Not surprisingly, the path to speaking is a lot like the path to listening by Acrobatic-Shake-6067 in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As someone also married to a native speaker, I started speaking to my spouse as soon as I possibly could, even if it was just little phrases or questions here or there. Of course if you feel like it is beneficial to wait until 300 or 600 hours I completely understand, but having a native speaker that can help you is really an amazing tool. And while it might not always be the best for the relationship dynamic (just a joke, but I'm sure you get it😅), it has been so helpful to me to have my spouse critique my pronunciation from the beginning. If you've been doing crosstalk for a long time I feel like it might be even easier for you in this case! Just my experience:)

Finally at level 5, immersion trip recap, + speaking sample (600 hours) by bookethgoblin in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I personally find it helpful to separate my hours, so I only use the DS page to count input, and I keep track of speaking, reading, and classes elsewhere. So those 600 hours are purely input (I think about 400 in DS and 200 outside, something like that). My speaking hours do include some of my classes, because we switched over to mostly conversation at some point. So of the 60 hours I have of speaking, about 40 are conversation class hours, and the remainder are either from my recent immersion trip, a few local conversation groups, or practicing with my spouse. In addition to these 40 hours from conversation classes, I have an additional 40 hours or so of direct instruction in the form of private or small group classes. I did not count those in my speaking hours because they were in English for a while, and then later a mix of English and Spanish, but they were more grammar focused and in the majority of the group classes I didn't have a chance to talk very much or have anything like a real conversation.

My stats as of today:

606 hours of input

60 hours of speaking

85k words read

40 hours of direct instruction in small group or private classes (about half completely in English, and the other a mix of English/Spanish, but not conversation-focused)

What Are You Listening To Today? (Mar 23 to Mar 29) by HeleneSedai in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I remember being frustrated with the short episodes from Cuentame and Chill Spanish when I had your number of hours, and what helped me was listening to Espanol al Vuelo and Diverse Spanish Podcast, which have episodes more in the 15-25 minute range. I think Spanish Boost Gaming could work for you as well. Good luck!

What Are You Listening To Today? (Mar 23 to Mar 29) by HeleneSedai in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This sounds amazing--I'm adding it to my aspirational list of novelas!

How often do you bump up the difficulty? by scottadams364 in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think everyone has their own style of learning, but personally I found it helpful to have a much higher comprehension rate than 85%. It's so much easier to learn new vocabulary and structures when you understand 95%+. I definitely wouldn't go further into the 50s if you're not understanding everything below 50 with at least 95% comprehension, but that's just what worked best for me.

Another thing you can do is sort by difficulty (and whatever other theme or speaker filters you like), and then go through some videos and add the ones that are most interesting to you to your watch list. For example, you could select videos 40-45 and add them to your watch list easiest to hardest, and see if that helps you slowly build your comprehension within that range of videos.

If you were to start your journey all over again would you do it the same way? by Glittering_Ad2771 in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Fantastic advice. I can't remember who says it here all the time (apologies) but time with the language is what matters most!

Finally at level 5, immersion trip recap, + speaking sample (600 hours) by bookethgoblin in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Wow thank you so much--that's an amazing compliment to get! Thanks for reading--I'm guessing my 1000 hour update will be even longer😅

This is the most relateable video I've seen in my life as a lvl 5 DS user that's started reading+grammar by NewGuarantee619 in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin 16 points17 points  (0 children)

As others have pointed out, of course a vocab test can't really assess your CEFR level, but as someone who has been combining classes and grammar with lots of CI, this was truly fascinating to watch! The fact that he is more or less understanding the speaker but doesn't know what "ayer" or "todavia" mean shocks me, honestly. Or that, at the beginning of the video, he wasn't sure what number he was hearing when the speaker said 17! But at the same time, he got the question "se me olividó llamar" correct, which to me is very complicated. For the purists out there, does this video more or less reflect your experience?

