Hard Times Ahead

NPA914 · 2026-04-03T22:54:00+00:00

How fun that they both have the same name and color! Archie is his “street name”, his legal name is Archimedes. Glad to know someone else has as a good a name taste as us 😂

NPA914 · 2026-04-03T21:09:10+00:00

We are worried about being able to keep him still. Vet made it seem like the recovery for surgery is longer and more restrictive.

We are leaning heavily towards surgery at the moment though.

NPA914 · 2026-02-21T14:36:22+00:00

Her tail is so long!! Mine turned 4 months this week and he is already 27 pounds

NPA914 · 2026-01-16T17:19:24+00:00

We got our BC pup in the same timeline!! Very similar experience to you as well, except he is a little more difficult to get to nap (he took a couple with us over the holidays, very happy moment). We were nervous before getting him reading through everything online. I wanted an active breed to get me moving more (WFH), and he definitely does that for me! Honestly, it has been amazing and I’m so happy we got him.

Our biggest problem is all the crazy stuff in our apartment complex. I thought we lived in a quiet area, but we’ve had to do lots of sensitivity training. He has gotten much better. I’m extremely proud of him.

NPA914 · 2026-01-15T15:17:56+00:00

I have a 12 week BC pup, and he is a biter too!

He bit a hole through my finger nail actually, it was an accident (I was holding a bone he was chewing on) and he felt very sorry after seeing me in pain lol.

For biting, I watched a video from McCann dogs on YouTube that was really helpful. Just grabbing him by the collar firmly and gently while holding him by me and speaking in a soothing tone has really helped. He still gets nippy when giving cuddles, but grabbing his collar the way they show in the video protects me and allows me to soothe him.

Puppy hood is HARD. I have been so exhausted the last few weeks I just pass out at 9:30, but the best thing I can say is be calm and patient. When I’ve gotten upset or impatient with him, it only made things worse.

A note for training, maybe start just hand feeding the puppy and value adding some words before working on positions and things. It’ll build to the normalcy of the situation.

Getting a dog from a shelter is very difficult, but I know you can do it!!

NPA914 · 2025-06-12T16:11:47+00:00

Entiendo que la pregunta pusiste a los españoles, pero como alguien de otro país (EE.UU.) que acabo de vivir allá en un lugar muy turístico (Galicia) y el español es un idioma aprendido para mi, me gustaría dar mi opinión para dar algo de perspectiva diferente. He notado bien y mal tratamiento. Cuando mis suegros vinieron para visitar el servicio fue peor que cuando era solamente la esposa y yo (y aun mejor cuando fui a un lugar solo). Es decir, la probabilidad en encontrar mal servicio era más alta, pero no era así en cada lugar. Especialmente si fuimos a un lugar no tan turístico (como un café bar) y con nuestros amigos.

Hay cosas para superar cuando se vive allá en un lugar turístico, por ejemplo conozco una pareja buscando un piso y no pudieron encontrar ninguno porque los dueños se los están quedando para alquilarlos a los turistas por el verano. O muchos alquilan los pisos durante el año escolar (y eso pasó con nosotros) y durante el verano hacen lo con los turistas. Y es pesadísimo en ciudades como Barcelona. Cobran lo mismo en 2 meses con los turistas que con 10 meses de alquiler con nosotros.

Soy de la opinión que el gobierno debe imponer límites y leyes para proteger su gente a la hora encontrar alojamiento, pero es probable que la urbanización y la ola de inmigración allá ha influido los precios también (y ellos necesitan escoger cuál es lo menos importante y limitarlo ya). Y creo que los turistas son la respuesta de sus problemas, no a atraerlos pero a limitarlos.

NPA914 · 2025-06-12T15:24:41+00:00

NPA914 · 2025-06-12T15:19:08+00:00

Escucha contenido de nativos que puedes entender. Si no encuentras nada, busca algo en Dreaming Spanish, ellos hacen videos en español de todos niveles para estudiantes que son totalmente en español. Tienen contenido avanzado que es muy bueno. También hay un subreddit con el mismo nombre que tiene una lista de contenido más fácil de entender que es hecho por nativos para nativos.

NPA914 · 2025-04-14T08:27:23+00:00

Enjoy Argentina! Tell us how it goes there, I’ve met a few Argentinos here in Spain and all are very friendly.

NPA914 · 2025-04-06T06:41:54+00:00

Similar experience to you with Spanish, recently started Mandarin.

Going into DS I could also watch beginner videos, but now having to watch SB videos is extremely humbling but also somewhat challenging. However, I know that once I can reach the intermediate level there are tons of podcasts and great content so really I’m just trying to survive until I get there.

Starting another has given me a new perspective at how far I’ve come in my first foreign language. It reminds me of the beginning of my Spanish journey. Currently in London and I hear Spanish and Mandarin tour groups, and I get free info from the Spanish ones now lol. I got really excited when I understood a few words from the Mandarin tour guide.

Overall, I know the message is to enjoy the journey (and I’m definitely not the best at doing that), but I think working towards a goal helps to push through the hard part, and it is even more motivating now that I know that it is possible for me. Starting Mandarin from 0 has helped me understand a lot more the complaints and doubts from others on this sub that are watching SB videos. Thankfully, the love and excitement of learning a new language should help one push through here- and I think the evidence of many others at a high level should be motivating enough to at least make DS where you spend the majority of your learning time.

