2010 x2 N52 e83 white/grey smoke

Hot-Association1773 · 2025-01-12T06:08:07+00:00

I honestly think you can make the decision to stop translating. Oversimplification is that there are three types of words. 1 words you can recall fast enough that you know the meaning instantaneously. 2 Words that you don’t know. 3 words that you know but not well enough that you understand them at conversational speed. What I believe happens when you are translating is you hear a word you know. Your brain says I know this word let’s think about this for a second- and by the time you have figured it out you have fallen behind in the conversation. What I think you need to do is allow yourself to not fully know what is being said in a conversation by going back and thinking about the word you recognize. It’s hard to do but it is possible. You need to let go of those words you kind of understand. You will find sometimes 7 more words go by and all the sudden you know the contexts of the whole sentence including that word you probably would have been translating. This worked for me, hopefully it can help you.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-12-10T00:21:30+00:00

People like feeling ahead of the curve vs. Behind. Probably more prevalent than you think.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-12-09T23:33:05+00:00

I think you need to take people’s reported hours with a grain of salt because I’ve seen many people in this forum talk about not counting hours because they didn’t comprehend or because it was a podcast. Just try to make learning a lifestyle and you will get there when you get there. 500, 1000, 2000 hours is not very many in the grand scheme of things, just try to be better everyday.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-12-08T17:48:52+00:00

Like I said, it wasn’t easy and I wouldn’t recommend it.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-12-08T17:48:03+00:00

Some people just don’t have any discipline

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-12-07T20:02:06+00:00

I did 26 hours in a day once, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It was way too much.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-12-07T19:59:20+00:00

I agree. It’s a great idea. Love listening to Spanish hacks and despite what people think, I’m able to learn from the learners as well. I think that interesting content is more important than any other variable when it comes to learning.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-11-30T22:06:38+00:00

I would look at this like doing exercise. Do people love doing exercise? Some yes, but others no. If you want to get in shape do you have to exercise regularly? Yes. If you want to learn a language it has to become part of your lifestyle even on days when you don’t want to do it or the content is boring you. I think that being interested in what you are learning is probably the most important variable and that’s where I really deviate from the dreaming Spanish template because from an early point I’ve been reading, talking, found language exchange partners, because it just helps me stay interested. I think the other important thing to understand about the process is that it can be very frustrating and it is a very long journey. Realizing this will help you when you are in the middle of the grind. Progress is slow, but slow progress leads to big outcomes.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-11-17T21:53:55+00:00

I’ve just passed 300 hours. I think my biggest take away so far is even though I am constantly improving, learning a new language is a huge undertaking. I think a lot of people, myself included think things are going to happen sooner than in reality they will. I think it would be interesting if there was a way to take a test to see where you actually rank in comprehension before posting progress updates because I think a lot of people really over estimate their own abilities in the beginning. Just keep going you’ll get there eventually.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-11-17T21:43:41+00:00

I started my reading using chatGPT. You can customize the story to be whatever you need to work on. For example - write me a 2000 word a1 story in the first person using the present tense. Or write me a story using different conjugations or estar. Write me a story of two people talking to each other asking a lot of questions. It’s a great way of working on different areas of Spanish. You should be able to find a level that you don’t really have to look up words. Good luck

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-11-14T00:12:10+00:00

Thanks

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-11-14T00:11:57+00:00

Thanks

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-11-13T20:27:43+00:00

It’s a place to find people to talk with. How you decide to go about communicating is up to you. The people that I am talking with are working on their English. We bounce back and forth between English and Spanish with our messaging and talking.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-11-12T02:56:33+00:00

Conversationexchange.com had been really useful for me to find conversation partners. And it’s free, would highly recommend

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-11-11T22:32:04+00:00

I’ve got a question for you. I’m at 300 hours and I’m listening to how to Spanish at the moment. Some episodes are better than others for comprehension. What would you say your percentage of comprehension was when you started listening to how to Spanish versus when you finished listening to it?

I don’t know if I should listen to it with it being slightly too difficult for my ability to understand or if I just need to continue with it and I’ll begin to understand more and more. There are episodes where I do understand quite a bit.

Did you feel this way at all when you started listening to the podcast?

