Dreaming Spanish with comprehensible input does work. For those that are struggling or think that it isn't working for them. . If you're a beginner you need to start at the bottom and follow the roadmap. Watch as many minutes / hours as you can each day, if it's possible for you to do so. There will be times where you'll think that it's not working or you don't understand anything. Just keep going, clocking those hours up. Slowly but surely you'll start to understand more and more. Remember to focus on what you're listening to. You're not just listening to the audio, you're acquiring the language too. Language acquisition happens unconsciously, just like it did when we acquired our native languages. Transitioning from super beginner to beginner won't seem that difficult but transitioning from beginner to intermediate can be difficult for some because the jump in the level is bigger. If you do find the intermediate level difficult, drop back down to the beginner level and listen to more hours, say 50 hours then test your comprehension again at intermediate. Same when you reach advanced. There is also a difficulty level for the videos, where you can pick easy or hard, start at the lowest and work your way up. When you are listening, don't try to listen to each word, try to listen to the general gist and overall context in what they're talking about, Similar to how we listen in our native language, we don't isolate said words, we listen to the overall context. Just listen and let it flow. You will absorb it. When you do reach intermediate / advanced you can start watching more content outside DS. The level is higher and faster, but look and search around for videos or podcasts where you'll understand a good amount of what they're talking about. If you feel that you don't understand anything, drop back down again. Just keep pushing along, you eventually get there. Some will try speaking earlier, some later. It's up to you if you want to do that. When you do start speaking it will be like a train wreck and that's for sure 😂but the more hours you do speaking, the better you will get. Think about infants. They acquire a lot of input in the silent period but when they start talking it's the same for them. I have nearly 1,700 listening hours with DS and outside content. I have around 70 speaking hours. I've been told that my speaking level is around B1 or a touch higher, it depends on the conversation. I make mistakes yes, but we learn from these mistakes and they become less over time. Honestly, trust the process, just keep plugging away. You will progress. No te des por vencido!!
Im learning Japanese right now with a channel similar to dreaming spanish called comprehensible japanese and i gotta say its really amazing how easy it is to pick up words through listening and watching videos alone without even trying to learn to read kanji. It really is a super intuitive way to learn a language as long as you can handle not understanding anything at first because it will take less than a month to learn your first 200-300 words while barely even trying
Nice. I just passed 1200 hours of DS. The only thing that I do different is that I also take weekly Italki lessons and have now done over 300 in Spanish. But my Italki teacher has been very impressed with my progress. Although I'm only at 1200 hours, I can already watch basically anything I want. I miss words, but I can understand anything. I've posted a conversation on my own channel and plan to keep doing those because it is a record for myself as I progress. I started learning on my 50th birthday and wasn't even sure I could still learn a language at this age, but obviously I was wrong.
I've been learning english for 2 years just only watching comprehensible input videos like dreaming spanish and native content like movies, podcasts, TV shows, RUclips videos that I enjoy. It does work and it takes no effort at all. It's the best way to learn a language.
Comprehensible input is the most enjoyable way I've discovered to learn a language and for Spanish, Dreaming Spanish is hard to beat. I'm only at 475 hours but I can already watch Spanish travel vlogs and wild life documentaries on RUclips. It works.
But I feel like you are probably gifted in learning languages because most people have more hours than that and are not at your level. I’m watching this video because I already have 700 hours of Dreaming Spanish, 475 hours (of online classes with WorldsAcross), and 2 years of just studying Spanish using apps, Pimsleur, and my own stuff, as well as having phone and computer to Spanish for two years. I can’t understand anything but a few things here and there, with most lower level content still too advanced. Dreaming Spanish does not work for everyone the same. I may have to get 1500 before I start understanding things and 2500 hours before I can speak.
I am so grateful that you shared your experience. You are the first RUclipsr to describe the internal process of watching Dreaming Spanish. I have genuinely loved my Dreaming Spanish experience, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work for me in the same way it does for you. I often find that I can't grasp a word unless I see it written, defined, and read. While I still watch for an hour a day, I use transcribers and ChatGPT to get a list of the most frequently used words along with brief definitions. This method really helps me learn while watching.
Madrigals Key was essential for me learning Spanish. Not so much for going through the whole book, but rather the first several chapters on cognates, and the structure of the words. I used Babbel for about six months before I went on RUclips and learned all of the verb conjugations, and then I was finally to the point where I could learn by speaking, and reading. It took me a long, long time to get to where I could understand Spanish spoken at a normal pace from movies and TV shows. I would be interested if this roadmap can get me to the next level, and if I can transfer the same roadmap to Portuguese.
