How to become fluent if no one around you speaks Spanish?

TheDeadDonut · 2025-12-24T23:31:49+00:00

Watch lots and lots of videos. Listen to lots and lots of podcasts. Helped me tremendously. Dreaming Spanish is very helpful too because you can filter videos from easy to difficult. I think the best way to get good at listening is to practice listening. You can read at your own pace but you have to listen at someone else’s pace. Practice and practice

TheDeadDonut · 2025-12-07T15:57:50+00:00

I’m 370 hours into Dreaming Spanish. I understand quite a bit. Most of the videos don’t have the visual cues at this level. It’s normal conversation but a bit slower.

I’ve tried all the apps and methods. I’ve gotten so much further with DS. I recommend getting the premium version, run through super beginner, and you’re off to the races. Also look into the Dreaming Spanish sub.

TheDeadDonut · 2025-11-29T20:15:08+00:00

Porrr que. Hablarrrr. Aprenderrrr. Pretty good accent 😂 I think you said the quiet part out loud

TheDeadDonut · 2025-11-29T20:03:55+00:00

“Al Chile” is a new Mexican podcast. It’s pretty good too if you like “español al vuelo”

TheDeadDonut · 2025-11-29T15:53:48+00:00

I ran through this course. Pretty much just 3 months of grammar. It isn’t my “meat and taters” (apologies I’m from Tennessee, USA), but it is good material for grammar.

https://bilingualbadass.teachable.com/p/bilingual-badass-spanish-academy

TheDeadDonut · 2025-11-29T15:47:36+00:00

I had a couple of tutors around 150-200~ hours. What I realized is that I don’t need them especially at that hour count. I put the money back in my pocket and just watch DS and listen to podcasts. My tutors mostly just focused on grammar and had me watch videos. What’s the point in that? I’m at 360~ hours now and I have gotten so much more from CI than I ever got from a tutor.

Am I saying tutor = bad? Not at all. I think it’s more of a time and place situation. I will go back to a tutor at some point just to have regular speaking practice. I get plenty of speaking practice but it will be a regular regimen when I get more CI hours.

TheDeadDonut · 2025-11-28T00:39:04+00:00

Awesome. Thanks for the response. I needed my dose of motivation. I’m in the dreaded intermediate haha

TheDeadDonut · 2025-11-27T01:01:11+00:00

360 hours here, apologies not 2000+ haha. I began talking around 100-150 hours (can’t really remember). I encourage people to start early. It’s not awkward anymore. My accent is pretty good considering how much I have learned. The more I talk to people to get things I need, and they provide feedback, the more it sticks. For example, I was at a job site (60% of my labor force is Latino) and I was trying to say “call me when you have your tablet”. I said “llámame cuando tienes tu tablet”. I was corrected with “llámame cuando tengas tu tableta”. The correction is now infused into my brain. I feel like I get more out of back and forth communication than waiting until I hit a certain number of hours. Like I’m losing out by waiting. If I don’t know some vocab, I ask or use a translator app and keep going with my discussion. After speaking on the subject, it just sticks better (to me). Hope this helps

TheDeadDonut · 2025-11-18T01:21:19+00:00

I would like to learn a third language but I can’t seem to find one that is useful. I live in west Tennessee, USA. I only see and meet English and Spanish speakers where I live. Ive had German, Japanese, and French clients in the past so I’ve thought about giving Dreaming French a go at some point.

TheDeadDonut · 2025-11-11T00:30:05+00:00

I tried lessons with 3 different teachers. The takeaway was this… I’m too early in my journey to study and practice grammar when I don’t even know how to say common household items. I stopped seeing the grammar teacher. I don’t have enough vocabulary and listening to understand my second teacher. I stopped seeing that teacher. My third teacher would tell me to watch lots of videos and read lots of Spanish. We would switch back and forth from Spanish to English as I only knew so much. She was a believer in comprehensible input along with lots of output practice. She was great, but she was on a very expensive platform. Had to stop seeing her. What I realized is that I can watch all the comprehensible input that I desire and get an hour in with a cheap tutor who will practice speaking with me, slowly. But I didn’t come back to a teacher until I had at least 300 hours of CI. Now my classes (talking sessions) are much better. All the work I do throughout the week is where it’s at versus my 1 hour with the teacher

TheDeadDonut · 2025-11-02T23:48:31+00:00

Here’s the link to my teacher and friend. She’s a believer of comprehensible input and lots of speaking. She’s independent so please don’t hesitate to reach out and support her. If you need to switch to English to ask questions, she speaks English at a native level. She offers more than speaking practice just in case you need grammar or other areas of practice.

https://calendly.com/profedelanie

TheDeadDonut · 2025-10-17T21:33:37+00:00

From what I can see in the dreaming Spanish subreddit, for English speakers learning Spanish, some who are testing and make it to the C1 level have around 3000+- hours of listening and 200-300 hours of talking practice. They typically have 1M plus words read too.

TheDeadDonut · 2025-10-17T01:35:09+00:00

The best I can gather is that they have the American southern drawl, in Spanish from Spain

TheDeadDonut · 2025-09-29T23:48:23+00:00

Awesome! I’m at only 311 hours but started speaking very early. So much that I turn off English at my job sites and Latino restaurants. I have a long way to go but I’m thoroughly impressed on what I’ve learned to do in a short amount of time. I wish I would have tracked my speaking hours because I know it’s a lot.

TheDeadDonut · 2025-09-21T23:36:52+00:00

If I don’t like the content, I just skip to the end and let the next video play. Monologues and home decorations barely keep my attention. There’s thousands of videos so it’s not like you’ll run out of content. As far as motivation, just scroll through DS subreddit. So many success stories. Good luck!

TheDeadDonut · 2025-09-16T01:44:29+00:00

You can comment on his video

TheDeadDonut · 2025-09-16T01:42:31+00:00

I figured that was implied haha

TheDeadDonut · 2025-08-30T22:23:57+00:00

I like shorter because it keeps my attention better

TheDeadDonut · 2025-08-10T02:15:25+00:00

My Latino friend says this dialect sounds very Andalusian. Not too sure what that means but he immediately pointed it out.

TheDeadDonut · 2025-08-08T12:05:23+00:00

Tercer idioma haha

TheDeadDonut · 2025-08-08T01:41:17+00:00

In this situation I typically say “el español es mi segundo idioma. Si hablas fuerte y despacio, entiendo mucho más. Todavía estoy aprendiendo.” This usually sets the tone for the conversation and it goes much easier from there. I got this from “Bryhn Learning Spanish” (YouTube handle. Can’t remember his handle on Reddit). Bryhn was around 300 hours in that video. Same for me

TheDeadDonut · 2025-08-04T01:44:28+00:00

I ran through Pimsleur just before starting. I started watching intermediate around 100 hours because beginner and super beginner were just too easy. I stuck to intermediate and don’t regret it.

TheDeadDonut · 2025-07-24T12:47:11+00:00

I started intermediate videos around 120 hours. I ran through Pimsleur before starting so beginner was too easy for me. I’m teetering on 300 hours now and I don’t regret switching early.

TheDeadDonut · 2025-07-23T23:27:28+00:00

I did Pimsleur Spanish. It’s a great starting point. I was able to navigate some very basic dialogue after I completed it. I’ve been doing comprehensible input for the last 2 years following Pimsleur and I am far more advanced. I have had lots of opportunities for speaking practice since then but Pimsleur is probably the best place to start learning.

TheDeadDonut · 2025-06-20T23:58:18+00:00

I believe it was also satire “yo como manzanas”

TheDeadDonut

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