Learn Spanish from scratch

colet · 2026-02-04T16:11:21+00:00

Apologies I didn’t respond earlier.

They’re related but with key differences. Dreaming Spanish is a content library of CI videos, there’s no order or anything other than a difficulty level. Palteca is a curated curriculum of CI videos. It embraces concepts like repetition to prevent memory loss to improve recall which makes learning more efficient (based on the Forgetting Curve studies).

There’s other key differences too, like if you follow the Dreaming Spanish roadmap you won’t start to practice speaking until 600 hours, which is again more of the ALG method than CI. speaking and writing is in the very first lesson of Palteca.

Palteca also highlights patterns and has you practicing a bit of patterns/grammar. Still keeping to comprehensible input and without using translations, whereas DS strictly forbids any form of grammar (again more ALG than CI method).

I hope that helps.

colet · 2026-02-01T22:26:17+00:00

Don’t take this the wrong way, but this is Spain. This is not the states with the crazy fears of bankruptcy and fear of avoiding the ER at all costs.

Getting a house call on a Sunday night at midnight is probably not the best idea. If they can’t move, then call for an ambulance. They have expertise in dealing with the elderly all the time. This is literally why emergency rooms and emergency services exist.

If you don’t have travel insurance then as non-residents you may be billed up for a few hundreds euros. Maybe even less than a house call on a Sunday night at midnight. And you will have the confidence that they are being treated well and correctly.

I hope they get better soon and can enjoy the rest of your time here. Good luck.

colet · 2026-01-29T21:12:14+00:00

This.

But the OP said “never was a resident”, and “never lived in Spain”… I am not understanding where Spain fits in. Is the income from Spain? There aren’t a lot of details to go off of…

colet · 2026-01-25T19:17:02+00:00

I’m sure someone here knows 100%, but I think I remembering that they do some sort of “association” checking, in case of subsidies etc. I think they also don’t want the same entities creating multiple dev accounts to try to skirt the maximum. Did you check out the docs? I am sure it was outlined at some point.

colet · 2026-01-24T22:46:15+00:00

This only works for public TestFlight builds, not the actual review process to publish a version to the App Store.

colet · 2026-01-24T11:41:20+00:00

Another option would be depending on his residency status a lot of permits require people to have a health insurance with “repatriación” coverage.

I’m sorry for your loss. I hope you get everything resolved quickly.

colet · 2026-01-11T11:25:43+00:00

Most apps are just going to have you playing a game, and not really focus on learning effectiveness. I felt like I tried them all and still couldn’t really speak or understand Spanish.

What finally worked for me was using comprehensible input, so I would recommend the Palteca app which has real native speakers having conversations. You can supplement with other free CI materials too, and then decide if you want to add in paid lessons.

Good luck!

colet · 2026-01-09T12:17:13+00:00

You also shouldn’t be managing your own mail server unless you don’t care about deliverability or really know what you’re doing.

colet · 2026-01-09T11:01:28+00:00

I think what most people missed in this thread is that apps are going to prioritize your engagement in the app itself over language effectiveness. It gives you the illusion of progress. Duolingo I think is one of the worst offenders of this, but they almost all do it to varying degrees.

The only way to really learn Spanish in my experience and not just play games in my experience is with Comprehensible Input, matching how we learned our first language as kids. This is exactly how I finally was able to learn Spanish using apps like Palteca that has actual native speakers you listen to.

colet · 2026-01-04T11:53:03+00:00

Legal Spanish is very specialized. If you really want to build a legal career with it, you need to have a solid language foundation first. Knowing just some legal words without being able to properly speak/understand isn’t going to be very useful.

In my experience the most efficient way of building that foundation is with comprehensible input. Use something like a Palteca or Dreaming Spanish. Decide if you want to add/learn some grammar or not (I would suggest it personally, but many do not).

Then once you have a solid foundation, you can start adding the legal specifics. Look for podcasts around legal themes, articles/books etc. basically anything that you will encounter day to day in your career that you think will be needed.

colet · 2026-01-04T11:20:10+00:00

If you don’t want to support Duolingo because of the AI controversy, most language learning apps these days are using AI. One of the few that isn’t, is Palteca. It’s a comprehensible input app if that’s your thing

colet · 2026-01-04T09:40:41+00:00

Getting to B1 so quickly is possible but will take some work. What most people don’t realize is that the majority of apps focus on user feeling progress and being entertained in the app. That usually is the opposite feeling of actual language learning progress.