Your history with Spanish sounds just like mine! I eventually gave up on Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, etc. I still use Pimsleur, though, as that actually got me started in speaking Spanish right away. As for reading, I love the Beelingua app with their variety of Spanish stories I can read. This year I'm forcing myself to always put videos in Spanish if available. With Dreaming Spanish, I don't really do the beginner ones first, then the advanced. I do a mixture of videos depending on what I feel like watching. What's nice is that the people in the Dreaming Spanish videos have such fun personalities, that I don't mind what topic they are talking about. I'm planning a trip to Argentina this summer, so I'm really absorbing as much Spanish as possible! Anyways, congrats on being fluent in Spanish!
I managed to reach around 1000 hours of input from DS but after a certain point (~800 hours) it just stopped being useful and in fact became a chore just getting through the day's videos. Whilst, the method appeared to work in the beginning and I could follow everything (including native content on RUclips), I'm not able to hold a conversation, even conjugate basic verbs correctly. In hindsight, for myself, it's a very useful resource and it got me to the point of understanding spoken Spanish pretty well, I don't think it should be used on its own. Almost certainly, If I'd put in the effort to actually study a bit of grammar, had conversational lessons much earlier on and completed exercises etc then I'm sure I'd have progressed much faster. It may work for some people, but sadly not for me
It sounds to me like it worked for you. And it worked well. To be able to understand what is being said to you is a huge feat and must happen first IMO. Now when you start speaking you will actually know what you're saying is correct. So start shadowing, talking to yourself, maybe an iTalki lesson etc. here and there and you will be on your way
From reading a number of level 7 and beyond updates, some people have issues like this with output and some don't. I'm curious what causes the difference. I'm near your amount of input and am in-between.. I can output some but it's difficult and my feeling for grammar is poor. I can usually be understood though at least. I think reading helped with that. It is interesting, I've seen people who can conjugate reasonably well within a few hours of trying, and others who can't construct basic sentences at first. Everyone does agree though, that once you start outputting you'll get better a lot faster if your comprehension is high. So it's certainly not like you wasted your time. I've never seen someone with 1500+ hours of input and a couple hundred hours of speaking practice who couldn't speak at least decently (high B1 or better).
@@BruhNature It definitely worked and got me to the point of being able to watch native content. In the beginning, the progress was obvious and enjoyable, but after a certain level the DS content wasn't really working for me and i had to start mixing in RUclips vlogs and eventually just moved entirely to RUclips. I was just disappointed that I was really unable to produce much after so many hours (despite the timeline saying I should)
@@tonywob1 yeah, that is one of the issues with timelines, it can put a certain amount of pressure on us and make us feel incompetent if we don't hit them.
No, it didn't "worked"... it was still "working"... you didn't finish is the problem. You don't tell a 1 year old.. "that's all you can say?? Well you are not learning anything.." No, the child will talk when they talk.. when they are ready. YOU will talk when you talk, you just need to keep listening. A child does not go from zero to spitting out complex thoughts and ideas. Neither will you. More input is needed.
i just found out about dreaming spanish. i've been mostly grinding native content on youtube for years using subtitles and looking up words in a separate tab. it's very exhausting. i'm a little suspicious of dreaming spanish, it might get you to b1 but i doubt it'll help beyond that. i'll check it out. im like b1/b2 right now.
Dreaming Spanish is meant to be a bridge to native content. That's what it was for me and for most of the other DSers who I've talked to. Typically someone would watch DS videos until they can use native Spanish content as their comprehensible input material and then just go from there. At the moment, there isn't even enough content for one to complete the roadmap (at least unless you re-watch hundreds of hours of content) exclusively with DS content. Though that will probably change within the next couple years. Since DS doesn't provide guidance on reading or speaking, I do agree that if you just watch DS videos, you would need to do a lot of other practice/prep to pass, for instance, the B2 test.
any ideas on how to stay consistent? genuinely i want to try and learn it once and for all this year (ive tried using ds in the past and loved it) but i keep giving up and retrying every year… and i wanna try to learn it given that ive been taking it in school for years and it’s still fresh in my mind
If you have the motivation to learn but just end up losing focus every time you try, my recommendation would be to adjust your life so that watching DS videos is the path of least resistance! Make a new youtube account and ONLY follow Dreaming Spanish. Make the DS website your browser start page and the page that comes up whenever you open up a new tab. Find a friend who will watch the videos with you (or a friend who you can body double with so they are doing some work while you are watching the videos). Set a very easy goal (like 5 minutes of DS per day) and then force yourself to hit it every day no matter what.
