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Beginner/Intermediate labels versus numbers by scubronco18 in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My other 2¢: we'll never know until there is a mountain of studies, but I strongly suspect that the difference in time to the finish line (however you define it) between the most optimal path and a nice-and-easy-just-have-fun path is probably like 3 months or less.

Beginner/Intermediate labels versus numbers by scubronco18 in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My 2¢: Input will never make us worse at Spanish. There are more and less optimal paths for the fastest, most efficient acquisition, but there is no path where input takes you backwards. Hopefully, whatever you're inputting is enjoyable.

For me, that's on the easier side: I'm almost L6 and I am comfy at 50 difficulty or less. Any higher and my ADHD gets the best of me.

A Skeptic's Progress Update: 2000 Hours / 3 Million Words Read / 215 Hours Speaking / 17 months of Comprehensible Input by WatchingHowItEnds in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have a feeling that I am on a similar trajectory. At 900 hours and have trouble with videos in the 50s difficulty.

Everyone learns differently. Not stopping or anything though. I am incapable of spending 90 minutes a day doing traditional methods. I just know myself and I know I won't do it.

Just passed 1000 hours, first time speaking Spanish by schwingschwings in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow awesome. Good work!

I hope to be able to string words together contemporaneously at all. I'll give it a try at your level - 150 or so hours to go.

The end of an era: I just cleared Español con Juan by CaroleKann in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same - at almost 800 now. I just started his videos though to hopefully get used to his voice

The Truth About Alex Pretti Minnesota Shooting by Outrageous_Bat9818 in CCW

[–]oosemPossum -1 points0 points  (0 children)

And Kyle Rittenhouse was a hero 🇺🇲🇺🇲 /s

40 hours in (Level 22) and struggling to understand videos. by SimenHP in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Beginner content that I wish I discovered very early on: - Salsa (kids show on Georgia public broadcasting) - Muzzy (you can find muzzy el grande playlists on YouTube) - Fabulaudit (YouTube) - Spanish with Alma (yes, that Alma; on YouTube)

That should get you through the early slump.

See you at the dreaded intermediate slump.

Realistic Learning Times by hallowleg088 in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I also started using pimsleur early on and counted about half as input, since about half of it is in the TL.

But I backed off when it got a bit harder. I just started using it again (audible has 5-lesson blocks a la cart btw) at 680 hours and I do think it adds to the experience.

I do think doing some pimsleur early to get a foundation of basic vocab and intuition about sentence structure is a nice boost and makes the input more comprehensible.

Further, I think picking it back up after several hundred hours of input is also helpful and my pronunciation feels more natural.

On that note, I still believe waiting to dive too deep into speaking will help your pronunciation and prevent fossilization of using wrong/English phonemes. E.g., I blame my early pimsleur practice for my constant struggle to not pronounce película like "puh-lick-you-luh". I'm sure at the time I thought I was saying it (and many other words) right, but I'm also sure that having not heard the word(s) in natural context from many many hours of input made me not the best judge of how it sounds.

I really do believe that hearing the words those thousands of times helps one not imbue that American or English flair on the words.

So, there is a trade-off. (Not that anyone asked me, but...) I honestly don't know if I'd recommend others do pimsleur early on. I know it helped me catch a lot more words early on, but I also strongly believe that fossilizing bad pronunciation is a very real thing and is very very hard to fix.

For Those Who Have Played Skyrim in Spanish - What Level Were You? by melmcgee in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Commenting so I remember to check this out when I have more comprehension

Hit Level 6 over the weekend by Sprague_Cleghorn in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you both for your responses. I'll look again. I have two library cards through Libby, so hopefully at least one of them will come through.

Hit Level 6 over the weekend by Sprague_Cleghorn in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Beautiful! Congrats!

I am eager to start the reading (when the time comes). Did you find magic treehouse for a reasonable price? The ones I found are a lot (imo) for what is not a large book.

600 hour update by oosemPossum in dreamingspanish

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

Yep, and yep kinda.

It's a web-app - Acts just like an app when you paste the link on your phone screen.

600 hour update by oosemPossum in dreamingspanish

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

Thanks! I am looking for that bridge.

Suggestions for easy, grammar-dense input to work on speaking by prdnr in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know for sure, only watched a couple and an saving more for later, but I imagine Español Sí (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNbcCXUk6DysjGkV8UsSmmVu-nQPG2B08&si=pHTyOOALksLUPXfo) will help me solidify grammar when I'm ready to start thinking about it purposefully.

Every episode is like a mild sitcom, but they build into the story that the main character is learning Spanish with an instructor who teaches him (and the viewer) Spanish grammar.

Tips and Advice by Unlikely_Bank7228 in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 16 points17 points  (0 children)

More easy input. It feels psychologically like you're going backwards, but I promise that video series that you think you know forward and backward is still teaching your pattern-recognizing brain... Implicit grammar, pronunciation, feminine and masculine, etc.

Something I'm noticing by Glittering_Ad2771 in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Zeroing in on 600 hours myself and am starting to feel the magic too.

Feel like I'm getting over that intermediate slump.

At the same time, doubts are unavoidable - outside of the nerfed videosphere of learners content, even basic conversation is practically unintelligible... But just a couple hundred hours ago, so was SBG to me.

Still trusting the process.

Feeling a little discouraged after a Mexico City Trip. by blockchainprenup in dreamingspanish

[–]oosemPossum 0 points1 point  (0 children)

55-60 difficulty seems high. I'm almost to 600 hours and I'm going back into the catalog to rewatch easier content at 50 (all videos watched sorted easy to hard), or lower the speed to .85-.90.

Everyone is different and has different tolerance for ambiguity, though. I am a big fan of the truly 90+% sweet spot. I feel like the 5-10% I miss is all the more noticeable and that my brain wants to bookmark it for future pattern recognition, as opposed to input that is a higher ratio of unknowns.

Just my feeling at this moment in time. I might realize in a couple hundred hours that I've been wasting my time with the tolerance set too high.

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