I'm at 80 hours and one thing I started doing is playing the beginner videos at 1.25 speed so that it's not an insane jump in speed why I try the intermediate input videos. Also, thanks for the vlog!
Hey AJ! Great update! I'm at 450 hours now and loving it. It keeps getting better and better. The intermediate and advanced videos and the "harder" podcasts continue to get more enjoyable and interesting. Dubbed Anime like Avatar, pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, ect are all becoming accessible now too! (I've never been a huge anime guy, but it is amazing Spanish input content!) Just a suggestion with going through the videos and transitioning levels... I didn't have any problems switching between beginner and intermediate by just taking them as they come, when having them all ranked by easy. I'm not sure if you're watching all of the videos or just what is most interesting to you, but that initial stage (in the mid-30s through the 40s) of getting mostly beginner videos with some intermediates sprinkled in more and more made the transition seamless for me. I would recommend sticking with that, rather than fully switching from one to the other. Of course, do whatever works best for you! Congrats on 150 hours man! Keep it up!
Love watching updates with others using DS to help them learning Spanish. I love that you mentioned that the goal should be for us to understand the main idea, plot, message, etc. Thanks for explaining some of the challenges you faced as you reached over 100 hours. I’m not looking forward to the struggle, but I’m looking forward to understanding more and more each day. Buen trabajo y buena suerte en tu journey 🎉
Congrats on your progress so far!! If you want the smoothest possible transition I recommend sorting by easy but not filtering for the assigned “level” at all. Those levels were assigned by natives and sometimes are a bit off. The difficulty ratings from users aren’t perfect but they are better. If you sort by easy and just watch the easiest thing available to you, no matter the “level” you may watch 4 beginners and then 1 intermediate one day and the next day might be 3 beginners and 2 intermediate, but overall the progress will be smoother. I am at 367 hours and never really noticed any jump from beginner to intermediate. I started hitting a few intermediate videos before 150 hours but it wasn’t a problem at all. I still follow this method and some days I end up watching an advanced video even though I still have a 1000+ intermediate videos available.
I saw a reddit post about a guy that from 300-1000h he only listened to podcast and he says that it still worked so if you don't have alot of time to just sit down and watch this is a good option aswell.
I have about 110 hours now and i wanted to comment something in spanish on one of dreaming in spanish's videos and suddenly the word "revisar" (to review) came to my head and i had no clue how i learned the word as when i searched up in the dictionary it turned out i got it correct, which is incredibly surprising as it came out of the pure subconsciente de my head
I have 450 hours total but most of that is from getting to level 8 of Rosseta Stone,. I would suggest not sorting by levels instead sort by EASY, Then level : super beginner, and beginner. After you find that these videos are getting to easy sprinkle some intermediate in the mix. You will see that the transition from beginner to intermediate is not so great but the transition from intermediate to advanced is where you run into a wall. I'm thinking of documenting my progress but I've yet to commit to it. I have to add that after going through several courses including and not limited to Pimsler, Rosseta Stone, and Duolingo Dreaming Spanish has gotten me to a certain level of understanding to where now I feel comfortable to actually speak (if I have to only and only short phrases as they suggest in most the courses I take) . Dreaming Spanish works IMO. Keep up the good work and Sort by super beginner watch those till you feel you understand mostly all of what is said and then move on to beginner and so on to intermediate. I have yet to get into podcasts I don't find them interesting or haven't found the right one yet
congrats!! 🎉its so cool to experience those moments where it's like WOW this really is working! hahah aaand i so get the imposter syndrome feeling? there's been so many times i understand a native speaker but i just kinda freeze, bc i don't have any confidence i heard them right. then i find out i understood them right and im like ?? fr ??? lmfao. its wild, esp with using CI bc it all happens so naturally!
