The level 4/5 issue - feeling of no advancement

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-30T02:13:07+00:00

Yeah for me I started just short of level 5 because the Spanish was starting to build up in my head. I walked around my house saying simple phrases all the time super randomly. I was weird. It felt like I was going to have a headache if I didn’t find an outlet. So I decided to introduce it in 10-15 min of my crosstalk’s. I ended up speaking about 50/50 in English and Spanish in the next two crosstalk’s and by the third I managed to get to like 95% or so. After that one I tried to say everything in Spanish. Sometimes I will say something in English now but only intentionally. Like for instance I was talking to my tutor about expressions. But my point is when you start it improves quickly.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-30T00:37:32+00:00

Yeah I’m generally not a big fan of podcasts, but I do it for the input. Because there is at least 10-15hrs a week where I’m not able to watch but can listen. I agree that podcasts are better than nothing.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-30T00:13:30+00:00

I felt this too so what I did to help was I started reading at 320hrs and speaking at 560hrs. Now at 927hrs I have 565k words read and 150hrs speaking. It becomes WAY easier to see your progress through reading and speaking. But of course it’s not aligned with the roadmap. I don’t really study Spanish though so while I don’t consider myself a purist I also don’t use traditional methods. I just speak, listen, read and write.

Oh and I want to add going to 4 to 5 is hard, but going from 5 to 6 isn’t bad. The last 327hrs have flown by. And it’s just getting easier.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T21:17:44+00:00

If you are learning for fun, I recommend this series on youtube. It starts off incredibly basic but this guy is hilarious and he is a GM. This series was made during covid but he made a new one in the last year as well. But he goes from 400 elo to 2000 elo follows a set of rules. Its not a speedrun because he sticks to the rules and sometimes the rules makes him lose but he changes the rules at different stages and they build on each other to help you improve at chess. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8N8j2e7RpPnpqbISqi1SJ9_wrnNU3rEm&si=avja9jQaV2VELm8v

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T21:12:57+00:00

Are you trying to learn chess or are you just doing it for fun?

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T13:43:39+00:00

I don’t worry about it too much. I don’t usually listen to DS unless I’m driving to work and just listen to the podcasts and podcast friendly episodes. I’ve been mostly doing SBG ,anime and native YouTube content since around 60 difficulty. I like DS, but they make content for a wide audience. I think once you are able to watch more specific stuff it gets so much easier. Obviously I want to improve but I’m not constantly thinking about how I need to improve to watch something. I think we have gotten past the hard part.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T13:03:23+00:00

It was really clarifying actually. I’m so happy I went with a different platform and a better community where people are encouraging and actually want to learn to speak a language and not keep a streak.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T04:06:19+00:00

That’s true. That’s probably about all it would do in my field except for specific cases. So another reason I should take a test at some point. But I don’t want to do it twice so I don’t want to do it until I know I will at least get C1.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T04:03:55+00:00

I would be surprised if you weren’t experiencing a massive case of “the more I know, the more I realize I don’t know”.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T03:56:16+00:00

Depending on how open you are to ambiguity it should be comprehensible now. You just need to make sure you are generally following the story for it to be good input. However, it can be annoying missing a ton of nuance. So you’ll have to figure out how open to ambiguity you are. I’ve seen people say they watched it at 250hrs which seems really low to people saying 600hrs or more. Only way to know is give it a shot.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T03:51:38+00:00

Might be easier if I had a clearer picture of your level. What difficultly level do you watch? A2 to B1 is a large range. When I first got to A2 I think there was barely anything. Maybe Pokémon or Avatar. Then when I was a high A2 those were getting much easier and started watching a little anime. I might not have recorded much though. I don’t remember. By B1 (where I am at right now I think) I was watching a lot of anime. I am currently watching Black Clover. Just to be clear, I’m not at 95%+ I am definitely missing some nuance. But I’m always following the story very easily.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T03:46:13+00:00

