u/Acrobatic-Shake-6067 — reddlx

So this is going to be long. It’s starts with my 1230 hour update, followed by an account of my Spanish encounters. I had wanted to do a 1250 update, but the trip offers a lot of insights so I’m doing it a bit early.

So first, a short but explicit summary of my abilities at 1230 hours.

Listening - estimated mid B2

I’ve taken some of the tests online and the sections that say C1 I often do quite well. But because I know I still struggle in really noisy environments, I’m like I’d test around the mid-B2. I’m happy with this because many folks say B2 is the first level of basic fluency. I do consider myself a Spanish speaker, even if it’s broken Spanish.

There are lot of colloquial sayings I’m still working on, which isn’t surprising as there are hundreds of these.

Here’s a short overview of various content and how I do with them:

DS through Intermediate - very easy, can listen passively without problems.

DS Advanced - Also relatively easy but there’s still some vocab here to learn. So I will still stop and figure out vocab from time to time.

YouTube native content - almost no problems here. I’d put these above DS advanced in difficulty, so I have more opportunities to find new vocab, and challenge my speed comprehension

Dubbed movies/shows I know - not bad at all, and quite enjoyable.

New Dubbed movies/show - So for me to enjoy a show, I have to know the details. Because the juicy plot twist later depends on it. So here, I find myself turning on subtitles whenever I miss something and I think it’s important. But I’m usually trying to watch without them.

Native shows Casual - Here, think reality tv shows or some light comedies. Generally not a problem, but again I’m checking subtitles occasionally when I want to know something I miss. I will say I’m running into sections more frequently where I’m having to check the subtitles.

Native shows Drama - Here think Casa de las Flores. These shows are hard. It reminds me of when I was trying to go from beginners videos to intermediate. It’s that kind of jump. But, I am pushing myself on this content more and more these days. It feels like the last level of an epic video game. But sometimes after watching some sections, and rewatching, I still don’t catch what they say. They speak fast with words mumbled or shorted (entonces to tonse), super casual, lots and lots of slang, and often overlapping each other. What can I say, it’s hard.

It’s probably important to say here, because my reason for learning Spanish is for my work, I’m seeking to get past just the gist. The gist isn’t enough, Because, at work, just getting the gist can lead to big misunderstandings, which isn’t something I can’t afford. So I am pushing for full comprehensions. Eventually it’ll come with enough input.

Speaking - estimated high A2- low B1

So the good news first. I can almost communicate whatever message I want. If I can’t say something, I can often times figure out a way around the missing piece to say what I need to communicate.

From a grammar standpoint, I think I understand most concepts but it’s the execution. If I take a grammar test, I’m generally scoring quite high(high B2/low C1). But in action, I need more practice.

Writing - est B1

Biggest issue is spelling and accents. I know a lot of the structured constructions, but spelling and accents aren’t there yet. And because I’m having GPT proofreading my writings, there’s oftentimes much more polished ways to communicate.

Reading - B1/B2

Much of my reading is in the form of work emails and texts. Here, I think I’ve gotten fairly comfortable. Most of my personal reading has been things like Harry Potter and some other science fiction material.

In my opinion, I do think reading is better for vocab at this level. It’s also great for seeing sentence structure constructions.

Trip to Monterrey

Taxi ride - I took an uber to the airport. The Uber drive was Venezuelan. Found the conversation was quite easy. The environment was quiet, which helps.

Customs - No idea why this was such a milestone, but being able to go through customs completely in Spanish still is a big deal for me.

Checked into two hotels. Initially, they might switch to English, the Hilton I think shows my profile, but within 5 seconds of me speaking, they switch to Spanish. Here the conversations were easy.

Dinner with the CEO, CFO, & Director of Spain.

This was also big milestone. It was the first time, these particular folks were actively speaking to me in Spanish. I had tried speaking with the CEO a month or so ago, and my nerves definitely got the best of me. This time however, as everyone was speaking Spanish to me, I relaxed and did my best to answer in Spanish. While I can’t even imagine how many errors I made, I feel really good that I was able to participate the entire night, which stayed in Spanish the 98% of the time. What is clear, due to some comments people said recently, it’s become clear I’m serious about speaking Spanish. Now, folks throughout the organization are now engaging with me regularly in Spanish. This is pretty amazing honestly.

All that said, I have also found, like others, my brain has an upper limit of time in Spanish though. After 4 hours or so, my brain starts to slow down in processing and I start struggling. I’m sure this will improve, but in those days with heavy Spanish of 4-7 hours of in-person Spanish, I would end up with extreme mental exhaustion. To the point of headaches and fatigue. So, it’s something to be aware of if you’re considering an immersion trip.

Friday - Board of Directors meeting

So, the entire meeting is in Spanish, except when an English speaker is presenting, which was myself and one other. I attended a few of these last year when I was level 3 and 4, and it was a great comparison.

By and large, I could follow along very well. Getting way more than just the gist. Of course, it’s a bunch of native speakers speaking it other natives, so I missed some parts here and there. But the methodology we used is incredibly helpful in getting comfortable with missing a phrase or some portion, and still staying focused.

By and large, I probably understood 90%+.

Afterwards, there’s always a late lunch, and again, here everyone stayed in Spanish. Which was amazing and again, absolutely exhausting. I think I was swimming in Spanish for a solid 7-8 hours, speaking with work colleagues, where, I had to stay engaged.

Overall though, so incredibly happy with the progress.