Regarding your thoughts on how you will understand a Spanish word but not be able to translate or find the English word for it: I remember hearing that the brain is actually actively, purposefully, trying to shut off the language that you are not speaking (So shutting off English if you are speaking Spanish). I'm native Danish, but I've been speaking English for the better part of my life. When i speak English, there is absolutely no Danish going on in my brain. Like, if I'm thinking about how i want to structure a sentence in English, that whole thought process will be in English. I consider myself pretty fluent, but translating from English to Danish or the other way around, doesn't come easy. It's almost as if it's two completely disconnected parts of my brain. When I'm in English mode, my whole thought process alters quite a bit, and there are things that i almost exclusively think about in English, like tech, and media, because basically all my knowledge and input on those subjects have been in English. So (as a fellow Spanish learner. First time I'm learning a new language since learning English, when i was a kid) I think as time goes on, and you acquire more of the language (Spanish), the more disconnected your Spanish brain will be from your English (and Danish in my case) brain. Maybe you can even hack this? like if you want to be better at math, watching and doing math in Spanish could maybe make the "Spanish brain" more mathematical entirely, idk lol. Great video btw
I use that same technique man. Half beginner then half intermediate. With beginner content it's easier to stop translating in your head into English, which Pablo said is a main aim.
Nice update AJ. Seems like you are picking up the pace. I feel the same way about cuentame, the fast part is definitely easier to understand now. Are there any other podcasts you have started listening to?
@@Cam-wo3mu I don’t know if I’m at that point yet where I know enough to make a video but if you guys wanted I would be down to make a short every 25-50 hour practicing my speaking
I started Dreaming Spanish after seeing your other video. I'm now at 60 hours and I think I will finally be able to learn Spanish :)
wow that is so cool, its crazy how well this method works, even when you don't think its working its definitely working.
I'm at 80 hours and one thing I started doing is playing the beginner videos at 1.25 speed so that it's not an insane jump in speed why I try the intermediate input videos. Also, thanks for the vlog!
27 hours here... love seeing updates like this!
Hey AJ! Great update! I'm at 450 hours now and loving it. It keeps getting better and better. The intermediate and advanced videos and the "harder" podcasts continue to get more enjoyable and interesting. Dubbed Anime like Avatar, pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, ect are all becoming accessible now too! (I've never been a huge anime guy, but it is amazing Spanish input content!)
Just a suggestion with going through the videos and transitioning levels... I didn't have any problems switching between beginner and intermediate by just taking them as they come, when having them all ranked by easy. I'm not sure if you're watching all of the videos or just what is most interesting to you, but that initial stage (in the mid-30s through the 40s) of getting mostly beginner videos with some intermediates sprinkled in more and more made the transition seamless for me. I would recommend sticking with that, rather than fully switching from one to the other. Of course, do whatever works best for you!
Congrats on 150 hours man! Keep it up!
Love watching updates with others using DS to help them learning Spanish.
I love that you mentioned that the goal should be for us to understand the main idea, plot, message, etc.
Thanks for explaining some of the challenges you faced as you reached over 100 hours. I’m not looking forward to the struggle, but I’m looking forward to understanding more and more each day.
Buen trabajo y buena suerte en tu journey 🎉
thanks! you have been a great help!!
Congrats on your progress so far!!
If you want the smoothest possible transition I recommend sorting by easy but not filtering for the assigned “level” at all. Those levels were assigned by natives and sometimes are a bit off. The difficulty ratings from users aren’t perfect but they are better. If you sort by easy and just watch the easiest thing available to you, no matter the “level” you may watch 4 beginners and then 1 intermediate one day and the next day might be 3 beginners and 2 intermediate, but overall the progress will be smoother. I am at 367 hours and never really noticed any jump from beginner to intermediate. I started hitting a few intermediate videos before 150 hours but it wasn’t a problem at all. I still follow this method and some days I end up watching an advanced video even though I still have a 1000+ intermediate videos available.
I’m at the same point you are and I agree with all your points
This is great! I wish I had more time to focus on dreaming Spanish. I’m still doing it but at a much slower pace. Keep up the great work 🎉
I saw a reddit post about a guy that from 300-1000h he only listened to podcast and he says that it still worked so if you don't have alot of time to just sit down and watch this is a good option aswell.
