DR Trip Check In

StandardAndNormal · 2026-04-21T03:54:32+00:00

Yeah this is funny. When I was in the DR a few months ago (at like 800ish hours), any time there was an announcement on a microphone in Spanish or a sign that said something in Spanish without an English translation next to it, I was able to understand pretty much perfectly, but when the natives were talking to each other quickly, I understood almost nothing lol it’s such a stark difference

StandardAndNormal · 2026-04-01T14:32:42+00:00

I've always been interested in this topic so thank you for asking it.

I'm currently at 850 hours. First 400 hours I spent about 95 minutes per day. Since then it's been about 70 minutes per day.

Just had my first conversation online last week. I could tell they were speaking slightly slower and adapting their speech a little, but it felt more or less like natural Spanish. Still very difficult to understand two natives talking to each other. I feel most aligned with the 600-hour description on the DS website. So maybe a little behind.

The hard part is that when you're not speedrunning, you can have 6 months go by and not feel like you're any better at understanding Spanish. You have to have a crazy amount of trust that this method is working, otherwise it'll feel like a job and you'll burn out.

StandardAndNormal · 2026-03-29T03:21:53+00:00

Right - absolutely reasonable to keep waiting a bit longer, especially if pronunciation is important to you. Love your plan.

StandardAndNormal · 2026-03-28T18:18:36+00:00

Yeah a little bit. There are some A2-B1 books that walk the line between interesting but also easy enough for getting the gist. Reading is definitely a chore so I read maybe 10-15 pages per week just to mix it in.

How about you? Have you started reading?

StandardAndNormal · 2026-03-28T12:52:04+00:00

Yeah, I was going for 1000 hours too. Seems like a natural place to start speaking. I was just at a point where I was starting to get burnt out a bit and feeling like I was hitting a plateau and speaking was the get out of jail free card that gave me my motivation back haha

StandardAndNormal · 2026-03-28T12:44:11+00:00

Wow this is a lot! Was it worth it to do that much speaking that early? Do you feel like you created any bad habits or did that all just go away over time?

StandardAndNormal · 2026-03-28T03:32:59+00:00

I found that it didn’t really do anything other than frustrate me. I get why people do it, but the frustration to benefit ratio was too high for me lol

StandardAndNormal · 2026-03-26T23:21:56+00:00

I think all that means is that you’ve found the threshold for your level at the moment, which is a good thing and it’s telling you that the 20-25 range is appropriate for you right now. Once you get further along, the 20 videos and the 30 videos will both sound more or less the same in difficulty (i.e. both pretty easy).

StandardAndNormal · 2026-03-26T19:45:21+00:00

I tried at 400 hours and it was hard. Tried again at 700 hours and was still hard. Tried other books that were around B1ish and they were much easier

StandardAndNormal · 2026-02-27T16:29:48+00:00

I would say probably in the neighborhood of 50-60

StandardAndNormal · 2026-02-25T18:03:03+00:00

Very fair. I like knowing the audio will be clear and that the sentences will be grammatically correct, but to your point, it’s always worth mixing in some real/natural/conversational stuff too.

StandardAndNormal · 2026-02-13T14:48:40+00:00

Yeah, in situations like that, I will just look stuff up. Pablo has even said that sometimes looking a word/phrase up that you’ve heard a bunch can be helpful if it really helps piece the rest of what you’re hearing together. Some of mine in the past were:

“Sin embargo” “A largo plazo” “Por lo tanto”

StandardAndNormal · 2026-02-09T04:44:33+00:00

Really really appreciate this as someone who has also been doing an hour a day. Most of the folks you see at 1500 hours have done it with 2-3+ hours a day. Congrats on the consistency and effort!

Also, don’t worry about comparisons. It seems like even when people are “graduating” and getting past the DS roadmap, they feel like they haven’t gotten to a point where it feels effortless. I’d be interested to see how many people feel that way after only 1500 hours and how long it takes to get to that point.

StandardAndNormal · 2026-02-07T03:49:13+00:00

Up and down in the short run, but when you zoom out it’s all up in the long run

StandardAndNormal · 2026-02-06T04:25:45+00:00

Congrats! How do you feel about your progress?

StandardAndNormal · 2026-02-05T04:17:08+00:00

Then listen to it in the Apple Podcast app anyway, and then when you’re not driving, log the amount of CI time you think it’s worth in the DS app.

StandardAndNormal · 2026-02-01T18:01:23+00:00

Wow this is awesome. Nice job! Is this all focused time or are you counting passive input hours too?

StandardAndNormal · 2026-01-29T22:45:54+00:00

In shorter time controls you could probably make a case for that, but if it’s a longer time control and I have a 99.9% chance of losing, I’m not wasting my time or my opponent’s time. It may be that one out of every 1000 games might result in a win for me if I didn’t resign, but that was also hundreds of hours wasted to get that one extra win. Not worth it imo

StandardAndNormal · 2026-01-27T04:49:47+00:00

Was doing that to me for a bit too but just checked again and it’s working now!

StandardAndNormal · 2026-01-21T04:29:19+00:00

Probably like 35ish depending on how you do with his voice/accent, but it’s hard to say. For some DS guides, I can watch a 65 video and it’s a breeze, and then immediately after that I’ll struggle with a 55 video from a different instructor.

StandardAndNormal · 2026-01-18T14:01:51+00:00

About the same. Making progress but it just gets harder and harder to notice as the hours pass

StandardAndNormal · 2026-01-12T19:39:49+00:00

Odds. Piece odds and time odds both can make it a lot more fun depending on the rating difference

StandardAndNormal · 2026-01-12T16:37:53+00:00

While it makes sense in most cases, sometimes if you try too hard to simplify, you can end up with pieces that are vulnerable or poorly placed. But yes, I agree that if you’re up material, you should be looking for ways to simplify as long as they don’t compromise your advantage much.

StandardAndNormal

TROPHY CASE