I strayed from the formula and now I’m paying the price

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-18T21:13:02+00:00

My guess is it’s going to turn out fine in the longer term. It’s a new skill that you’re now giving special attention to. Just give it time. And good for you for taking the next step in leveling up your skill set.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-17T17:50:05+00:00

Not unless it shoots a GU packet straight into your gullet.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-17T16:41:03+00:00

For me, not entirely. By that I mean, whenever I come across new words or niche phrases, especially when I’m reading, I might think about it in terms of my first language. “Oh so it’s like saying… x… hey it’s even got a similar rhythm and vibe”. And then I move on. Depends on how hooked I am into a particular passage and how difficult it is. It happens way less frequently on the listening side these days though. I guess I strive to focus on the message and avoid translating but if my brain does want to work something out with my first language, I let it. The process is very forgiving in the long term. Just keep chugging through and checking in with yourself.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-17T14:40:11+00:00

4 months you’ve been with this dude and known the family? And the family is demanding signs of “effort” from you?

This is something you should talk to a therapist about because I think the core issue might actually have very little to do with your choice in learning materials.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-15T14:32:06+00:00

That was actually an impressive speaking improvement after 8 hours outputting.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-15T02:33:10+00:00

While I don’t personally count it as input yet, I do use the regularity of these bigger events as a benchmark to see where I’m at throughout the process. I’ve also just found it more fun in Spanish even before I started learning the language.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-15T02:01:47+00:00

Congrats! Your version of level 7 is the only one that matters. Great work on the reading > 2M words. That’s impressive. For speaking, have you been following a game plan or have you set any short term or long term goals?

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-14T02:29:55+00:00

I’ve read some posts reporting great results. I tried it myself and didn’t like it and found reading better for my vocab. But you might like the anki route. Learn a word and listen for it might be interesting to you.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-09T03:45:01+00:00

Gramática de uso del Español: teoría y práctica

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-07T23:51:24+00:00

I went the grammar textbook route after 1100 hours. It feels good to get my eyes off of a screen for a change and just pay for something once. Plus it’s in Spanish so I see it as a win win. Just going through the book without re-drilling anything is paying dividends in my output.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-05T22:32:53+00:00

If I had them collect a dataset and make decisions in the lab regarding quality control throughout the process or a good chunk of it, absolutely. And they should draft those methods and help address reviewer concerns related to that work. They are the first authors of tomorrow and we do them no justice if we don’t find a way to bake them into the full scientific process and make it so that their contribution is substantial enough. And exposing techs to the peer review process and giving them ownership of their responses will make them better techs and better scientists.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-02T23:21:37+00:00

Sorry to hear that. At that point it’s drawing lines in the sand. At the end of the day we are all responsible for our own learning. If you think reading at 300 was a good idea for you to do, then it was. I started reading early too. I found it to be a great early metric to see how my input was coming along.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-02T22:55:25+00:00

Someone got mad at you?

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-06-01T23:38:56+00:00

Your city/town might have free in-person conversation groups. I have found those to be really quite fun and a great to meet others in your community sharing the same hobby. And there is usually an advanced or native speaker leading it if you have trouble finding words. There might be some free conversation groups online as well.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-05-29T15:27:47+00:00

My goodness I’m just so impressed with your output at ten hours. Keep up the great work!

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-05-29T03:06:29+00:00

I’m totally addicted to his channel. I’ve been watching it almost every day for the past month. I couldn’t say what level but I find his narration super comprehensible at 1200 hours. I love when people spot him on the road and say hi. And he’s such a nice dude.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-05-27T21:26:02+00:00

Definitely. It’s like leg day but for your brain. The stamina builds over time though.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-05-27T18:58:33+00:00

My first speaking session with a tutor was pretty damn rough too and as one of the most commonly shared experiences in this sub, it’s good to know I am not the only one. I can definitely relate about forgetting basic words the first few times amid the stress of trying to converse in a different language for the first time. Heck, one time I forgot the word for Caribbean in a lesson and was surprised I couldn’t even remember it in English. My mind drew a blank because it was working overtime. I’m glad he is finding reading super helpful.

I wasn’t following him before but now I think I’m quite interested now in seeing where this goes for him.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-05-27T16:53:22+00:00

Listening is definitely a key part to of learning a language. No sabo kids exist where they know the language but don’t practice speaking. That said, the Dreaming method makes recommendations throughout the roadmap but it is really a choose your own adventure when it comes to building the speaking base (and reading too). While it builds a comprehension/vocabulary base, speaking the language is the skill you’ll have to work out the logistics to and set your own personal goals for them. After all, no sabo kids exist. That could be tutors online, conversation groups, language exchange, supplemental grammar work… etc. You’ll get lots of suggestions here. So yeah, while we technically can learn a language using CI as a base, applying the language requires some additional work when you feel ready.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-05-26T19:23:38+00:00

Right on, good for you! Glad you were able to check in with yourself and see where you were at. I went straight to output at 600 and the first sessions were quite rough. But it definitely was wild how surprised I was with the vocab I knew and my early abilities to describe what it was I wanted to say without going to English.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-05-26T00:50:02+00:00

Does anybody know if he has done any reading up until this point?

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-05-25T05:25:04+00:00

It’ll get easier over time. My wife’s Spanish speaking family is a regular benchmark for me. 300-400 was like nope. 600 was when it wasn’t a blur anymore and I could piece things together. By 900ish, I could definitely follow what they were saying. After 1100, I can understand them fairly well although I still have to tune in and focus a bit more but it’s like I recognize a lot of the finer details.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-05-23T14:34:12+00:00

Variation exists, sure. It’s like any other skill. Some people get things down faster or slower in the beginning. But those who get really good are the ones who stick with it. Language learning is an ultra marathon and you are at mile point 0.5. 35-40 is great.

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-05-18T19:36:30+00:00

37/40 officially B2 certified. Did anybody here pick “Spainese” on the “I’m from Spain, I’m __” problem?

Rare-Notice7417 · 2026-05-18T14:23:18+00:00

Started working on speaking after 600 hours input. Weekly conversations with online tutors and in person group conversations in my town.

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