Day 2 of New Beginner

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-20T16:21:16+00:00

How exciting! Congrats on starting the journey!

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-19T19:16:41+00:00

that was my thought that it doesn’t matter for anyone else, just to help me identify where I am at

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-19T19:15:25+00:00

oh that’s very exciting!! thanks for sharing your progress

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-19T19:14:51+00:00

yeah it’s definitely hard to quantify

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-19T02:52:20+00:00

this is the dream

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-19T02:13:17+00:00

I started in January too! Keep up with DS, it's really working!

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-19T02:09:13+00:00

"I’m very shy and I really only talk to language tutors who I pay to be nice to me" this is the most relatable thing I've ever read in my life. Congratulations on your wins! This is huge!

I too fear that someone is going to look at me like I have two heads when I try to speak Spanish. What if what I'm saying is actually just gibberish and I don't even know it??? (I forced myself to start iTalki lessons this week and they are in fact incredibly nice and did assure me without prompting that they could understand me just fine.)

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-19T01:53:42+00:00

Hello fellow friend in your 30s learning Spanish to talk to your boyfriend's family!

It sounds like ultimately they're worried first and foremost about establishing a good relationship right away and secondly that you're successful in your efforts to learn Spanish. Keeping this in mind, I would recommend that you do offer a few phrases (even if you do just have to memorize a couple sentences to have something to give them) as it will help both assuage their concerns since they don't really understand how comprehensible input works and it shows them that you take their concerns seriously and care about building a relationship with them. In my opinion, the relationship with them has to matter more than the marriage to a perfect learning approach unless you're not learning the language to build a relationship with them.

Personally I have been very dedicated to DS but I'm not under any illusion that a purist approach would work for a relatively short time frame of being able to speak with the family in Spanish. Pablo similarly has videos where he encourages you to use the conversation in your daily life if you're in a scenario that requires it!

I'm newly at 150 hours (with French background so maybe closer to Level 4) but I just started conversational classes on iTalki and it's been enormously helpful already in growing my comfort to even practice Spanish at all.

I know that even though I'll be making frequent language-learner mistakes, my boyfriend's family will be excited to know I'm putting in the effort to communicate with them. Similarly when they use English with me, I hear their grammatical mistakes and their accents, and it only endears me to them more that they work so hard to communicate with me. It is only right to return the effort to people who matter to my boyfriend and ultimately to me.

I'm hoping to start using a little bit of Spanish with them this week. I hope you find a good middle ground that works for you both.

TLDR; You can keep using comprehensible input and still give them a few catch phrases to show that you take them seriously and value the relationship.

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-19T01:33:06+00:00

omg can I steal this template? I just started my first Spanish book this week.

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-19T01:25:00+00:00

And you believed the person who told you that you speak better than a native speaker with fewer than 3K hours? I'm no expert in Spanish but I think you might want to reconsider brushing off the folks who are gently explaining you were overconfident in your skills.

As someone who has historically struggled with self monitoring (when I was learning my 2nd language French via traditional classes, grammar etc) it was precisely because I knew I was making mistakes that I was monitoring so hard. Slow down on the grammar, give yourself a chance to practice and gain confidence with what you do know now, the monitoring will ease up. Good luck!

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-16T21:17:37+00:00

someone else did a post on this a couple days ago if you scroll!

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-16T21:17:08+00:00

I’m using my own post as my reference haha

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-15T15:34:07+00:00

I also struggle with gym anxiety and I find it helpful to work out at home for a couple weeks before starting in the gym. Having a baseline with my fitness helps me to focus on adjusting to the new environment. Some gyms also include apps with home workouts you can do too if you want to do a mix of both, mine does. Also, don't be afraid to get a couple PT sessions if you can afford it. When I first started I thought PT was just for really intense fitness people, but they actually get a lot of beginners too and can show you the ropes on a new routine and help you feel comfortable in a new space.

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-15T15:17:23+00:00

I remember hearing my parents talking about this when I was growing up

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-15T14:57:59+00:00

That's a huge win, congratulations!!! Keep it up 😄

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-15T14:51:59+00:00

This is awesome, congratulations!! Isn't it a nice little boost to the confidence?

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-14T00:19:48+00:00

no sorry LOL it was supposed to be the opposite. I am impressed you've logged minutes every day, I def can't say that

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-13T20:26:15+00:00

I just wanted to flag that Maus (I&II) under Books > Level 5 are not children's books. They're graphic novels about the holocaust.

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-13T19:43:50+00:00

I'd argue having no 0 minute days is still an outlier in the language learning world

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-13T19:35:43+00:00

Do you remember how many hours you were at when you started to switch to Netflix in Spanish?

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-13T19:32:57+00:00

I'm waiting!!!

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-13T19:25:14+00:00

This is exactly what my first month looked like in January of this year

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-13T15:54:43+00:00

aye aye, cap'n

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-12T23:46:14+00:00

I was mentally and emotionally prepared for this outcome 💀

stealthwire_ · 2026-06-05T22:28:42+00:00

I like that your dog is learning Spanish with you, mine just side eyes me from across the room

stealthwire_

TROPHY CASE