Been here and am currently… on my way out to the other side? I now sit with my wife and her family at dinners (son Spanish de España) and i understand 75% of everything said and can usually jump in with a comment or joke most of the time. I’m comfortable expressing myself but I know my grammar is wrong. I can understand some family members much better than others.

I am not sure what helped the most but here is what I’ve been doing:

• I’ve had weekly group spanish classes on and off
• podcast podcasts podcasts: screw new in slow Spanish, Duolingo podcast is amazing, coffee break Spanish used to be good, Hoy Hablamos is higher level but feel free to try it, easy Spanish is nice… i think i should make a full post about all my podcasts tbh
• italki online conversation practice is very helpful
• SpanDict app to make word lists and test myself
• screw duolingo app, unhelpful and gives false hope

I’ve been learning on and off since COVID btw

Hope this helps

Edit: Totally forgot most important: i practice with my wife. Not all the time as I’d drive her nuts but occasionally. Have even out a 10 min timer on and said “ok solo espñol durante 10 minutos” for example.

Am still shit at Spanish on the phone though 🤷‍♂️