@@DoomscrollToFluency wow thanks for replying! ive had a separate account for spanish immersion for awhile now and (seriously) began immersing mid 2024 but it was very off and on, have about 40 hours right now. i’ll definitely use your tips though to achieve my goal this year, and am looking forward to all your future videos!
Beeminder may or may not be able to help you stay consistent. I've used it to get to 500 hours of listening to french. The basic idea is that you commit to listening a certain amount of time each day (for me 15 minutes) or you pay $5. It's not for everyone but for me it worked great as there were many days where I didn't feel like learning but the idea of losing 5 bucks just because of laziness was enough to get me to watch a french youtube video or continue with an audio book.
My $0.02 is that you have to make it at least somewhat enjoyable. We tend to celebrate discipline, grinding, and getting out of your comfort zone, but in my experience, this only leads to frustration, burnout, and quitting.
Frankly, the best way to learn a language, is the one that makes you keep the motivation and continue to study DS for sure works, but its a very long Journey - maybe a mix with other language tools would be the better option for you
One of the things you point up is the degree of mental exhaustion involved in other methods that is both off putting and difficult. Not much goes in but it's exhausting and off-putting.
In my experience, the roadmap was generally pretty accurate. Any discrepancies between what I was feeling and the roadmap were typically due to semantic differences. Over the past ~2.5 years, I have averaged about 3 hours per day, with waves of 4+ hours per day and 2+ hours per day.
It would be beneficial to observe extended periods of you speaking Spanish naturally, (have it be to yourself or with someone) or to see a comparison of your previous level to your current level. I am unsure if you have any videos on your channel showcasing you speaking Spanish or dedicating an entire video to explaining the techniques you employed to learn Spanish. Such content would greatly assist your audience in evaluating the validity of your claims.
You didn't finish the roadmap. You can't complain it doesn't or didn't work if you didn't finish. You learned English this way but somehow you you can't do it again because why? Oh, because you didn't finish...
How many years did you study in school and on Duolingo and other platforms . I should say how many hours did you have before you started Dreaming Spanish .So if you are honest would you say that you have had over 2000 hours of Spanish lessons and exposure ? I find most of these people saying that they are fluent in 1200 or 1500 hours never talk about the 4 years of Spanish that they took in school or that their Mother is Spanish , crosstalk etc.. What is the REAL number of hours ? Be honest with your viewers and yourself .
Prior to finding DS, I took two years of Spanish in middle school, over a decade and a half ago. While you could disagree, I don't think that made much of a difference to my current Spanish learning journey. (All I remembered was some basic phrases like ¿Dónde está la biblioteca?). With Duolingo, I had tried to use the app many times before but never made it more than a couple weeks of a couple lessons a day. And with Pimsleur, I did about a month of lessons before giving it up and starting DS. Again, you can certainly disagree, but I don't think any of that made much of a difference. When I started, I could follow along with the super beginner level videos because of the pictures and gestures but I couldn't follow along with most of the beginner videos or any of the intermediate videos. At the moment, I am probably around 2700-ish (I am not exactly sure as I stopped tracking around 2500 hours). When I hit 1500 hours about a year ago, I was thrilled with my progress and felt comfortable having (and regularly had) extended conversations with native speakers. I was able to understand most native content and read most books (excluding advanced literature). Where I was at then pretty much matches the description on the DS roadmap, the description I provide in this video, and how other DSers who I've talked to have felt around that point in the learning journey.
@@DoomscrollToFluencyI still fell that some people have something within them they didn’t know they had that gets awakened by things like Dreaming Spanish while others could do more hours or more studying and get less results. When you say you “simply listened to DS and now you can speak” sounds like it’s either too good to be true and you are “special” or I am actually the “special” one in a negative way and lack something that the majority of people have. I’m of course speaking on the side of the fence where there’s no grass (as a beginner hearing all of this for the first time, trying to analyze this new info with a beginner mindset) so I will have to actually achieve this goal before I believe DS is true. So far, after 700 hours, I don’t have much to show for my efforts.
