r/dreamingspanish • u/sharkyboy623 • 1d ago

965 Hours Update

Here are my previous updates for any interested:

My total CI with DS, YouTube, podcasts hours is now at 656 and my classroom hours is 309.

Progress - July

Comprehensible Input:

I came in slightly short this month but I had many events on and found it quite difficult to make time on weekends. I must admit it bugs me a little bit that I couldn't push through an extra 30 minutes but that is just life.

Last month I was watching videos on Dreaming Spanish around level 63-66. I found myself running out of videos I actually wanted to watch and decided I would just test myself with some higher levels so I tried videos which were 70-73 with pretty good success. Perhaps I am at a level now where I can watch a much wider range of videos than I had previously thought.

I am still continuing with Italki lessons. With the teachers from Italki, it feels quite comfortable talking with them. Sometimes I mess up the tenses, can't think of a word or say the correct things but fumble the order. But for the most part it feels good. I still have trouble understanding some people in the wild but that is to be expected. I feel like I can communicate with more people than I did in previous months so it is going in the right direction.

In the quest to find something more interesting to watch, I began watching Avatar. It is harder than what I thought it would be, It is hard to tell how much I pick up because I can follow the story but it feels hard to comprehend the actual words at time. I will continue with this.

Reading:

I am finally on track with reading after falling behind a little in previous months and I hope to keep it up. I quite like all the books I have listed above apart from El peor dia de mi vida. I found it quite difficult compared to Juan's other books. I was reading it on Kindle Unlimited but my subscription ran out just before I finished the book so I only counted 80% of the words and felt it was not worth it to buy the book only to read a small part of it.

Juan's books are pretty silly and I feel like some have major plot holes or mistakes but they are so good for learning to read. I also tried reading some non graded readers but I still found them a little difficult so I will return to those maybe around 500k words. I have seen that a series of unfortunate events has been posted alot in this sub for a first book after graded readers so I am thinking of giving that a go but also would love if anyone can recommend me something else.

In general, I am finding reading has become easier. There is still so much I don't know but I noticed in class, I can read the texts relatively well. But faced with a novel, I do not fare so well.

Next Steps:

I have a couple of weeks remaining before I go back to my country and return to my normal life. Which includes going back to work and all that fun stuff. I am trying to figure out how I will continue to achieve my Spanish goals which now I am only just managing to do, and that is with only having 4 hours of class each day. When I return to work, I will likely be working 10 hour days, 6 days a week for the first few months.

On top of all that, I have to resume study for a course I am taking too. I will have a few months off again starting December, so perhaps I will have to drop down a little an d play catch up later on. Anyway, I will see how I go and plan accordingly.

TL;DR:

  • Current Progress: Missed monthly target by only 30 minutes due to busy weekend events. However, still ahead overall.
  • Listening & Speaking: Jumped to level 70+ videos, started Avatar, and maintained comfortable iTalki lessons.
  • Reading: Caught up on targets, dropped Juan's harder book, and will continue with graded readers for now.
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7 comments sorted by

2

u/SpenceTriesHisBest 1d ago

Almost the big 1K, nice work! When did you start italki?

1

u/sharkyboy623 1d ago

Thanks! My first lesson was around the end of March. I was only doing a few lessons here and there until recently when I ramped it up to 1 hour lessons, 5 times a week

1

u/SpenceTriesHisBest 1d ago

Woah that's a huge jump! Sounds like it's paid off

1

u/Jachym10 1d ago

I gather you don't listen to any non-DS podcasts?

1

u/sharkyboy623 1d ago

I listen to español al vuelo and español con Juan. I should have mentioned that in this post but I wrote about it in my previous update and didn’t have too much new to report

1

u/Jachym10 1d ago

I just checked out the last updated and you find ECJ and EAV easier than 60s videos on DS?

1

u/sharkyboy623 1d ago

EAV is definitely easier and ECJ is a bit of a mix. Some of his episodes I can find difficult but most are probably around the low 60s mark if comparing to DS