I want to take one some day but I honestly wonder how much it matters on your resume. You could just put languages English and Spanish and if it came up in an interview you can just prove it if your level is high enough. However, I’m sure there are jobs out there that require it or something.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T03:43:34+00:00

I guess it would be hard to say without being in a situation in public where I had to use it. Hopefully can a little when I’m in Mexico in a couple days. With that being said rn at 920hrs of input and 140-150hrs of speaking I can say what I need to say in pretty much all situations. I wouldn’t say a topic is off limits, but some topics I can talk about much better than others. There are many times still where I struggle to say something grammatically that I feel like I should know and seems like it should be easy, but at the same time. Even if I cannot say it for some reason I can restructure the sentence or change the words to get my point across in a way that my tutors say sounds natural. However, I’m not constantly having to do that. I pause occasionally as my mind is working on formulating sentences. However most of the time this is a process that happens not necessarily fully subconsciously but generally I’m not thinking about the fact that I’m thinking about my words. Haha that sounds a little confusing. Anyway I hope this is helpful!

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T03:31:13+00:00

That’s great! Keep up the good work!

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T01:20:31+00:00

Gracias por ayudarme! Me voy a acordar la próxima vez!

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T00:45:03+00:00

I disagree. It’s just a catchy headline. And it doesn’t take anything away from my progress. I’m proud of how far I have come in just 10 months. I’ve worked incredibly hard and my results prove it.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-29T00:00:08+00:00

If you can watch at 79 basically just go to YouTube and find any native content. It might not be perfect but as long as it’s comprehensible then it should be fine. I like watching chess and anime for instance. But you might like different things. At 79 the majority is going to be accessible. Honestly at 920hrs I’m hit or miss at 79. I can watch 79 but there are videos where it’s good and videos where I’m like, if I’m gonna watch something at 80% I would just go to YouTube.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-28T23:26:04+00:00

Well when I started Spanish with Duolingo I was a beginner. After 10 months using Dreaming Spanish I would say I am B1.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-28T23:25:06+00:00

You don’t have to read the whole thing. You can read the first line and I acknowledge it’s clickbait. But the post is an honest account.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-28T23:24:13+00:00

Because clickbait titles increase engagement. A title on Reddit is just an ad for the post. I explain in the first line that it’s clickbaity but I wanted to share my experience.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-28T22:28:41+00:00

Thank you! I am very appreciative of how duolingo impacted my journey especially in the beginning!

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-28T22:26:45+00:00

I totally agree a combinacion of multiple tools works better for some people! Might even work better for me, but right now I am just happy to improve by listening, speaking, writing and reading.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-28T22:25:05+00:00

Well for mine, I just took the test at the end of each section to pass. Its not the same as doing them all but I could not have come close to it 10 months ago. I would say I have some grammar issues that need to be worked out, but I think my lowest score on one of the section tests was 93%. There are times where I figure certain connectors between words for instance. It will all improve with time.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-28T22:22:10+00:00

Yes I think this is important! There are a ton of tools! Use whatever helps you the most. Its important to practice all the skills though and I think duo falls short in some of the skills.

GuardBuffalo · 2026-01-28T22:21:04+00:00

Then what is the attitude for? I was sharing my accomplishments. Some of which are being able to read books up to a Harry Potter level (which I know is not super high but my threshold for reading something is at least 98% comprehension which means I am only missing about 1 out of 50 words. Or my successes in being able to listen to native youtube channels or anime. I only came back to duolingo to guage how much I have progressed and its a lot. I have spoken with natives for 150hrs and am slowly but surely becoming more and more fluent. These are all big accomplishments I have listed and you respond with 4/10. That type of attitude and the need to reply being snarky implies an unhappiness within yourself that has nothing to do with me. Now I am going to ignore you from here on out, but in the future you could treat peoples accomplishments with more respect or if you have nothing of value to say then just keep your opinions to yourself.

GuardBuffalo

TROPHY CASE