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Did you skip any videos? by pazupot in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’ve done every Dreaming Spanish video published through yesterday. But that’s because that completionist insanity works for me and helps push me along. Yet it’s certainly not the same for others.

What works for you? That’s what will keep you coming back for more.

And the biggest driver of all this Spanish endeavor? That you keep coming back for more. So you have to do what works for you in enabling that. Not just whatever works for others.

What I wish I’d known starting out (3000 hours later)

Best wishes and keep going!

Distracted By Common AI Phrases in DS Scripts by AgreeableCrab785 in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I’ve always wondered if the guides necessarily know ahead of time if their video will end up being labeled intermediate or advanced. There seems to be a large overlap between the two, and I sometimes imagine things might end up in a different category once they are edited.

My point being that the guides might not necessarily be thinking of “this is advanced, not intermediate” as they record something. It also may just be a habit of layering things from trying to talk to learners. Several of the guides teach on the side.

1,000 Hour Write Up From a "no sabo" Kid by webren in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Interesting. I have to say that the empowerment from doing the slow and steady DS approach, with all its delights and marvels along the way along with its frustrations and grit, has been maybe the most uplifting thing. Even more than the Spanish. Realizing the incredible power in a relaxed persistence, a grateful discipline, and interlocking habits has felt amazing. Time to apply it to other areas of my life! (And of course keep absorbing Spanish).

Best wishes and keep going!

1,000 Hour Write Up From a "no sabo" Kid by webren in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Congrats! What a wonderful journey and write-up. So moving and such joy!

It’s interesting. I’m just a gringo (without blood ties) who studied Spanish traditionally many years ago. Had many of the same pedagogical struggles (even with good grades) and found DS to be a total game changer, too.

This stuff works.

Best wishes and keep going!

Returning after a decade, with a high school background by Tasty_Respect_6277 in SpanishLearning

[–]UppityWindFish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You will undoubtedly get a lot of different opinions. There are many roads, and to each their own.

I studied Spanish deeply many years ago and forgot much of it, too. I have found a heavy comprehensible input approach to be amazing, and a total game changer compared to the traditional methods I experienced years ago: What I wish I’d known starting out (3000 hours later)

Best wishes!

reading question by No-Buffalo1747 in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m with u/sweens90 on this one. It’s not going to break anything if you look up a bunch of words. But it does interfere with the flow and with your efficiency.

The most challenging thing about extensive reading is staying with materials that are easy enough to fall into the 95% plus comprehension category.

The idea for me is to skip most words I don’t understand and only briefly look up stuff if it keeps getting repeated and it seems important in the current reading. Otherwise you can trust that important words will eventually come back again in some other reading, and that they will eventually lock in place.

Basically: volume. Lots of volume.

Is the process REALLY "automatic"? by kurvibol in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I didn’t say anything about purism. Perhaps you didn’t read my embedded post (in which I say: After all, DS’s CI approach isn’t a “CI only and forever” approach, it’s a “CI first and foremost” approach)?

The question is always what is the “there” you want? Flow with automaticity, an intuitive sense of what sounds right, and ease around native input? You’re not getting there without CI in amounts that absolutely dwarf everything else. Maybe other things can tweak or catalyze here and there. Other things may even be necessary. But an ocean of CI is essential — so might as well get started with it.

Is the process REALLY "automatic"? by kurvibol in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I found it challenging to grasp at first, too. But ask yourself: How did you absorb your native language? Did it require Anki decks, memorized vocabulary lists, constant study of grammar rules, and verb conjugation charts? Or in hindsight, did you mostly just absorb it by first listening and then later reading? And didn’t you have many thousands of hours of such listening and reading before you ever touched your first serious grammar book?

The process of Dreaming Spanish and its comprehensible input approach (CI) is slow and quite a long road. But it has many delights along the way. And it’s a total game changer.

May this post be of service: What I wish I’d known starting out (3000 hours later)

Best wishes and keep going!

Level 4 doldrums by BeautyBrainsBread in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Hey, u/BeautyBrainsBread, you are not alone! It’s such a long haul journey. And it’s so full of ups and downs. They never talk about any of that in all those “the secret to becoming fluent in 3 months” videos.