I’m one of the few I guess, that is NOT learning anything from Dreaming Spanish. It’s discouraging to hear people with lower hours farther along, or people with the same hours or a little higher and already able to use the language. I’m watching this video because I already have 700 hours of Dreaming Spanish, 475 hours (of online classes with WorldsAcross), and 2 years of just studying Spanish using apps, Pimsleur, and my own stuff, as well as having phone and computer to Spanish for two years. I can’t understand anything but a few things here and there, with most lower level content still too advanced. Dreaming Spanish does not work for everyone the same. I may have to get 1500 before I start understanding things and 2500 hours before I can speak. I’m literally considering spending $1200 on a specialized one-on-one accelerated course from Baselang on top of doing dreaming Spanish and a couple of other things to overload myself to see if I can simply get to the place where I can understand Spanish and speak at A2 level.
Hey, I just think people learn at different speeds. Personally, I've been learning for just over a year, and now I can have two-hour plus conversations with native speakers without much problems. Of course, sometimes I don’t know the exact words in Spanish that I want to use, or I might not understand some of the words my conversation partner uses, but that's part of the learning process. Like you, I never found the "dreaming Spanish" method very useful; I find it a bit boring, not necessarily ineffective. For me, I learned using Baselang, and I've had a subscription for about a year. I focused on learning phrases that I wanted to use in conversations and would use them having conversations with lots of different tutors until they became fixed in my mind. I kept having conversations and learned through that method. Anki has also been very helpful for building my vocabulary. While my speaking ability is much stronger than my listening comprehension, I enjoy talking more than listening to content. I also work at a university with many Spanish-speaking students from different counties and I never have trouble having conversations with them. I do occasionally watch podcasts or listen to stories, which has definitely helped my listening comprehension. I commented because you mentioned the Baselang $1200 program. In my opinion, it’s not worth it. I’ve spoken with my teachers who were involved in teaching that program, and they agree. It’s 4 hours a day of Spanish, which you could replicate by taking the same number of classes through World’s Across. The main difference is that Baselang follows a structured program. If you do decide to use Baselang, I’d recommend going for the unlimited classes subscription instead, as it gives you access to more tutors than World’s Across. Anyway, good luck, and stay motivated!
There is a video on my channel called "Are you bad at your target language or just shy?" and I think there is a chance it might be describing you. Give it a watch and see if you feel like it does. I know I tend to be hyperperfectionist myself and so I will focus on the things that I can't do yet, rather than focusing on the things that I can do. and I will focus on the things I wasn't able to understand rather than the things I now am able to. I'm not sure if that is what is happening here but I figure it might help on the off-chance that it is. If that isn't what is happening though, I'd love to learn more about how you have been learning Spanish so far to see if I can help figure out what is going on. That is a lot of time and energy to put into learning Spanish and I would be really surprised if your results were actually as you describe them here.
Your dedication is much more inspiring than any fast success! You can get a much better value out of $1200 if you find a good teacher online or offline. A good teacher will make you learn and speak and will support you.
Speaking: I can't form sentences. I struggle to speak, and when I do, I have huge gaps of remembering a spanish word. I cannot hold a conversation. My online classes gave up on me because I learned all the intermediate grammar rules and can complete almost any grammar test with 100% correct, but this didn't ever translate to speaking. I quit my World's Across lessons after 7 months because I was no closer to seeking than I was at the beginning (of course I improved, but not to the level where I could practice speaking). I can't figure out how to practice speaking. I can't figure out how people can listen to DreamingSpanish for a year and start speaking. Listening Comprehension: I cannot understand Spanish. At all. There is no video I can listen to where I can understand 90%. Even at 700 hours of DS and 475 hours of online classes and 2 years total of daily studying. I can make out spanish words that I know, but I literally have to translate in my head, and I cannot translate fast enough to understand anything but level 1 videos. And even then, I only understand those because they are literally pointing at what they are talking about. Intermediate videos got "clearer" around the 400 hour mark but just because I've heard the sound of Spanish for over a year by that time, and its no longer a foreign sound anymore (noise), now its words I recognize but can't quite remember what they are. This is true with verbs that I know but they are using tenses I haven't mastered yet, such as "I have gone", "he would have", "she will run" etc.
Dreaming Spanish with comprehensible input does work.
For those that are struggling or think that it isn't working for them. .
If you're a beginner you need to start at the bottom and follow the roadmap. Watch as many minutes / hours as you can each day, if it's possible for you to do so. There will be times where you'll think that it's not working or you don't understand anything. Just keep going, clocking those hours up. Slowly but surely you'll start to understand more and more. Remember to focus on what you're listening to.
You're not just listening to the audio, you're acquiring the language too. Language acquisition happens unconsciously, just like it did when we acquired our native languages.