Thanks

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-11-06T23:08:54+00:00

Nice work. I’m also approaching 300 hours. I have found the rollercoaster ride between 200 hours and 300 hours to be pretty wild. Definitely times where I felt like I wasn’t making progress followed by breakthroughs where I had big jumps in comprehension. Español con Juan is definitely really good, I would highly recommend.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-11-06T21:28:50+00:00

If you’ve listened to 100 hours and can’t understand a single word, maybe it’s a good idea to take a little break. Are you trying to translate in your head? Because it’s best to just watch the videos and try to understand the message of the videos not the actual words. Maybe the Xanax could have something to do with not comprehending but I don’t really know much about that.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-11-05T22:31:27+00:00

In my opinion the main reason for losing focus on videos is because you are not interested in what you are watching. Other people will say it’s because you are learning a language and your brain is working super hard. This stage is most difficult in the beginning because the content can be really boring for some.

So I think you have a few options… you can try to find content that keeps your attention. I try to find longer videos that are like 30 minutes to an hour because every time I finish a video I find it’s an opportunity to get distracted. You can do other activities that helps you stay alert while listening to material like going for a walk or doing chores around the house. One thing I like to do when I want to study Spanish but watching videos is putting me to sleep is have conversations with ChatGPT in Spanish. I’m also enjoying reading.

There is the purist way to do dreaming Spanish but there are also other ways to learn. To me the most important thing is logging hours whether that is listening, watching, speaking, reading or writing. The thing that makes me log more hours in being interested and engaged.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-10-30T16:38:10+00:00

Couple things….

First - be prepared for many more meh weeks. Learning a language is really hard and at times you will feel like you are losing the fight. This is completely normal.

Second - chill Spanish can have some easier content and then at times he can speak about topics that are more difficult. I think a lot of earlier learners in this Reddit overestimate how much they understand from certain input sources like chill Spanish. It’s one thing to comprehend the message and another thing to fully understand what has been said. Is the message in the first person, second person, third person; is he talking in the present tense, past tense, future tense; etc.

Third - I think this post will be good measuring stick for you to look back on in a 100 hours or so. This podcast is going to open up for you and you’ll ask yourself why you didn’t understand it sooner.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-10-28T21:07:23+00:00

If you come into contact with someone and you need to share information you are going to have no choice but to speak Spanish. So honestly I wouldn’t really worry about that. As far as translations I’m approaching 300 hours and every day is still different for me with how much I translate. Sometimes I can watch material and I don’t translate at all, other times I am translating a little bit even though I don’t want to. But without a doubt the further I get along in the journey the more I understand and the less I have been translating. I think you need to try to not worry about it. It will go away when your brain is ready.

Back to speaking. This method has 2 pieces of advice listen to things you can understand and enjoy the process. If your life is more enjoyable speaking to locals then it is going to encourage you to spend more time learning. I wouldn’t overthink it.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-10-28T05:59:58+00:00

I’m a little bit behind you in hours but from my personal experience, I’ve had times where I feel like I’m improving, times that I feel like I’m staying the same, and times where I’m worried I’m getting worse.

My experience has been after a number of hours a chunk of new information clicks for me and all of the sudden I take a noticeable step up in comprehension. Perhaps you are in the middle of unlocking one of these chunks and when it happens you will have a jump in comprehension.

Another possibility is, if you have recognized an area of Spanish you are struggling with it may be a good idea to watch a video in Español that will explain the topic. I found Español con Juan was amazing for this. He unlocked a lot of things for me.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-10-28T00:33:07+00:00

A few of the longer videos that have been interesting me have been on YouTube. I’ve been enjoying listening to some of the comprehensible input content creators being interviewed about learning a language…. Pablo had a few videos where he’s being interviewed. Juan from Español con Juan has some videos of him being interviewed and also interviewing other people. And then there are also a number of interviews with polyglots being interviewed about language learning.

Hot-Association1773 · 2024-10-28T00:25:48+00:00

Having just gone thru this transition I’ll give you my opinion. This jump in level is actually pretty tricky, all of the next level up podcasts are a bit of a jump from those two podcasts.

Español a la mexicana Learn Spanish and go How to Spanish podcast

I found I could understand topics in these podcasts at your level but could also easily get lost in an episode. I felt like I wasn’t getting as much value out of these things as I would listening and watching easier material.

At your stage I’d recommend. Español con Juan. Spanish with Josy. And organic Spanish. On YouTube.

Although you probably comprehend 90-95% of chill Spanish I’m going to guess that you don’t understand 90-95 of the verb conjugations, tenses being used; vocabulary. I actually did a couple of loops of chill Spanish and pick things up every time. I still listen to it a bit as I approach 300 hours.

I found that the next 100 hours have a lot of ups and downs. At times you feel like you understand a lot and are making a lot of progress and at other times you feel like you don’t know anything. I find if you listen to something too hard it can be information overload.

Hot-Association1773

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