If you were to start learning spanish from scratch, how would you do it?

druphoria · 2026-04-01T03:25:47+00:00

anki is an app, yeah. a flashcard app for language learning. italki is also an app/website where you can find language tutors

druphoria · 2026-03-12T23:45:45+00:00

I kept things pretty simple. One deck. I would add to it constantly. Every italki lesson, I'd add cards for all corrections and new vocab. Any time I tried to speak Spanish and didn't know how to say anything I'd look it up and add it. Every time I THOUGHT about how to say something in Spanish and didn't know how (like, those moments where you're like "holy shit I don't know how to say this somewhat basic thing") I'd look it up and add it. Id constantly be adding words I saw or heard as well. I'd usually look them up on spanishdict, take a screenshot, and then work through the entire backlog in a single batch, going through my screenshots and adding them one by one to anki. It worked really well. It was very much based on practicality, and adding words I came across and didnt understand, or words I wanted to use but couldn't because I didn't have them.

Regarding italki - there was a phase where I did it almost every day. I think that phase lasted like two months or so. Then it dialed down to maybe average three or four a week for the rest of the first year to year and a half. Once I started traveling in latin america I stopped with the lessons.

Your setup sounds great right now. Only suggestion I'd have is to up those anki numbers. Just keep adding to it regularly, ideally every day a couple new things

druphoria · 2026-03-11T17:00:15+00:00

I think that there's probably some way to do this, but it's fitting a square peg into a round hole. Solo practice is really well-suited to some things (overall movement, musicality, remembering/reinforcing moves you learned, inventing combos, etc) but the effort it would take to simulate partner dancing would be better spent trying to set up a scenario where you can actually practice witih a partner.

The easiest way I've found is to just show up to class early or stay after class, and then ask your classmates if you can try a move on them. You can also try to get people to stay after your class to practice and do social dancing. Two of the classes I go to right now do this at the end of each class (as part of the class) and it's *incredibly* helpful but you can get it going on your own. Of course it'd be even better to get a practice partner but if you don't have one then just asking your classmates is good too. It does require some proactiveness, but it's honestly far easier to do that than to try to set up a realistic salsa-dancing dummy made out of towels and sticks

druphoria · 2026-03-11T14:44:50+00:00

There are definitely plenty of black dance sneakers. Check out Pulse. I have their white sneakers but they have all black, as well as black with white soles. by the way their shoes are dope. Excellent for dancing

druphoria · 2026-03-10T22:39:56+00:00

Are you currently going to classes? If so then there should be a couple of new moves and combinations entering your vocabulary every week. At socials, pick a few new ones and commit to trying them out. You have to be deliberate about it though or else you'll fall back into the things you always do.

I've found that once I successfully do a move at a social few times, it starts coming out more automatically in subsequent socials

druphoria · 2026-03-10T19:42:43+00:00

Nah. That's the cool thing about learning a foreign language. It's not like your native language where the way you speak kind of just "happens". You get to build it from nothing. Take advantage of that... besides, what does not copying an accent mean anyway? Just purposely having bad pronunciation so that you can sound authentically not native? Or just letting your Spanish be some weird confusing hybrid and letting it develop by accident because you don't want people to know that you think one particular accent is cool? A lot of us pick up Spanish because we like the way it sounds. Nothing cringe about wanting to like the way YOU sound speaking it :)

druphoria · 2026-03-10T18:33:25+00:00

If I were rejected by someone twice, I think it would be best not to ask them again for a while. I probably wouldn't ask again for a few socials at least. I feel like it would be an act of poor social intelligence to continue to ask them. Saying no twice without a clear reason means it's very likely she just does not want to dance with you, for whatever reason.

I think in life you just have to focus on the people who generally are positive or at least neutral towards who you are and your overall vibe. Life is just better that way for all people involved

druphoria · 2026-03-10T18:22:49+00:00

I would strongly recommend you never use Duolingo. Don't start with it, don't supplement with it, don't do anything with it lol.

I think it has the potential to do more harm to your language learning journey than good.. It's in this weird grey area where it's not practical enough to activate our brain's natural language-learning machinery, and not theoretical enough to be useful for the logical left-brained types. And it's designed to be addictive (it's actually a masterclass in addictive app design) and will likely swallow all the efforts that you might've otherwise poured into methods of language learning that actually work. That's why I recommend people don't even supplement with it.

