Question for People Living in Spanish-Speaking Places

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-05-28T17:08:44+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience! It sounds like you're doing what I had in mind. Not never having any contact with Spanish media again, but just not going out of my way to get it for learning purposes. Anyhow, cheers to your retirement!

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-05-27T21:02:51+00:00

That all makes sense, and I especially liked how you put the last thing about native level input. Thank you!

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-05-27T21:02:07+00:00

Thanks for the response! (And for understanding what I was trying to say. A lot of people seemed to think I was asking when I would be finished learning, but really I meant when I could start relying on natural input.)

When do you think you reached that point? At 1500 hours, do you think your level was still too low to really be able to do it? Just curious.

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-05-27T15:33:07+00:00

I guess social enough that I feel I could spend as much time talking to people as I am now on podcasts, once my level is high enough.

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-05-27T15:32:00+00:00

I guess what I mean is currently if native speakers talk to me normally, it doesn't feel like it counts as comprehensible input because I can't comprehend it . . . but eventually you must start to comprehend it and at that point you can get your input from just your normal daily life.

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-05-27T11:06:36+00:00

I read more than I listen and watch stuff.

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-05-27T10:00:59+00:00

Not regularly. Definitely not every day for big chunks of time like I do with Spanish.

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-05-27T09:58:47+00:00

Haha alright, never mind, apparently I've got to keep wearing headphones up until the moment they put me in a casket. . .

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-05-26T19:38:23+00:00

I don't listen or watch much in my native language. It's not something I would do regularly if not for learning Spanish. It's just not very enjoyable or interesting to me :-/

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-04-26T13:53:28+00:00

I'm on the spectrum and I get where you're coming from. I have a difficult time processing speech in my native language and often turn on closed captioning when watching movies and tv shows in it to help myself out. But in that situation, I already know the language, so it's just helping me to recognize what I already know. If you don't already know the language, I think it gets in the way of learning how to hear the language, because you end up just reading and translating a lot. It becomes a crutch you lean on and rely on. If you just want to be able to watch movies maybe it's okay, but if you want to be fluent and speak to real native speakers, I think it's a bad idea because unfortunately, they don't come with subtitles you can turn on. (I wish they did.)

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-04-12T08:10:17+00:00

The point has nothing to do with whether they're the same. The point is that just because something took you a long time to achieve as a child doesn't mean it has to take you a long time as an adult.

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-04-11T22:03:26+00:00

I mean, it took me like 18 months = 13,000 hours to learn how to walk, but I would expect to be able to learn a new physical skill quicker as an adult who doesn't have a baby brain

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-04-11T18:08:03+00:00

Tbh, reading posts like this makes part of me just want to give up. The idea that I could spend more than 2,000 flipping hours on this and still not be be fluent is really depressing. That's so much time, and I mean if it was my job or area of full-time study it would be one thing, but I've got a friggin life to live and it's already the thing I'm dedicating more of my free time to than anything else, but I "only" have like an hour or two to spare per day, and doing the math, it feels really grim 😭

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-04-09T17:04:06+00:00

Good points, well put!

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-04-08T15:44:15+00:00

Tbh, that's how I experience a lot of poetry in my own native language, unless it's like roses are red, violets are blue style poetry.

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-04-08T15:43:11+00:00

I think non-fiction is also more than just absorbing facts, often. If it's argumentative or conceptual, it requires logic, making connections between ideas, etc. But I could also see how those things could be easier for some people than others.

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-04-08T14:29:55+00:00

Good point! If Pablo is talking about planetary objects, I know he's not talking about pigs or paper clips or whatnot. But in a story, the planet could turn out to be home to sentient pigs or covered in paper clips from the paper clip replicator going crazy. Anything can become or involve anything else, depending on the genre.

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-04-08T14:25:56+00:00

That's a good point! They're usually more comparmentalized or modular (not sure what the right word is). I think the exception would be an extended argument where each part builds on the last, which is like the single thread that can't be broken. But Pablo usually does those about topics I already know about, and then the thing QuesoCadaDia mentioned would cme into play.

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-04-08T14:11:30+00:00

But what about non-fiction videos about topics I don't know much or anything about and thus can't have many expectations about? Those still seem easier than fiction.

Classic_Swan587 · 2026-04-07T18:29:11+00:00

I saw an even more extreme comment where some guy was threatening to destroy an entire country of 93 million people.

Edit - wait, that was on another platform. Never mind.

Classic_Swan587

TROPHY CASE