Achievement unlocked: Two Million Words Read in Spanish
While I am disappointed that I did not ascend into a shimmering ball of Espanish fluency enlightenment immediately upon hitting 2 Million, I’m sure it will happen soon. Is there some assembly required? Maybe I need to add a shot of Tequila? Feed myself after midnight? … No? Well, I guess I’ll check again at 3 Million. ¡Sí se puede, güey!
I realize this pace isn´t the fastest, but I´m pretty pumped about my progess. 
Congratulations! Can you tell me more about the road? At what level you were when you started and what can you do now? What else did you do besides LingQ?
Congrats! To achieve real fluency in Reading, the sweet spot is 6 million words read. However, with your positive attitude you will be there in no time.
Good Luck!
I had taken a year of Spanish in High school 30 years ago. I remembered that there were 6 verb conjugations in the present, and a few words. I didn’t know how to learn it on my own. I had learned Japanese at university but I couldn’t do that for Spanish.
I decided to learn it during the COVID lockdown, using the time I was saving on my commute (~1 hr / day). I tried apps like duolingo, but didn’t feel they would work. I started reading graded readers and listening to a podcast called Coffee Break Spanish. I also used this site to try to learn grammar directly: Spanish Grammar | Learn Spanish Grammar at StudySpanish.com
A couple months later, I learned of “comprehensible input” and found LingQ. Since then I have been reading while listening through lingQ everyday, and listening to other podcasts and audiobooks. About a 2 years in, I started taking 1-2 lessons per week on italki.
Earlier this year, I saw a conversation on the forum about extensive reading and using “words read” and “hours listened” as metrics, to achieve certain levels in L2s. I set a goal to hit 2 Million words read by the end of the year. If I learn another language, I will do this sooner. I feel my passive and active vocabularies increased rapidly as a result. I plan to continue a balanced plan of reading, listening and speaking. I also intend to write more, and have chatGPT give me corrections.
More recently I’ve been attending meetups locally that are for Spanish speakers or Spanish language exchanges. This little international friend group has been a blast. Though I still make mistakes and have to work around vocabulary I don’t know, I can hold and enjoy conversations in Spanish. I love this stage of language learning. Each time I get to use Spanish, it just fires me up to do more!
I heard it was 6 billion. 
@hellion 6 billion? What are you? A mini ChatGPT? 
If it’s six billion there will definitely need to be tequila involved. 
Sounds like we’re on a similar journey, but I’m a ways behind you! Thanks for the inspiration. I’m glad I learned about comprehensible input early on, so I didn’t waste too much time (other than the 30 years since my last Spanish class)!
Curious how you found your local Spanish languages exchanges? Not quite ready for that, but hopefully some time next year! A small international friend group sounds really great!
Órale! Me alegro tenerte como compañera en el camino, por decirlo así. The more the merrier!
I used meetup (dot) com to find spanish language events, and since I’ve been meeting some people from the group for other less organized events, like checking out one members jazz band, visiting another’s art exhibit, etc. I hope you can find something similar when you’re ready!