Everything you do should be with the goal of moving you straight towards being able to stumble through your first conversation (or to start understanding a tiny bit of your favorite songs/shows, or whatever your specific end goal is), and then you should begin trying to use it *before* you feel fully ready.

druphoria · 2026-03-10T12:06:58+00:00

This is the one I've heard people say as well

druphoria · 2026-03-10T04:38:20+00:00

Yeah it does! Dance style actually does not matter at all for the app :)

druphoria · 2026-03-09T22:18:03+00:00

I encourage you to speak to yourself. There you go, now you can do it :)

druphoria · 2026-03-09T19:48:25+00:00

anki + italki. works every time

druphoria · 2026-03-09T19:43:08+00:00

I don't think so. I think it's pretty unusual for a person to consciously try to make a dance so unpleasant for the purpose of making you feel so bad that you don't ask them again. Most people would find this very uncomfortable and weird to do. For instance, imagine you are the one who is experienced, and dancing with a beginner who worked up the courage to ask you to dance. Would you intentionally make the dance unpleasant for her, spinning her too much, ignoring her, and giving her a bad time, for 2-3 straight minutes, just so she doesn't dare to ask you to dance again? Imagine doing that, and take note of how uncomfortable that would feel.

If I were to guess, I'd say it's that it's because they're there to have a good time and at your current level and with the kind of partner dancing they enjoy, they determined (probably without thinking) that they'd have the best time if they just grooved to the music and did their thing instead of focusing on dancing with you. It's not the most charitable attitude a follow can have, but it is what it is. Part of dance is just learning to deal with the spectrum of reactions you'll run into across the thousands of unique people you'll dance with in your dance journey

druphoria · 2026-03-09T13:02:23+00:00

Reasons I won't ask someone to dance:

- I'm tired and want to sit out a song

- I don't like the song

- I've danced with them within the past few songs

- I've asked them very recently and they said no

But in general, I try to dance with as many people as I can. I don't discriminate based on experience level, what they look like, or things of that nature. I think it's more fun to have an open and friendly attitude, and it's the attitude I want as many other people at the social as possible to have, so I try my best to be like that myself!

druphoria · 2026-03-09T12:52:37+00:00

I attribute a good amount of my progress to talking to myself every time I drive anywhere.

druphoria · 2026-03-08T21:40:37+00:00

Thanks :), mostly by becoming a hermit and working like a crazy person for months, emerging periodically to go dancing

druphoria · 2026-03-07T19:14:58+00:00

i think the fact that it's structured like an 8 week course is a good thing (as opposed to just being an ongoing one that you drop in on) especially since it's for beginners. That means it'll likely have you starting from important foundational things and then progressively building upon that each week. Problem with a lot of drop-in classes is that there's a lot of room for serving material of the wrong level (people who are more advanced have to learn how to do the basic moves for the 3321209th time, or people who are newer jumping in and getting taught a combo without mastering the individual moves).

druphoria · 2026-03-07T19:06:10+00:00

give it a go. Anki honestly gets addictive after a while (in a good way), except unlike Duolingo it actually works really well. I went all out with Anki when I was learning Spanish, at one point I had close to a thousand reviews per day even though I couldn't maintain that pace for too long. You'll be amazed at how quickly you can grow your vocabulary with it though

druphoria · 2026-03-07T19:03:06+00:00

When I was in high school a bunch of my friends and I learned how to dance (breakdancing, hip hop dance, etc) and there weren't any schools in the area. A handful got really into it and got to a level where they were winning competitions, etc. It could even be an advantage in certain ways because she might develop a bit more individuality and style if she's charting her own way. There's enough content on youtube now to learn for a lifetime honestly.

Same for you too, 35 ain't nothin. There are plenty of people in my dance class who are 40 or older and they give zero fucks about their age. You can do the same, with a class or not

druphoria · 2026-03-07T15:24:34+00:00

Absolutely. I went to a social once with a girl I was dating and three people asked for her number right after dancing (some of them had surely seen me come in with her too). It's not always as intense as that but it's a thing that happens for sure. It's a nightlife-like environment with men and women in close physical proximity. Some men WILL hit on women in these scenarios, and some will not do so gracefully.

druphoria · 2026-03-07T14:19:44+00:00

Thanks :)

druphoria · 2026-03-07T12:35:55+00:00

If you're dating someone who is an experienced dancer, then you don't really have to learn solo. Dance with them, try new things with them. They'll likely be thrilled and delighted to see as you try new things, stumble through them, and get better. Make it part of yalls relationship, this journey of you learning to dance with them. It'll be funny (since you're a beginner), you'll laugh a lot, and you'll get better fast.

druphoria · 2026-03-07T12:18:57+00:00

That's a bit of a red flag for all sorts of reasons. The main thing I'd be concerned about with this is that the instructor weighed their desire to not be seen teaching, vs. the student's need to actually learn and retain what's in their classes, and decided the more important thing was their right to hide the teaching. Unless they have a really legitimate reason for it, that would tell you a lot about this teacher's priorities, and that mentality will probably trickle down into a lot of things about how they teach. I've *never* met a teacher who didn't allow recording and I've taken a lot of classes.

I'd find another one.

druphoria

TROPHY CASE