Transitioning from super beginner to beginner won't seem that difficult but transitioning from beginner to intermediate can be difficult for some because the jump in the level is bigger. If you do find the intermediate level difficult, drop back down to the beginner level and listen to more hours, say 50 hours then test your comprehension again at intermediate. Same when you reach advanced. There is also a difficulty level for the videos, where you can pick easy or hard, start at the lowest and work your way up.
When you are listening, don't try to listen to each word, try to listen to the general gist and overall context in what they're talking about, Similar to how we listen in our native language, we don't isolate said words, we listen to the overall context. Just listen and let it flow. You will absorb it.
When you do reach intermediate / advanced you can start watching more content outside DS. The level is higher and faster, but look and search around for videos or podcasts where you'll understand a good amount of what they're talking about. If you feel that you don't understand anything, drop back down again. Just keep pushing along, you eventually get there.
Some will try speaking earlier, some later. It's up to you if you want to do that. When you do start speaking it will be like a train wreck and that's for sure 😂but the more hours you do speaking, the better you will get. Think about infants. They acquire a lot of input in the silent period but when they start talking it's the same for them.
I have nearly 1,700 listening hours with DS and outside content. I have around 70 speaking hours. I've been told that my speaking level is around B1 or a touch higher, it depends on the conversation. I make mistakes yes, but we learn from these mistakes and they become less over time.
Honestly, trust the process, just keep plugging away. You will progress.
No te des por vencido!!
I can’t believe I missed this one! Well done!
Im learning Japanese right now with a channel similar to dreaming spanish called comprehensible japanese and i gotta say its really amazing how easy it is to pick up words through listening and watching videos alone without even trying to learn to read kanji. It really is a super intuitive way to learn a language as long as you can handle not understanding anything at first because it will take less than a month to learn your first 200-300 words while barely even trying
Nice. I just passed 1200 hours of DS. The only thing that I do different is that I also take weekly Italki lessons and have now done over 300 in Spanish. But my Italki teacher has been very impressed with my progress. Although I'm only at 1200 hours, I can already watch basically anything I want. I miss words, but I can understand anything. I've posted a conversation on my own channel and plan to keep doing those because it is a record for myself as I progress. I started learning on my 50th birthday and wasn't even sure I could still learn a language at this age, but obviously I was wrong.
That’s amazing progress!!! Awesome job.
@@DoomscrollToFluency thanks
I've been learning english for 2 years just only watching comprehensible input videos like dreaming spanish and native content like movies, podcasts, TV shows, RUclips videos that I enjoy.
It does work and it takes no effort at all. It's the best way to learn a language.
Dreaming Spanish is just one of the resources I use. I think it's very helpful.
Comprehensible input is the most enjoyable way I've discovered to learn a language and for Spanish, Dreaming Spanish is hard to beat. I'm only at 475 hours but I can already watch Spanish travel vlogs and wild life documentaries on RUclips. It works.
But I feel like you are probably gifted in learning languages because most people have more hours than that and are not at your level. I’m watching this video because I already have 700 hours of Dreaming Spanish, 475 hours (of online classes with WorldsAcross), and 2 years of just studying Spanish using apps, Pimsleur, and my own stuff, as well as having phone and computer to Spanish for two years. I can’t understand anything but a few things here and there, with most lower level content still too advanced. Dreaming Spanish does not work for everyone the same. I may have to get 1500 before I start understanding things and 2500 hours before I can speak.
Dang , ive been learning spanish on my own and even i can understand stuff . I wonder what you could do @@repairxpro
@@repairxpro so then do that, easy
I am so grateful that you shared your experience. You are the first RUclipsr to describe the internal process of watching Dreaming Spanish. I have genuinely loved my Dreaming Spanish experience, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work for me in the same way it does for you.
I often find that I can't grasp a word unless I see it written, defined, and read. While I still watch for an hour a day, I use transcribers and ChatGPT to get a list of the most frequently used words along with brief definitions. This method really helps me learn while watching.
Are the definitions in English or Spanish?
@thomasdemmery8814 English
Madrigals Key was essential for me learning Spanish. Not so much for going through the whole book, but rather the first several chapters on cognates, and the structure of the words. I used Babbel for about six months before I went on RUclips and learned all of the verb conjugations, and then I was finally to the point where I could learn by speaking, and reading. It took me a long, long time to get to where I could understand Spanish spoken at a normal pace from movies and TV shows.
