Level 3 Update
Level 3 Update:
Since I never made an official update for Level 2, I’m going to include a bit of my background as well as my reasons for learning in this update. Like many of you, I took Spanish in school, but I didn’t retain much. I also didn’t have anyone to practice with. I even tried self-studying with grammar books a few years ago, but I never stuck with it.
However, once I began dating my boyfriend, it motivated me to restart my Spanish journey because I want to be able to communicate with his grandparents, who don’t speak English. So, I began going down this rabbit hole on YouTube and stumbled upon comprehensible input and Dreaming Spanish. I was extremely skeptical of this method, and I was a bit inconsistent at first, but this method has helped me so much more than any other I’ve tried.
For example, last Christmas, I spent it with my boyfriend’s family, and they invited friends over who are also Spanish speakers. One of the daughters of their friends received a doll whose hair was strawberry-scented, and I know it sounds strange, but she came up to me and said “huele, huele!”, and I was so excited that I understood her. I recall learning that word from watching one of Adria and Pablo’s videos about smells.
More recently, this month, I was with my boyfriend, and he was talking on the phone with his grandmother, and I was listening, and I felt that I understood at least 40-50% of what was being said. So when they finished their conversation, I told him what I thought they were saying, and he told me I practically caught everything they said. (Granted it was a short conversation) It felt good to know that my comprehension is gradually improving.
My biggest takeaways so far have been to set small goals and gradually increase them if you feel like you can do more. I felt burnt out when I was trying to max out at 4 hours each day, so I recently dropped down to 2. And if I’m able to do more, I will, but I believe having a smaller goal has been the best thing for me so far. Also, I’ve really enjoyed filtering videos by difficulty and watching them that way, but I will skip around occasionally if I see something that interests me.
I still haven’t watched any intermediate content just yet, but my plan is to watch the rest of the beginner videos that I have left and in addition to some intermediate videos as well. Also, I am going to finish the Chill Spanish podcast and eventually look for lower-intermediate podcasts to listen to during my commute.
Lastly, I want to thank you all. I’m truly grateful for this community.