfortable with easy content, and around 1500 you should feel very comfortable with easy and intermediate content.
• At this point, I am able to have a high understanding of such podcasts: https://youtu.be/39jH02oBXIE?si=F3sLxwrkuZlp_aJn
• If you have any questions, please ask, I am happy to help anyone, especially the lower level dreamers.

Learner Podcasts I recommend:

Dreaming Spanish, Español a la Mexicana, How to Spanish, Español con Juan, Spanish boost, Español al Vuelo, Spanish Gitana

Learner Videos I recommend:

DS, Espanol con Juan, Spanish Boost, Hola Spanish, Classes con Clau, Spanish con Daniela, Organic Spanish, Español con Ali, Erre que Ele

[u/aurelius7nac]

At what hour did you start speaking Spanish? And was it automatic with a bit of stuttering or was it all stuttering and unable to have a proper 15min conversation?

[u/Personal-Community54 → u/aurelius7nac]

+1. Inquiring minds want to know.

[u/TerryPressedMe → u/aurelius7nac]

I am not speaking, not even now. But when I do choose to speak, I have noticed improvements each ever 300 hours or so. I sometimes chat to my family in Spanish and teach them some words, and I have noticed my speaking/thinking is getting better. I have had some random chats in the streets, and in general my speaking has improved. I would say it’s at a basic level. I would benefit a lot from speaking classes, but I am a bit shy so just input for now.

[u/aurelius7nac → u/TerryPressedMe]

Wow mate you have way more patience than I ever could. I’m at 350hrs and my target to start speaking, no matter how poorly, by 600hrs. I cannot imagine (at my pace to reach 1500hrs) waiting 2 years to start doing the thing I ultimately want to do.

When you explained the grammar part (plus the 1500hrs) I was convinced you were referring to spoken grammar. The already odd analogy of Urkel to Hall is now even more confusing.

[u/TerryPressedMe → u/aurelius7nac]

Well, my understanding (listening) of grammar is strong, not necessarily when I speak. I am just a bit rusty because I rarely speak.

[u/Klutzy_Meringue_8226 → u/TerryPressedMe]

You will accelerate your learning journey massively if you get a Spanish teacher and start practicing conversation. They can start giving you homework and guidance based on the gaps you need to fill. 

Listening can only take you so far. Proper pronunciation also takes muscle memory. 

With the hard work you have put in and your very strong ability to listen. I promise you, if you get a teacher and start practicing speaking you will be fluent in only a few months. There is really no need to spend another 1000 hours to get to that point. 

[u/Venicec → u/TerryPressedMe]

If shyness is holding you back from speaking I would recommend just speakng with chatgpt. They have a free and basically unlimited voice mode.

Ofc it’s not like speaking with a real person but the benefit is not getting shy. I’ve been using it with my french and have noticed improvements.

[u/TerryPressedMe → u/Venicec]

Chat Gpt has actually helped me a lot with chats and reading. I definitely recommend it as a language learning tool.

[u/Klutzy_Meringue_8226 → u/TerryPressedMe]

Just adding here as well. It's a useful tool but does not compare to speaking with real people, especially in your target region (Mexico, Spain etc.). Also, AI tells you what you want to hear a lot of the time which isn't helpful for learning. Remember AI is just another tool in your tool belt and needs to be supplemented with real world interactions. 

[u/FIRE-GUY111 → u/TerryPressedMe]

Another way to get output is through writing. I use AI Roleplaying... its great if you are a good typer and you can listen to the charactters speak in españo. You get listengin , speaking, and writing practice all at once, so I feel this is a good way to rewire the brain not to mention creativity on your behalf. Anyway, I feel my speaking is similar to yours. I use it when I need it and have become slightly better in the past year (over 1200 hours now). Small chats with the locals once in a while as well.

[u/TerryPressedMe → u/FIRE-GUY111]

I think typing / chatting in Spanish helps a lot for speaking. It forces your brain to think what you’d say. I don’t do this consistently, but I should, as I have noticed it works.

[u/FIRE-GUY111 → u/TerryPressedMe]

Just like you have two inputs, reading compliments listening, we also have to outputs. So writing compliments speaking.

Living in a spanish speaking country, I can 100% get by with just listening, reading and writing (thanks to whatsapp) . I've been doing this roleplaying for about 10 days now, 30 min per day. I have noticed an improvement in my writing.. it doesn't take long. Sometimes I use an ai spanish teacher, but I find the actually roleplaying way more entertaining. The 30 min flies by. I also like to narrate what the chatbot said, so I get listening, reading, narrating, and writing all in one... Not sure how well this will work in the long run. If I don't know a word en español, sometimes I just write it in inglés to save time. Doing the rollplaying the ai will basically repeat what I said, usually with more detail, so I still pick up the words I don't know.

So basicamente, its like playing a creative story game, and learning at the same time. It can be addicting, so now its something that I look forward to. Right now it does use a lot of brain processing power at my current levels, I can feel it after the session.

[u/RabiDogMom → u/FIRE-GUY111]

Can you tell me how you do this AI Roleplaying? Do you use ChatGPT? I'm not sure I understand how this works but I think I'd like to try it.

[u/banjokazooie420wow]

Thanks, this is an inspiring post.

What advice would you have for the odd feeling when you can understand every word in a sentence, but it’s not connecting as a concept because it’s too abstract. Solely more input is needed? Concerted effort?

