Hi All,
I thought I would share some milestones I have reached this week as when i first stared out all I wanted was reassurance that I was on the right track.
This week I have read harry potter y la piedra filosofal in full with audio ( youtube) . I also hit 20,000 words on here and in regards to listening I feel I have had a breakthrough no longer do I need to read at the same time as listening to podcasts it is becoming automatic.
My point is hard works pays off I definitely clear words a little to quickly but with being on here everyday for as much time as possible plus being lucky enough to have a tutor 5 days a week for an hour a day I’m getting results. Keep doing what you are doing self doubt is probably the hardest part of language learning ( in my opinion) especially if it is your first.
Feel free to share your wins any progress is good progress, at the end of the day if you are doing this obsessively or 15 - 20 minutes a day we are all getting somewhere.
Exact 15 months ago I started my German language journey directly diving into watching 10 seasons of Two and a Half Men. I picked up words here and there, it was all noise. However, I finished watching them all. Now I am re-watching them once again after such a long time(15 months) and I can not believe my eyes what I am witnessing. Now the same noise is sounding like proper language with clear sounding words. My understanding is near 80-85% in each episode. No conscious grammar study. No Anki flashcards. In the meanwhile - all I did was LISTEN, LISTEN and LISTEN. Audiobooks/Radio plays/TV series. Also, used LingQ for reading. Still, a long way to go for reading books fluently, and the same goes with speaking. In the end, I believe that if I keep reading books in German in good time I will reach my end goal. Your hard work is never wasted. It is all about spending time with the language every single day. I am happy to see that my brain is constantly learning. Small wins like this motivate you to keep going…
I’m a newbie here. I just signed up a few minutes ago. I love this community a lot and want learn from here. Thank you so much for sharing this thread.
Most days I am able to fit in 4 hours of direct learning. I always have passive audio in the background and I don’t count that as time spent with the language. Most days I am able to have 3-4 30 minutes lessons with a tutor, then I spend time with lingq, audio book, and I normally finish by day with SRS or reading a leveled reader.
I recently purchase 9 leveled readers in my target language from national geographic. The books are amazing and so are the pictures. When I am done with them I have a few teachers in Mexico that are very interested in the leveled readers. I am unsure if I will pass these on or keep them in my language collection for the future. When I find books in a foreign language at a used book store I pick them up.
I’ve been learning Spanish for just two weeks now. At this early point, I’d estimate that I’m where I was after three months of French study. Eventually, I made my way to B2 in French after about four years of study. Learning French to a reasonable level has taught me how to efficiently approach Spanish. And that means foregoing output at the earliest stages, while concentrating on comprehensible input. Thus, Lingq.
I’m using a couple PMP grammars, along with Lingq and Anki. I’m exited with my progress so far. If I stick to my current plan, I’ll use these tools until I get to ~A2/B1 comprehension and then progress into native materials slowly, as well as start FSI Spanish to prep my output, followed by getting a tutor when confident. I believe this is a far better plan than when I was doing French. I’ll also have the benefit of having plenty of Spanish speakers where I live and work.
i think it’s worth considering only focusing on reading and listening until youre B2 in reading and listening. Then looking at grammar and output could be a better plan.