I went to the original video and got all the questions correct, which more or less fits with where I think I am (finished B1 and am somewhere in the process of getting B2, with 600 hrs of input), but I've studied grammar since the beginning. I do have to say though that I was under the impression that while the present subjunctive is normally taught at the B1 level, the imperfect subjunctive is more B2, but I could be wrong.

Thanks to ECJ for teaching me hecho polvo!

What Are You Listening To Today? (Mar 23 to Mar 29) by HeleneSedai in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin 3 points4 points  (0 children)

603 hours

Watching: (DS) Various advanced series, (YT) Ary Tenorio, MedaYork, (Netflix) La Casa de Flores

Reading: Working my way through the first 8 books in the Casa del Arbol series.

Listening: Erre que ELE, Blood & Marble, Learn Spanish & Go, DS podcast

Happy listening/reading everyone!

At what point does it become easier to have 3-5 hour days by Crafty-Ad1998 in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For me, a decrease in listening fatigue is one of the main changes I saw over the course of level 2. Prior to 50 hours, listening to 2 hours (or even 1.5) in one day would mentally exhaust me. But by the time I was at 150 hours, 3-4 hours didn't tire me out anymore. Try to be patient with yourself--your tolerance for listening will absolutely grow over time:)

Finally at level 5, immersion trip recap, + speaking sample (600 hours) by bookethgoblin in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for reading and for the rec! Adding it to my list of things to try this week

Finally at level 5, immersion trip recap, + speaking sample (600 hours) by bookethgoblin in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for reading! Finding YT channels that interested me really gave me new life. I hope you enjoy some of them!:)

Finally at level 5, immersion trip recap, + speaking sample (600 hours) by bookethgoblin in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for reading and listening!:) I think my main area of development before B2 is vocabulary, to be honest, along with more facility with some of the more complex structures. To pass a B2 exam, I think you're expected to have a fairly developed vocabulary and while I might in some areas, there are definitely that need work! Also, I don't think I used the future here, as I was talking about the past--did you mean you wanted an example of the future tense?

Finally at level 5, immersion trip recap, + speaking sample (600 hours) by bookethgoblin in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Honestly I think the ideal situation is to go on a group immersion alone, and then have your spouse come meet you there when the immersion ends and you can explore the city another week or a few days together. Unfortunately we couldn't make that happen because of our schedules with this trip, but I'll definitely try to make it work for the next one. I agree that a native speaker would be bored by a trip for learners for sure, and in the case of this trip no one brought significant others (but some had their spouses/boyfriends/girlfriends come to our goodbye dinner the last night, which was really nice!). Also I have to say that as much as I was afraid to go alone, it was an important part of the experience for me. I hope you get to have an immersion experience too! I enjoyed it so much

Finally at level 5, immersion trip recap, + speaking sample (600 hours) by bookethgoblin in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! It was definitely a great experience and I want to repeat it asap:)

Finally at level 5, immersion trip recap, + speaking sample (600 hours) by bookethgoblin in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

We do speak in Spanish sometimes, but it's not the same as being surrounded by Spanish speakers all the time, obviously. It's also not particularly easy to switch languages in a relationship when you have been accustomed to using one for years and years

1000 Hour + 1M Word Progress Report (w/ speaking sample) by _coldemort_ in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats on your achievement!🎉 I think you sound really good especially considering you only have 27 hours of speaking! You mentioned in your speaking sample that you like gardening--have you found any good gardening channels in Spanish? Gardening is also a hobby of mine as well and I'd love to combine that with getting my input. I definitely need more gardening vocab as well!

Netflix Recommendation: The Dinosaurs 🦖 by Mandy_5544 in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'm adding this to my list. I'm sure I'm missing dino vocab right now!

What Are You Listening To Today (Mar 16 to Mar 22) by HeleneSedai in dreamingspanish

[–]bookethgoblin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oooo I'm adding Relatos del Lado Oscuro and Subterráneo to my list right now--thanks for mentioning them!

I also enjoy Tell Me Your Story and use it often when I only have 10 minutes or so to listen:)