I would be interested if this roadmap can get me to the next level, and if I can transfer the same roadmap to Portuguese.
Your history with Spanish sounds just like mine! I eventually gave up on Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, etc. I still use Pimsleur, though, as that actually got me started in speaking Spanish right away. As for reading, I love the Beelingua app with their variety of Spanish stories I can read. This year I'm forcing myself to always put videos in Spanish if available. With Dreaming Spanish, I don't really do the beginner ones first, then the advanced. I do a mixture of videos depending on what I feel like watching. What's nice is that the people in the Dreaming Spanish videos have such fun personalities, that I don't mind what topic they are talking about.
I'm planning a trip to Argentina this summer, so I'm really absorbing as much Spanish as possible!
Anyways, congrats on being fluent in Spanish!
I've heard lots of great things about Beelingua but haven't yet tried it myself! Also a trip to Argentina is a great motivator! haha
I managed to reach around 1000 hours of input from DS but after a certain point (~800 hours) it just stopped being useful and in fact became a chore just getting through the day's videos. Whilst, the method appeared to work in the beginning and I could follow everything (including native content on RUclips), I'm not able to hold a conversation, even conjugate basic verbs correctly.
In hindsight, for myself, it's a very useful resource and it got me to the point of understanding spoken Spanish pretty well, I don't think it should be used on its own. Almost certainly, If I'd put in the effort to actually study a bit of grammar, had conversational lessons much earlier on and completed exercises etc then I'm sure I'd have progressed much faster. It may work for some people, but sadly not for me
It sounds to me like it worked for you. And it worked well. To be able to understand what is being said to you is a huge feat and must happen first IMO. Now when you start speaking you will actually know what you're saying is correct. So start shadowing, talking to yourself, maybe an iTalki lesson etc. here and there and you will be on your way
From reading a number of level 7 and beyond updates, some people have issues like this with output and some don't. I'm curious what causes the difference. I'm near your amount of input and am in-between.. I can output some but it's difficult and my feeling for grammar is poor. I can usually be understood though at least. I think reading helped with that. It is interesting, I've seen people who can conjugate reasonably well within a few hours of trying, and others who can't construct basic sentences at first.
Everyone does agree though, that once you start outputting you'll get better a lot faster if your comprehension is high. So it's certainly not like you wasted your time. I've never seen someone with 1500+ hours of input and a couple hundred hours of speaking practice who couldn't speak at least decently (high B1 or better).
@@BruhNature It definitely worked and got me to the point of being able to watch native content. In the beginning, the progress was obvious and enjoyable, but after a certain level the DS content wasn't really working for me and i had to start mixing in RUclips vlogs and eventually just moved entirely to RUclips. I was just disappointed that I was really unable to produce much after so many hours (despite the timeline saying I should)
@@tonywob1 yeah, that is one of the issues with timelines, it can put a certain amount of pressure on us and make us feel incompetent if we don't hit them.
No, it didn't "worked"... it was still "working"... you didn't finish is the problem. You don't tell a 1 year old.. "that's all you can say?? Well you are not learning anything.." No, the child will talk when they talk.. when they are ready. YOU will talk when you talk, you just need to keep listening. A child does not go from zero to spitting out complex thoughts and ideas. Neither will you. More input is needed.
i just found out about dreaming spanish. i've been mostly grinding native content on youtube for years using subtitles and looking up words in a separate tab. it's very exhausting. i'm a little suspicious of dreaming spanish, it might get you to b1 but i doubt it'll help beyond that. i'll check it out. im like b1/b2 right now.
Dreaming Spanish is meant to be a bridge to native content. That's what it was for me and for most of the other DSers who I've talked to. Typically someone would watch DS videos until they can use native Spanish content as their comprehensible input material and then just go from there.
At the moment, there isn't even enough content for one to complete the roadmap (at least unless you re-watch hundreds of hours of content) exclusively with DS content. Though that will probably change within the next couple years.
Since DS doesn't provide guidance on reading or speaking, I do agree that if you just watch DS videos, you would need to do a lot of other practice/prep to pass, for instance, the B2 test.
any ideas on how to stay consistent? genuinely i want to try and learn it once and for all this year (ive tried using ds in the past and loved it) but i keep giving up and retrying every year… and i wanna try to learn it given that ive been taking it in school for years and it’s still fresh in my mind
If you have the motivation to learn but just end up losing focus every time you try, my recommendation would be to adjust your life so that watching DS videos is the path of least resistance! Make a new youtube account and ONLY follow Dreaming Spanish. Make the DS website your browser start page and the page that comes up whenever you open up a new tab. Find a friend who will watch the videos with you (or a friend who you can body double with so they are doing some work while you are watching the videos). Set a very easy goal (like 5 minutes of DS per day) and then force yourself to hit it every day no matter what.