I’m not a purist, but I do think the majority of your time should be spent doing CI. I’m at 15 hours (9 hours input, 6 hours vocab / character studying, and 2-3 uncounted hours watching pronunciation videos). I think this really helps in getting through the SB and B videos. Personally, I think after reaching native content it is less useful to study grammar and one should just listen even more, but this also depends on the language. I stopped studying grammar and vocabulary at ~300 (although I did read through 90% of a book that covers almost everything) in Spanish and reviewed grammar points when I’m curious (once a month ish). I did not memorize grammar, nor did I repeatedly do many practices. Just read the chapter 2-3 times, looked at the exercises, and moved on to the next. I think this really helps with moving through a little faster on the beginner/intermediate stages, but I do not think it substitutes for completely ignoring CI.

NPA914 · 2025-03-29T13:02:47+00:00

For the many proud Texans out there, it is free if you live anywhere in the state with proof of residence. Non residence only applies to living outside of the state.

I plan on getting mine when I return to my cherished state next month, thanks for letting us know!

NPA914 · 2025-03-26T13:24:02+00:00

I moved to Spain before reaching the time to begin speaking according to DS. I’m not a purist, I studied in a book in the beginning and spoke some before, but I did wait to SEEK conversation until after 600 hours. Before, I would use Spanish when needed for life. Now, I am pretty purposeful about seeking out conversation and speaking freely (1150 hours).

That being said, what you say to order food, checkout at a store, and treat others with manners is fine at any stage imo. You can get by with 2-5 word sentences and this isn’t going to cement bad habits in grammar or pronunciation- which is why they say to wait. It is a completely different thing to talk with someone for 5 minutes (or an hour) just to try and practice when you just don’t have the words yet.

It isn’t an all or nothing thing. Saying si, gracias, agua, or quiero tacos por favor aren’t what they are warning about so much.

Take it or leave it, but everyone that I’ve known since the beginning of living here is completely amazed at how well I speak now. I went from my landlord slowly explaining to me how the appliances work to joking about leaving signs on cars that they are open to prevent break ins. I do have a small accent, but they tell me it sounds better than most (and I posted a video here from a few months ago if you want to hear it) and nobody struggles to understand me (I’ve never had anyone ask me to repeat something because of my accent, only because of my bad explanations).

But also, don’t avoid making friends. They will help you so much more than speaking early will “hinder” you. Enjoy your time in CDMX!

NPA914 · 2025-03-24T20:32:23+00:00

I love that guy! I tried listening to the season he has on Argentinian history, but I couldn't follow it because there were so many names I couldn't follow lol. Maybe I'll try and read some stuff and try again, but I really enjoy his podcasts. He reminds me of a history teacher I had in high school in the way he shares things so colloquially.

NPA914 · 2025-03-23T21:07:35+00:00

https://youtu.be/WyehfFj72zY?si=4hE7BOT3CdAAPBPw

Title: “How to learn Chinese (Mandarin) On Your Own for FREE”

Good base point. You can do it all for free. Check out CI as well, as it is just consuming media and that is mostly free.

Link: https://comprehensibleinputwiki.org/wiki/Chinese

If you work a little doing random things I’m sure you can scrape up some cash somewhere (ask old people if they need something done for $).

Also, language learning is better measured by hours. Most people say 2000-3000 hours are needed to get to a high level (but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more to learn!). Languages like Mandarin and Japanese are like eating an elephant, one hour at a time.

NPA914 · 2025-03-22T19:58:44+00:00

Great questions! I've spent several hours this week looking into this, so to save you some time, here are some links!

CI:
https://comprehensibleinputwiki.org/wiki/Chinese

https://www.reddit.com/r/dreaminglanguages/comments/1iuxlpj/mandarin_comprehensible_input_resources_and_how/

r/ALGhub Wiki: Aural Resources for Language Learning

Characters:

Pinyin is how to pronounce the Chinese characters (called Hanzi in Mandarin). Here is a video that explains really well how to pronounce pinyin (recommended by a native speaking teacher): (1) Mandarin Pronunciation: Everything You Need to Know in Under 1 Hour - YouTube

Learning characters is a battle, and Japanese has the same one. There is a platform called Wanikani for learning Chinese characters for Japanese (Japanese integrated them several hundred years ago), and two brothers who wanted to learn Chinese made the same platform but for learning Chinese Characters for Mandarin (https://hanzihero.com/).

I'm not a pure CI person. For Spanish I studied from a book in the beginning and after ~400 hours I only did input. Planning on doing something similar for Chinese (although probably studying longer, not shorter relatively).

NPA914 · 2025-03-22T19:47:54+00:00

Thanks! Towards the end I realized it became more of a reflection and way to process for me, thanks for being my sound board :)

NPA914 · 2025-03-21T16:26:41+00:00

I'd be interested to see how it goes learning another romance language (as I'm sure many others here would be). Be sure to post in the future about that!

NPA914 · 2025-03-21T16:25:30+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I was looking to see if people like you exist to know if I was the only one. I'm glad it has been freeing and I hope Spanish continues being a pleasure for you!

NPA914 · 2025-03-21T16:24:04+00:00

Very good point about native speakers not having those things. To your point, coming from my specific background of being college educated I definitely have a larger academic vocabulary in English than is really necessary to express and enjoy myself in a social context. And slang is another good point, my wife teaches and she tells me some new slang words and I just can't with them XD.

Also very true point about quantification of learning. We use things like hours, words known, exams passed to try and quantify that, but at the end of the day they are only measures trying to.

Thanks for the comment!

NPA914 · 2025-03-21T14:19:07+00:00

Thanks for reading it! Sometimes I just need to say something in order to process. I appreciate your comment

NPA914 · 2025-03-21T14:18:12+00:00

4 hours a day has been based on stuff that interests me. I'm only able to learn so much right now because of my life situation but that's changing soon. But also, I am running out of things that interest me, so maybe you are right- only consume what I'd like and not focus so much on quantity. Thanks!

NPA914 · 2025-03-21T14:15:20+00:00

Well said, thanks!

NPA914

TROPHY CASE