I love Pablo’s videos with the drawings
I have about 110 hours now and i wanted to comment something in spanish on one of dreaming in spanish's videos and suddenly the word "revisar" (to review) came to my head and i had no clue how i learned the word as when i searched up in the dictionary it turned out i got it correct, which is incredibly surprising as it came out of the pure subconsciente de my head
great video, keep at it. i am on 60 hours atm
Great, video , lots of helpful tips, keep up the good work
I have 450 hours total but most of that is from getting to level 8 of Rosseta Stone,. I would suggest not sorting by levels instead sort by EASY, Then level : super beginner, and beginner. After you find that these videos are getting to easy sprinkle some intermediate in the mix. You will see that the transition from beginner to intermediate is not so great but the transition from intermediate to advanced is where you run into a wall. I'm thinking of documenting my progress but I've yet to commit to it.
I have to add that after going through several courses including and not limited to Pimsler, Rosseta Stone, and Duolingo Dreaming Spanish has gotten me to a certain level of understanding to where now I feel comfortable to actually speak (if I have to only and only short phrases as they suggest in most the courses I take) . Dreaming Spanish works IMO. Keep up the good work and Sort by super beginner watch those till you feel you understand mostly all of what is said and then move on to beginner and so on to intermediate. I have yet to get into podcasts I don't find them interesting or haven't found the right one yet
congrats!! 🎉its so cool to experience those moments where it's like WOW this really is working! hahah aaand i so get the imposter syndrome feeling? there's been so many times i understand a native speaker but i just kinda freeze, bc i don't have any confidence i heard them right. then i find out i understood them right and im like ?? fr ??? lmfao. its wild, esp with using CI bc it all happens so naturally!
Regarding your thoughts on how you will understand a Spanish word but not be able to translate or find the English word for it:
I remember hearing that the brain is actually actively, purposefully, trying to shut off the language that you are not speaking (So shutting off English if you are speaking Spanish).
I'm native Danish, but I've been speaking English for the better part of my life. When i speak English, there is absolutely no Danish going on in my brain.
Like, if I'm thinking about how i want to structure a sentence in English, that whole thought process will be in English. I consider myself pretty fluent, but translating from English to Danish or the other way around, doesn't come easy. It's almost as if it's two completely disconnected parts of my brain.
When I'm in English mode, my whole thought process alters quite a bit, and there are things that i almost exclusively think about in English, like tech, and media, because basically all my knowledge and input on those subjects have been in English. So (as a fellow Spanish learner. First time I'm learning a new language since learning English, when i was a kid) I think as time goes on, and you acquire more of the language (Spanish), the more disconnected your Spanish brain will be from your English (and Danish in my case) brain.
Maybe you can even hack this? like if you want to be better at math, watching and doing math in Spanish could maybe make the "Spanish brain" more mathematical entirely, idk lol.
Great video btw
Another good one to try is español con Juan’s videos he’s very entertaining
I use that same technique man. Half beginner then half intermediate. With beginner content it's easier to stop translating in your head into English, which Pablo said is a main aim.
I’m only 30 hours in, but have some previous knowledge of Spanish….i constantly feel like I’m watching incorrectly, so thank you for this video
@@JonoGotye of course man it took me a long time to figure out how to watch the videos “correctly”
Great advice. When you mention shows or other videos can you provide links to them?
Nice update AJ. Seems like you are picking up the pace. I feel the same way about cuentame, the fast part is definitely easier to understand now. Are there any other podcasts you have started listening to?
Just that and chill spanish but I stopped chill spanish and will be start it up again once i finish cuentame
2 days in and i literally dreamt in spanish those 2 nights
are you going to do a vid in spanish soon?
@@Cam-wo3mu I don’t know if I’m at that point yet where I know enough to make a video but if you guys wanted I would be down to make a short every 25-50 hour practicing my speaking
This has to be an ad for dreaming Spanish 😂😂I’ve seen to many similar videos in the past week and they’re all so similar