@@DoomscrollToFluency wow thanks for replying! ive had a separate account for spanish immersion for awhile now and (seriously) began immersing mid 2024 but it was very off and on, have about 40 hours right now. i’ll definitely use your tips though to achieve my goal this year, and am looking forward to all your future videos!
Beeminder may or may not be able to help you stay consistent. I've used it to get to 500 hours of listening to french. The basic idea is that you commit to listening a certain amount of time each day (for me 15 minutes) or you pay $5. It's not for everyone but for me it worked great as there were many days where I didn't feel like learning but the idea of losing 5 bucks just because of laziness was enough to get me to watch a french youtube video or continue with an audio book.
My $0.02 is that you have to make it at least somewhat enjoyable. We tend to celebrate discipline, grinding, and getting out of your comfort zone, but in my experience, this only leads to frustration, burnout, and quitting.
Frankly, the best way to learn a language, is the one that makes you keep the motivation and continue to study
DS for sure works, but its a very long Journey - maybe a mix with other language tools would be the better option for you
One of the things you point up is the degree of mental exhaustion involved in other methods that is both off putting and difficult.
Not much goes in but it's exhausting and off-putting.
Yes! I would always struggle to get through an hour of duolingo or pimsleur but could get through an hour of Dreaming Spanish no problem.
Did the roadmap match? how many hours are you at/when you felt conversational? How many hours per days did you practice? THANK YOU FOR posting this!!
In my experience, the roadmap was generally pretty accurate. Any discrepancies between what I was feeling and the roadmap were typically due to semantic differences. Over the past ~2.5 years, I have averaged about 3 hours per day, with waves of 4+ hours per day and 2+ hours per day.
It would be beneficial to observe extended periods of you speaking Spanish naturally, (have it be to yourself or with someone) or to see a comparison of your previous level to your current level.
I am unsure if you have any videos on your channel showcasing you speaking Spanish or dedicating an entire video to explaining the techniques you employed to learn Spanish. Such content would greatly assist your audience in evaluating the validity of your claims.
You didn't finish the roadmap. You can't complain it doesn't or didn't work if you didn't finish. You learned English this way but somehow you you can't do it again because why? Oh, because you didn't finish...
I did finish the roadmap!
How many years did you study in school and on Duolingo and other platforms . I should say how many hours did you have before you started Dreaming Spanish .So if you are honest would you say that you have had over 2000 hours of Spanish lessons and exposure ? I find most of these people saying that they are fluent in 1200 or 1500 hours never talk about the 4 years of Spanish that they took in school or that their Mother is Spanish , crosstalk etc.. What is the REAL number of hours ? Be honest with your viewers and yourself .
Prior to finding DS, I took two years of Spanish in middle school, over a decade and a half ago. While you could disagree, I don't think that made much of a difference to my current Spanish learning journey. (All I remembered was some basic phrases like ¿Dónde está la biblioteca?).
With Duolingo, I had tried to use the app many times before but never made it more than a couple weeks of a couple lessons a day. And with Pimsleur, I did about a month of lessons before giving it up and starting DS.
Again, you can certainly disagree, but I don't think any of that made much of a difference. When I started, I could follow along with the super beginner level videos because of the pictures and gestures but I couldn't follow along with most of the beginner videos or any of the intermediate videos.
At the moment, I am probably around 2700-ish (I am not exactly sure as I stopped tracking around 2500 hours). When I hit 1500 hours about a year ago, I was thrilled with my progress and felt comfortable having (and regularly had) extended conversations with native speakers. I was able to understand most native content and read most books (excluding advanced literature). Where I was at then pretty much matches the description on the DS roadmap, the description I provide in this video, and how other DSers who I've talked to have felt around that point in the learning journey.
@@DoomscrollToFluencyI still fell that some people have something within them they didn’t know they had that gets awakened by things like Dreaming Spanish while others could do more hours or more studying and get less results. When you say you “simply listened to DS and now you can speak” sounds like it’s either too good to be true and you are “special” or I am actually the “special” one in a negative way and lack something that the majority of people have. I’m of course speaking on the side of the fence where there’s no grass (as a beginner hearing all of this for the first time, trying to analyze this new info with a beginner mindset) so I will have to actually achieve this goal before I believe DS is true. So far, after 700 hours, I don’t have much to show for my efforts.