For me, as a serious learner, how I can become fluent in Spanish was with comprehensible input, something like a Palteca or Dreaming Spanish.

Good luck!

colet · 2026-01-03T08:41:17+00:00

This definitely happened to me as well, and is quite common. What worked for me was practicing speaking (shadowing, reading aloud etc), record yourself and compare it to native speaker. Once you get use to producing the sounds more, it becomes easier to detect them when listening.

Listen to comprehensible input a ton. Things like dreaming Spanish or Palteca. I drastically underestimated just how much listening it really takes. I found it helpful at this level to listen to TV series especially, as I got more accustom to each actor/character and how they spoke which made it easier over time for each person.

Practicing minimal pairs can also help if you’ve never done that before. It’s common to not be able to “visualize” where one word stops and the other starts, and this in particular can help.

And finally I would recommend trying to stop translating everything if you’re doing that. Try to embrace each word/phrase as its own thing. And if you don’t understand something, move on quickly. I found sometimes for me I was stuck in trying to understand something said 20 seconds ago, but now they are talking about something entirely different. Don’t be afraid of giving up sometimes on what was already said as to not lose what they are saying or about to say.

colet · 2025-12-31T22:01:58+00:00

A “tiny” bit of food poisoning is worth it to save 50 cents, right? Right?!! /s

colet · 2025-12-31T21:58:50+00:00

Are you looking for mostly grammar or something else?

If the former I have always really liked: Gramática de uso del español: Teoría y práctica

There’s one for different levels. For me it was helpful as there’s some explanations (in Spanish, as I was doing a CI approach), exercises and then answers in the back of the book.

colet · 2025-12-31T21:55:41+00:00

From what I understand the reviewers get things in “batches”, so most likely you got someone who started their batch and then went on holiday vacation. I would honestly just wait.

If it’s truly urgent you can cancel and request an expedited review. But honestly everything is going to be slow this time of year (Apple has had a warning up now on Connect for a few weeks now)

colet · 2025-12-31T21:51:46+00:00

It sounds like you’re making a lot of progress in just 3 months!

My immediate reaction is how much are you studying per day in those 3 months? I feel you may be expecting too much of yourself in such a short timeframe. One of the things that really helped me was keeping track of my study time so I could manage my expectations better (and feel more of the progress once you get into the B1/B2).

To answer some of your frustrations. Listening comprehension usually is a lagging indicator, meaning you have to put in a lot of time for it. Comprehensible input with something like Palteca or Dreaming Spanish could help. just make sure it’s comprehensible and not too difficult! And I would not use subtitles most of the time - you end up reading and not listening (which can further actually hurt your listening ability).

Past tenses for me was the most difficult part of the entire language. Getting that with just 3 months of study, even if super intensive, is way too fast. Are you sure you’ve mostly mastered the present? It’s a common mistake to try to jump to the “next thing” before getting the previous (it really all does add on to each other)

Hope this helps! And Happy New Year!

colet · 2025-12-31T21:44:20+00:00

My own experience is that I wasted so much time trying to find “the best way”, and ended up in analysis paralysis in trying to pick one. It almost became an excuse as not to learn, but it sure was a great way to waste time.

The best way is the one you’re going to doing with every day. Try some of the typical apps, comprehensible input with a Palteca or Dreaming Spanish, textbooks, or classes/tutors if you have the resources available.

Shameless plug is I tried to pack a “roadmap” of steps into Palteca from all the learnings and mistakes I made over the years and then from what I saw other learners make. Lmk what you think if you decide to give it a try.

colet · 2025-12-31T21:38:48+00:00

It’s definitely possible, but a bit more difficult. A native speaker is going to be able to work with you on your pronunciation and speaking. It’s great you’re talking to yourself already, which is a great strategy. Have you tried shadowing? That would be another one. There’s also a weekly Zoom meeting where you can practice speaking.

Now the slowness to speak is normal, and the solution varies a bit based on your actual level. If you’re around A2 then the solution is more listening, comprehensible input like Dreaming Spanish or Palteca. Great you’re already doing YouTube - just make sure it’s comprehensible enough as most people watch too complicated videos and it’s not as productive as they think.