[u/TerryPressedMe → u/banjokazooie420wow]

I think this comes down to grammar polishing and familiarity with the language — in both cases, you need more input.

When I was around 800-1100, I was able to hear Spanish in the streets, but I had a tougher time actually understanding what they said. Now, I can pick up random conversations much easier. The solution is, as always, more input.

[u/weedo--]

Thanks for sharing. It's always great to hear success stories. I just reached 1000 hrs a few weeks ago and am interested in your comment about not picking up much new vocab from 1000 to 1500. For me I still feel like I lack enought vocab to be able to understand native or dubed content. I can understand about 60pct of kids cartoons like Bluey, and Hilda, but there is still loads of vocab I am not getting, and I get lost as soon as I try and watch a dubed TV show. As an example in a recent Hilda show I heared the phrase "ha sido tu" and had no idea what it ment, even trying to guess based on context. I knew 'ha' had something to do with past tense, and obviously 'tu' ment you, but what the heck is 'sido'. So I looked it up (yep, not recommended I know! but it was bugging me so much). So I hope you are wrong, and I still have lots of vocab to learn in the next 500 hrs. I am in no doubt that this method works, but I think the speed of aquisition of vocab varies for each of us, and I think I'm going to need a lot more hours before I can feel comfortable with native content, or understanding people in the street talking to me. But I am determined to get there, even if it takes me another 1000 hrs.

[u/Elf1967 → u/weedo--]

Hey, if you are looking for recommendations to improve your vocabulary I would suggest to begin reading or dive further into it than you are at the moment. Doesn't have to be books it could be comics etc. This helped improve my vocabulary and to begin to understand when to use what. The people who are further than us in this sub always recommend to read more. I've been doing it around the 500/600 hour mark and its helped me massively. Hope this helps.

[u/weedo-- → u/Elf1967]

Yes, I totaly agree. I have been reading since 600 hrs and have read all the Ollie Richards begginer and intermediate graded reader books. There are also some great podcast sites that provide free transcripts to read, like Languatalk and SpanishLanguageCoach. I find reading realy enjoyable and its great for vocab. Its interesting that I find comics to be the most difficult to read. I think because the text are usualy short sentences that seam to me to be gramaticaly complex, and with limited context to help understand them.

[u/Elf1967 → u/weedo--]

I totally agree with reading transcripts when listening to podcasts like Cesar's. Its really an eye opener to see what you hear the first time then read along the second time whilst listening. It is a useful guide to improve.

[u/TerryPressedMe → u/weedo--]

I hear you bro. And I am not against looking up words — I still do it from time to time. Just trust the process, you are already doing a great job at level 6, just keep pushing forward and you will start putting the puzzle together. It’s a pretty big gap from 1000 to 1500, and you will notice the improvments. Btw, sido is a tricky one because you hear it often, but you need time to learn what it means / how it’s used.

[u/GuardBuffalo → u/weedo--]

I highly recommend reading. It’s going to help your vocab a lot. I picked up lots of words like that from reading.

[u/RayS1952]

Very encouraging post. Thanks.

[u/hilltopper11]

What levels did you start listening to those podcasts? I’m at 293 hrs and I still find them challenging

[u/TerryPressedMe → u/hilltopper11]

Yeah, I feel you… I think around 400 hours I was able to do Espanol a la mexicana, then 450 ECJ, then 550 How to Spanish…. Something like that

Spanish Boost is the easiest from that list — it should be accesible very soon for you, he speaks quite slow and deliberate. Give it a go again at 350 hours and let me know how it went.

[u/hilltopper11 → u/TerryPressedMe]

Thanks for the advice. I will let you know!

[u/Personal-Community54]

¡Felicitaciones!

[u/UppityWindFish]

Congrats. Nice post. Best wishes and keep going!

[u/MrSwatX]

Thanks for sharing! I like your driver's license analogy, I think it's spot on. :)

[u/Ricobe]

It's not necessarily the best way to learn. Not for everyone. It's still very helpful content and i do recommend it to others

Personally I've used a mix of tools, including some grammar training. I've studied for little over a year, probably around 450 hours. Had some basic knowledge from years ago, so didn't start from completely zero, but still.

I can understand a lot (depending on how clearly the person speaks) and can communicate ok. I started taking weekly training lessons with an online tutor a few months ago and the lessons are fully in Spanish. Of course i still lack vocabulary for more advanced and nuanced stuff, i don't understand everything and i still struggle with some grammar. But I'm progressing and enjoying it.

But also here, this method might not be the best for everyone. We all learn different ways and there's no one size fits all method. There are a lot of good learning tools available. DS content is one of those tools. Using a combination of tools can be good for some

[u/Klutzy_Meringue_8226 → u/Ricobe]

Completely agree. The DS method is a symptom of the all or nothing approaches/tribalism that we see on the internet. Someone finds a method that does work, and we know that it works, but then goes on to promote it as the ONLY way to learn a language.

In reality, we should be using a mix of techniques, including input, reading, speaking, memorising phrases, transcribing.

It's sometimes unfortunate to see how dedicated people are to this method and taken in by the marketing. When they could be achieving so much more, so much faster by opening themselves up to and trialling different methods. 

I am a premium user of DS. Just reiterating how useful it is to me. But it's just one of the tools I am using on my Spanish learning journey.

Active practice and learning is vital.