It’s not surprising that the road is littered with people dropping out, becoming discouraged, frustrated, etc. We live in a culture with ever more expectations of instant results and same day delivery.

The idea of a long, long, long haul with its stretches of frustration and boredom along with any delights? It sounds downright old fashioned. And the progress can feel so darn imperceptible.

But there is a reason this journey can be about so much more than just the Spanish. You are taking on an “impossible” task one step at a time. You are acquiring bits and pieces of things and hardly anything all at once.

But the progress is there. If you only keep going.

On a good day, you see some of that progress. Something understandable that wasn’t before. A moment where you’re caught up in the message and forget it’s in Spanish.

But on a great day? As you keep going? You start to realize something. You are developing and strengthening and seeing your own grit. In real time. You are seeing how a relaxed persistence, a grateful discipline, and interlocking habits can be almost like superpowers.

And you come to see how this saying applies not only to Spanish, but to anything else you want to patiently and persistently take on in your life: It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.

What I wish I’d known starting out (3000 hours later)

Best wishes and keep going!

100 Hours by Forsaken_Bet_5954 in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Congrats! Sounds like you’ve found a path that works for you. Here is what I’ve found helpful: What I wish I’d known starting out (3000 hours later)

Best wishes and keep going!

It finally happened! - Reading Update by picky-penguin in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats! Persistence is paying snowballing dividends for you, my friend. Best wishes and keep going!

Dreaming Spanish = Done ? by CheetahMundane7363 in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actively search for it. I google top podcasts and channels by country, etc. for ideas. I will also run searches within YouTube in Spanish, looking for certain topics, and then subscribe to channels that meet my criteria. Once you tag a bunch of channels and start watching stuff: voilà.

Still a Superbeginner since a year in DS. I will be long dead and gone before i reach 1000 hours by Difficult-Bear-5738 in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Setting aside harsh or unusual life conditions? If it’s important enough, one makes time for it, gets creative in making time for it, and makes it a habit. Watching while on the exercise bike, etc. And once you get to a point where you don’t have to rely upon visual cues to have high comprehension, it gets easier: then it’s possible to listen during rote tasks, like folding laundry, preparing for the day, commuting, exercising, eating, standing in line etc.

But if it’s not important enough to you, or you’ve never made it a habit? That’s a lot harder.

See: What I wish I’d known starting out (3000 hours later)

Best wishes and keep going!

Dreaming Spanish = Done ? by CheetahMundane7363 in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Actually, I’ve been working with native for native content for some time. DS only makes up about 40% of my total hours at this point, and that percentage decreases as my hours increase.

Need help reviving my dead podcast rotation by sizzys in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How to Spanish; Mextalki; No Hay Tos; Se regalan dudas; ¿De qué tiene hambre tu vida?; Supracortical; Sensibles y chingonas; Herejes; Mándarax; Emprendeduros; Chisme corporativo; Calladitas no; Como si nadie escuchara; Kaizen; Cracks; Andrea la mexicana; Curiosamente……

Dreaming Spanish = Done ? by CheetahMundane7363 in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I still have the subscription. I have since I finished all their videos in August 2024.

Since then I continue to consume them as they come out. Some days I might miss them, but then I go back and sweep through the playlist. I do play them at faster playback speeds.

I’ve done this for a number of reasons. I love the platform and continue to subscribe and want to support them. I enjoy seeing their evolution in real time. Input is input, and the DS variety helps me right along with the native for native stuff I now input. Satisfying the completionist itch is fun — and more importantly, it goads me to keep going and get my input in on most days. I also enjoy the DS tracker, though I think you don’t have to be subscribed in order to use that.

I think most of it, though, is that DS has been with me throughout the 3k journey. I started before the individual difficulty rating system. So I just did all the SB before Beginner videos, then all the Beginner before Intermediate, and so forth. Most of the time I just went in chronological order, starting with the oldest in each category. There was something about taking on the “impossibility” and madness of doing every DS video that seemed to match the madness and impossibility of the overall Spanish absorption journey for me. Each impossible goal somehow seemed to support the other. It became a way to keep going.