I’m one of the few I guess, that is NOT learning anything from Dreaming Spanish. It’s discouraging to hear people with lower hours farther along, or people with the same hours or a little higher and already able to use the language. I’m watching this video because I already have 700 hours of Dreaming Spanish, 475 hours (of online classes with WorldsAcross), and 2 years of just studying Spanish using apps, Pimsleur, and my own stuff, as well as having phone and computer to Spanish for two years. I can’t understand anything but a few things here and there, with most lower level content still too advanced. Dreaming Spanish does not work for everyone the same. I may have to get 1500 before I start understanding things and 2500 hours before I can speak. I’m literally considering spending $1200 on a specialized one-on-one accelerated course from Baselang on top of doing dreaming Spanish and a couple of other things to overload myself to see if I can simply get to the place where I can understand Spanish and speak at A2 level.
Hey, I just think people learn at different speeds. Personally, I've been learning for just over a year, and now I can have two-hour plus conversations with native speakers without much problems. Of course, sometimes I don’t know the exact words in Spanish that I want to use, or I might not understand some of the words my conversation partner uses, but that's part of the learning process.
Like you, I never found the "dreaming Spanish" method very useful; I find it a bit boring, not necessarily ineffective. For me, I learned using Baselang, and I've had a subscription for about a year. I focused on learning phrases that I wanted to use in conversations and would use them having conversations with lots of different tutors until they became fixed in my mind. I kept having conversations and learned through that method.
Anki has also been very helpful for building my vocabulary. While my speaking ability is much stronger than my listening comprehension, I enjoy talking more than listening to content. I also work at a university with many Spanish-speaking students from different counties and I never have trouble having conversations with them.
I do occasionally watch podcasts or listen to stories, which has definitely helped my listening comprehension. I commented because you mentioned the Baselang $1200 program. In my opinion, it’s not worth it. I’ve spoken with my teachers who were involved in teaching that program, and they agree. It’s 4 hours a day of Spanish, which you could replicate by taking the same number of classes through World’s Across. The main difference is that Baselang follows a structured program.
If you do decide to use Baselang, I’d recommend going for the unlimited classes subscription instead, as it gives you access to more tutors than World’s Across.
Anyway, good luck, and stay motivated!
There is a video on my channel called "Are you bad at your target language or just shy?" and I think there is a chance it might be describing you. Give it a watch and see if you feel like it does. I know I tend to be hyperperfectionist myself and so I will focus on the things that I can't do yet, rather than focusing on the things that I can do. and I will focus on the things I wasn't able to understand rather than the things I now am able to.
I'm not sure if that is what is happening here but I figure it might help on the off-chance that it is.
If that isn't what is happening though, I'd love to learn more about how you have been learning Spanish so far to see if I can help figure out what is going on. That is a lot of time and energy to put into learning Spanish and I would be really surprised if your results were actually as you describe them here.
Your dedication is much more inspiring than any fast success! You can get a much better value out of $1200 if you find a good teacher online or offline. A good teacher will make you learn and speak and will support you.
@@DoomscrollToFluency MY STRUGGLES:
Speaking: I can't form sentences. I struggle to speak, and when I do, I have huge gaps of remembering a spanish word. I cannot hold a conversation. My online classes gave up on me because I learned all the intermediate grammar rules and can complete almost any grammar test with 100% correct, but this didn't ever translate to speaking. I quit my World's Across lessons after 7 months because I was no closer to seeking than I was at the beginning (of course I improved, but not to the level where I could practice speaking). I can't figure out how to practice speaking. I can't figure out how people can listen to DreamingSpanish for a year and start speaking.
Listening Comprehension: I cannot understand Spanish. At all. There is no video I can listen to where I can understand 90%. Even at 700 hours of DS and 475 hours of online classes and 2 years total of daily studying. I can make out spanish words that I know, but I literally have to translate in my head, and I cannot translate fast enough to understand anything but level 1 videos. And even then, I only understand those because they are literally pointing at what they are talking about. Intermediate videos got "clearer" around the 400 hour mark but just because I've heard the sound of Spanish for over a year by that time, and its no longer a foreign sound anymore (noise), now its words I recognize but can't quite remember what they are. This is true with verbs that I know but they are using tenses I haven't mastered yet, such as "I have gone", "he would have", "she will run" etc.