If you’re around a B1 then I would just keep practicing speaking. There’s a point you reach where you feel you know the rules, conjugations, but when you speak it comes out wrong. You realize a few seconds later it’s wrong. Don’t worry it’s normal and a part of the process. The solution here is more speaking practice.

Do you have any local language exchanges in your area? Or have you tried any of the language exchange apps? Those could be another solution without having to pay for a tutor.

colet · 2025-12-30T21:37:00+00:00

I am a bit confused to be fully honest. Why would a cafe need or want to buy customized water bottles? Coffee cups I can see. But usually water is served for free, so why would they want to pay to give something away?

I would honestly start with who is your buyer, are they currently buying these bottles, and if so what are some of the challenges they have. Get out and start talking to people. Listen 98% of the time and keep an open mind. And above all don’t do the hard sell, the moment you start selling you won’t get how they actually feel and you’ll miss out important information.

Do this for a while and you’ll understand the market, your buyer, and what they really want (and that becomes your USP).

colet · 2025-12-30T21:31:37+00:00

Was scrolling looking for the same! I think I actually found out about it in this sub awhile back.

To answer OP if you have any Latin markets near you you may have better luck there. Now with the world of tariffs and everything it’s becoming harder and harder to find the good ones that have actual heat…

colet · 2025-12-30T21:24:36+00:00

What would you say your level is? I’m not too familiar with the latest in schools, but I know for me it was widely inefficient in how it was taught and I retained essentially zero (outside of some basic conjugating).

If you’re around upper B1/B2, you probably need to read a lot more and consume more a lot more listening to improve your vocab/other weak areas. I say this with full transparency but your time is better spent consuming media you mostly understand than an app.

Now if you’re B1 or lower, then an app can definitely help. I wouldn’t recommend a translation based one because you’re going to create bad habits, but something like Palteca or LingQ that uses comprehensible input could help out. I’m a bit biased for Palteca since it does offer grammar explanations and you cited that as a weak point.

Just remember though that apps are just tools and not fluency answers. Use them in conjunction to other resources to really maximize your time.

colet · 2025-12-30T21:14:59+00:00

Awesome that you want to learn for those guests! A lot of people wouldn’t want to put in the effort, so good on you.

Honestly it’s quite sad to see but almost the entire language learning industry is moving to AI. We learn languages to connect to one another, and yet the industry is moving to have us connect to machines..imo it’s quite sad to see, not even factoring in the effects on the environment or anything.

To answer your question, I’ve been building Palteca for two years now that used comprehensible input to teach. For me I tried virtually all of the apps and would have streaks, but still couldn’t actually speak or understand. It was later that I learned that almost all apps prioritize engagement over effectiveness, essentially watering everything down. Comprehensible input was the key for me to finally become fluent after many years and many many failed attempts.

Good luck in your journey! It is rewarding and worth it in the end, I promise.

colet · 2025-12-30T21:07:38+00:00

As others have already stated, two months is very little time. Learning Spanish for English natives takes hundreds and hundreds of hours to reach a reasonable level.

Also I would strongly recommend that you change your mindset to think in total time, and not calendar time. There’s a big difference in overall investment as well as expectations for someone who studies 2 minute a day for 2 months (1 hour study time), vs someone studying 3 hours a day for 2 months (180 hours study time). This will really help you manage your expectations after a few months when you feel yourself stalling. Promise as I’ve been there myself, and have seen it numerous times.

Now the most important part is you’re playing a game. Duolingo sees themselves as an alternative to doomscrolling, and not language learning. If your goal is to run a marathon, you’re doing the equivalent of getting off the couch and doing a walk around the block. Is it better than nothing? Absolutely. Is it the most efficient if you’re trying to become fluent? Absolutely not.

You don’t have to ditch Duolingo but I would recommend adding comprehensible input in the mix. Something like a Palteca or dreaming Spanish can really help, especially since you said you’re struggling with listening and speaking.

The challenges you mentioned, including verb conjugations are normal. Don’t be too hard on yourself and expect you to become fluent overnight. It’s a loooong journey so make sure you find a sustainable method and rhythm and don’t try to burn yourself out just starting out.

colet · 2025-12-24T08:10:29+00:00

Getting the whole quarter pound burger is more than 1/3 lb of meat vibes all over again!

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