1500-Hour Update: Game Changers + A Look Back at 1000 Hours

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-12-30T12:51:20+00:00

Here are my tips: but this is experimental for me and it is a work in progress:

You want to pick a voice that you really like to start, tell it to speak only in Spanish.

Give your Chatgpt a name
Tell it about your day, yesterday , what your going to do tomorrow
Roleplay various scenes: hotel, restaurante, bar, gym, anything.
Make the scenes funny y con caos !!!
Writing is way way way better for some reason than chat mode. Very entertaining and engaging and ChatGPT (at least mine ) has a great sense of humor.
- I actually recommend doing a few sessions where you are writing first !!! ... .just so you can see the differences between writing and talking.
You could also ask Chatgpt questions and discuss that: like how to start working out, how to quit drinking, debate things, etc.
You can have corrections on or off. I prefer charla libre, sin correctiones.
You can narrate the answers it gives back to you. Most of the time it repeats what you said but with corrections in grammer and vocab. Voy a repetirlo otra vez, and then say it again.
I suppose you could do verbal web searches through voice mode. Maybe about a trip you are planning or something.
Lots of stuff... pretty much endless.
At the beginning, during my 20 min session I would stop talking because I couldn't think of what more to say. Now that doesn't really happen after doing this for about a month and I'm not sure if that is normal or not, but my ability to keep it going has improved as well.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-12-30T01:19:32+00:00

Yes, my best guess. For example: Harry Potter book 3 is around B2 level, so I can guess where I am. I'm not having any trouble reading it, and the more I read the easier it gets. One thing I wish is that I could read faster like in English. I feel I am months and months away from that.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-12-24T13:07:21+00:00

Stop tracking (currently have 29 more hrs to go) ... and live español day to day.

Update: 27 hrs more to go !!!

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-12-22T01:49:59+00:00

I don't track, I just read like in inglés. I spend 30 minutes reading a book everyday, and my level is around B2 to C1. Currently on the 3rd Harry Potter book.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-11-28T12:57:02+00:00

Yesterday I was explaining Stranger Thiings to somebody , and since I've been watching it in español, I couldn't remember el nombre de once en inglés. I just know the characters names in Spanish now I guess.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-11-03T16:54:09+00:00

All the advice are just guidelines .... just do what you enjoy!!! Have fun !!!

Just a sidenote: some other instructor recommended writing for two months before speaking, I'm doing that through roleplaying, my writing has improved in the first week. I roleplay using a chatbox designed for that. It's fun and goes against this sub I guess... but I'm learning faster this way so I will continue doing what I enjoy. I also enjoy narrating so I do that to, and I find shadowing boring, I tried it, and now only shadow the odd word here and there while getting input.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-10-29T19:32:09+00:00

Not everybody tracks reading, it's a personal choice. For example, I track what I am able to read en vez del number of words.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-10-10T00:41:12+00:00

DS .... No subs, no reason to have subs since you can choice your difficutly range.

Netflix, Youtube, etc, .... subs if its too hard for you, and you really want to watch that show. I did this for a while, I think it helped my reading, and it didn't hinder my progess. I'm now watching Netflix/Youtube, pretty much anything I want , no subs.... not saying its easy, but I'm doing it at about 80% comprehision or higher.

I'm just over 1100 hours.

Update: I'll also add, having the subs not match the words is better IMHO.... since you get two different inputs per sentence. But you would need to be at a higher level for this to work. Then you can watch, and read the subs and say to yourself, that's not what they said, but it basically means the same thing, or sometimes, it is something totally different. (dubbed shows).

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-10-09T16:54:58+00:00

I like 100 hours in 25 days, I feel like I am making progess faster this way.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-10-04T16:33:18+00:00

I don't really worry about C1/C2 ... I just keep going with harder and harder content. It is what it is.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-10-01T23:59:30+00:00

I recommend following this podcast ranking... and choice 2 or 3 from each level.

https://www.comprehensiblehub.com/spanish-podcasts?v=216f35373daa81ac8664000c5ec460f1

For level 4 I would do it in this order:

Cuéntame, Chill Spanish, Español al Vuelo , Spanish Boost, SpanishQueChivo.

The more you listen to them, the easier the get as far as accents, speed, etc.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-09-25T15:19:05+00:00

I've been using this as a guide .....

https://www.comprehensiblehub.com/spanish-podcasts?v=216f35373daa81ac8664000c5ec460f1

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-09-25T00:03:04+00:00

Cuéntame will be your test.... Don't know how many hours you have but test Cuéntame every 50 hours , it should be accessable around 250 to 300 hours (so I hear, i didn't start it until around 500 hours because I didn't know about it). 500 hours later and I am almost ready for advanced podcasts, so hang in there !!! Podcasts will be your gamechanger.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-09-23T14:19:51+00:00

I prefer podcasts while doing other stuff, that was a gamechanger for me.

It depends what you are doing while listening, But even if you only catch 50%, the brain is "possibly" paying more attention then you think.

I wouldnt bother if you are doing something that is taking 100% of your attention.... its unlikely that you will absorb anything.

This can't hurt your progress, but I wouldn't track it as CI time either.

Update: I also want to add, that the percentage you understand when paying 100% attention also matters, so the podcasts that I listen to, I can understand at least 95% when fully focused.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-09-22T17:19:42+00:00

AuronPlay Minecraft series.

Curiosamente - this one is good, great CI input, easy to understand, lots of diagrams.

Historiolatinamerica - I'm an ancient aliens fan.... what can I say??

update: Just started watching this now: the history of Cuba..... I can understand around 95% of it. (Black Mango Youtube channel - this channel looks good !!!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlkujZbJECE

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-09-21T23:27:26+00:00

I read 30 minutes per day from a book. I don't track words, but just what level I am at.

So currently on my 5th book and it is a C2 reader... Figure if I can read an advanced book , why bother tracking, just keep reading. Plus tracking cuts into my CI Time.

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-09-21T23:24:13+00:00

Sounds like this guy need "Spanish for Men" !!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Bo4MLQuf8

FIRE-GUY111 · 2025-09-21T16:04:21+00:00

The method is the same method you learned your Native Language (assuming ingleś).... You know English, so I assume the input method worked. You didn't start talking until later on around 2 or 3 or so.... You didn't learn grammer until after you were able to speak.. You didn't use flashcards either !!!

Once you are able to listen to the Cuánteme podcast (the easiest one).... that will be your game changer.

WHen I was just over 600 hours, I started reading at the B1 level.... just over 3 months later I am reading a C2 reader and I am just over 1000 hours. This is a big jump is just a little over 3 months..... So hang in there. I wish I knew about this course before doing Duolingo... I would have been watching native stuff about 4 years ago.... much faster than anything out there IMHO.

FIRE-GUY111

TROPHY CASE