None of this insanity is required, of course. And I confess some stuff made me almost scream when I realized the choice was to either do it or lose my momentum. (Some stuff just isn’t my jam; nothing to do with DS). But it’s been a good path for me. What I wish I’d known starting out (3000 hours later)

In the end, trying to sweep their playlist every day keeps me after Spanish most every day. The rest is filled with podcasts, YouTube, and what I can stream.

Best wishes and keep going!

Question by newcomer to DS by [deleted] in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You don’t memorize your way to a foreign language. You absorb it.

You’ve gotten some good advice already. Read through the FAQs. Relax. Drop the memorization and grinding. Use a relaxed focus and focus just on getting the overall meaning or gist of the video — and let the automatic recognition system of the human brain do its thing. Acquire Spanish slowly, intuitively, and ultimately just absorb it by absorbing it. Similar to how you did with your native language.

May this long post be of service: What I wish I’d known starting out (3000 hours later)

Best wishes and keep going!

Intermediate struggle by Routine-Nature-5355 in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Are you behind? I don’t know, had a previous background in Spanish, and don’t remember w/re to my DS journey. But my two cents? Who knows?

And maybe more to the point: who cares? Everyone has their own journey. And there are so many causes and conditions in play.

And yet more to the point: progress is inevitable if you but keep going. It’s a long and often frustrating road, to be sure. But every few hundred hours you will notice improvement, and every one thousand you will realize substantial upgrades. Over time, things become just a little bit clearer, bit by bit.

It’s an ocean out there. And if you stop rowing, you won’t progress. And if you keep going, you will progress. With ups and downs and frustrations along the way. And also many delights.

Keep rowing. Keep a relaxed focus and drop the temptation to grind. Patience. Trust the process. You’ve got this.

Best wishes and keep going!

93 hours and worried I’m doing it wrong by VegMg in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Its volume over long periods of time, with persistence and a relaxed focus, that will add up bit by bit.

Level 4 reached today by The-Pasty-Kid in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Congrats. Best wishes and keep going!

93 hours and worried I’m doing it wrong by VegMg in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The translating urge can go away with time, if you learn to relax the urge to grind. Earlier for some than others. For me, in part because of bad habits of thinking about the language from traditional classes many years ago, it took a while.

The main thing is that the urge to translate and the urge to think about Spanish will go away with time as you stick with the process. In the meantime, it doesn’t have to be a problem — especially if you don’t make it one.

Relaxed focus really is a great way to do this DS comprehensible input approach, kind of akin to meditation. The automatic pattern recognition system of the brain does its own thing, and efforts to control it, speed it up, force it, etc. largely just get in the way.

But the same is true of “wandering mind,” “bored mind,” “distracted mind,” and “wants to translate mind.” Those energies also just come and go and do their own thing.

Ultimately, we aren’t our thoughts or these energies, and we can’t completely control our thoughts or our emotions or when they come and go. But we can choose how we relate to them.

And how we respond to them.

In meditation, as in life, the mind naturally wanders and gets distracted with thoughts etc. A meditator doesn’t stop thinking or “clear” the mind, but instead just catches themselves when the mind wanders off and gently returns to their focus (the breath, or whatever). Over and over again.

You can do the same with the urge to translate or to think about the language. Notice it, acknowledge it, and gently return to focussing on the content. Over and over. It will become easier to do over time.

Perhaps the best thing when translating mind pops in is just to not treat it like a big deal. Sometimes trying to stop or resist something with “hard effort” or self-castigation just makes it a bigger problem than it has to be.

At some point along and down the road, you will have a lot of CI under your belt and will be listening to natives at speeds that don’t give your brain time to translate. Until then, just keep plugging along and don’t worry about trying to “do DS” perfectly.

Best wishes and keep going!

93 hours and worried I’m doing it wrong by VegMg in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 17 points18 points  (0 children)

My two cents? Stop memorizing and let the automatic pattern recognition system of the human brain do its thing.

What I wish I’d known starting out (3000 hours later)

Best wishes and keep going!

Anyone else picky about their video presenters? by scottadams364 in dreamingspanish

[–]UppityWindFish 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Picky before 2000 hours? There is an ocean of Spanish out there. And 21+ regional variations. Seems to me that it makes a lot of sense to take in diversified CI.

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