I came into the site with years of already learning but I still watch beginning and super beginners for vocabulary despite being high intermediate. Good content

you explained how both methods work while staying under 10minutes, love that

I have tried refold for so long but I clash, I find the method like DS helps me best, as I hate anki and never was too keen on studying vocab daily, sometime i do close master here and there, but mostly i get input!

Ich bin ein Berliner! I ain't some kinda Spanish Kid!

Bro u rock, l support you, your spanish is awesome 💯 Best wishes and good luck in your goals.

I love you man, you explained it perfectly ❤

This is such good advice - thanks so much!

Just recently reached 1500 hours using the Dreaming Spanish method and I can comfortably say it works just as advertised. In fact it feels like magic!

good

I watch the DS videos for a lot of my CI. I have found it is exactly like exercise. Your improvement is so slow as to be inperceptible, but if you keep fun, you'll be more likely to do it everyday without getting burnt out.

Really great explanation of Dreaming Spanish! I’m less than 30 hours in and started as a super beginner with 0 experience in Spanish and I’m already amazed by how much I can understand in the Super Beginner videos now compared to when I first started. I can’t wait to see how much I’ll progress in the next year! Cheers

I am at ~500 hours of DS and I love the method, the one issue I have with it is that I don't believe you will 'speak like a native' at 1500 hours. To give an example, if you are brought up in a bilingual household, many kids will simply speak one language and understand the other - but they will not be able to speak it despite tens of thousands of hours of input. Speaking is something that takes deliberate practice. After 14 months I have begun speaking lessons with a tutor online, and I find it very enjoyable. We will see whether I can reach conversational level by ~1000 hours. But CI is definitely >80% of what I do.

I've also been doing both, although now I mainly just use DS as a tracker and use Linqg to get me reading.

They're really the same method. They just use a different method for creating comprehensibility. Refold was originally designed for japanese, where there isn't really a resource like DS, but it just happens to be adaptable to any language. If there was a DS version for every language refold would basically be just doing that plus flashcards/learning the writing system.

This is fantastic advice. I am already implementing this and seeing great results. I love to talk about movies but funnily enough I had not listened to much movie reviews in my target language, so I looked up “best movies” in Japanese and watched some videos and I’ve already gotten better at saying what I like or don’t like about a move.

I think you're right. As someone who learned English as a second language, I subconsciously did it the way you described: by consuming content related to the fields I liked. However, when I went overseas and had to use my English, I noticed how often I stumbled because I couldn't keep a train of thought in that target language. And it was with simple stuff too, like describing my route, how my country is, etc. The key to actually being fluent is learning to think in the target language. I'm Brazilian, so I speak Portuguese. Both languages have very similar structures, so thinking in English is not that different structure wise. This helps you formulate thoughts and articulate way better than to think in your mother language and then translate the sentence on the fly to your target language. I'm also learning Japanese, and their language structure is completely different than either English or Portuguese. It is hard to think in such a language because it requires you to change your way of thinking. (Talking from a romance language speaker POV).

How do you set the alarm to play news?

So "Gardeners' Question Time" instead of "Kingdom of Plants" movie?

The music is too loud. 😭

I think you can make the floating head work, same way Cure Dolly made the android gimmick work. Rest in peace Cure Dolly✊😔

I can’t believe this has so few views! It’s incredibly helpful. I’m actually American (from upstate NY originally) and I’m trying to get rid of my regional accent since moving to the west coast (I’m sick of people teasing me about how obnoxiously New Yorker I sound lol), but I couldn’t figure out how to sound just “American” when I’m already American 😂 . I tried watching news anchors but quickly lost interest. I’ll try finding a “family” now instead 🤔 ☺️. (On a side note, I’m also learning Spanish for fun. I think I’ll focus on trying to find some Latino American KZbinrs because that’s the accent I’d like.) Thank you for the help!!

this is brilliant, I thought about this problem but never thought of a solution

i downvoted because the background music is too loud and, especially, too distracting. any background music with percussion (eg, the music you use has a kind of percussive sound on beats 2 and 4) takes SO much focus away from your narration. i can try to just read the transcript instead, but it is not as engaging as watching a video. it frustrates and makes me sad, to see content creators put in effort into their videos, only to ruin them for me by background music that is too loud or too distracting

i’m very guilty of listening to mexican podcasters and youtubers, colombian tiktokers, mexican tv programs, and various music genres from artists across latin america from argentina to colombia to PR and mexico 😅 limiting input to a few people from 1 country makes a lot of logical sense to achieve a more fluent or “native result” but it’s easier said than done when I enjoy content from multiple places 😅😅 maybe i will try to be more mindful of who I listen to more

Good video, but the floating head is pretty creepy

I kind of do this. I primarily use Dreaming Spanish filtered to Spain. Once my comprehension allowed, I started listening to podcasts and watching KZbin videos, also from Spain. I also filter further to a more or less standard Spain accent (not Andalucia). I’m just beginning to read so again I’m sticking to Spanish writers, or translations to Spain Spanish. I don’t know whether this has helped but I do know that my progress has been smooth and very steady with no jumps or setbacks.

Really nice videos. Someone wanna practice his or her spanish? I need to practice my english. I'am a native spanish speaker. If interested, let's get in touch. Could practice on telegram or WA even.

Where can you find someone to crosstalk with?

you have an ig or email i can contact you by?

You expressed that beautifully! It's refreshing to see such honesty. I had a similar experience; I felt a sense of relief and hope about learning Spanish when I found honest KZbinrs and programs that explained this journey would take years. This understanding lifted the unrealistic burdens off me and allowed me to relax into my new journey.

I use both sites for my language learning journey. Dreaming Spanish(DS) feels too hands-off for me, while Refold is a bit too intense. So, I have settled into using DS for 1-2 hours of comprehensible input a day. I also study flashcards, use Pimsleur, and listen to as much passive Spanish as I can, even when I don't understand the words or the meaning usually música or shows. Along with random KZbin videos, some Memrise, and anything else that catches my interest, I'm keeping the process fun. I feel like I'm getting the best of both worlds, tailored to my needs and abilities.

The real secret is just doing both of these. I use Dreaming Spanish every single day (1,400 hours right now) and supplement with the ES1K deck from Refold and I read. These two are made for one another.

I fall into the category for Dreaming Spanish as someone who doesn´t necessarily enjoy a lot of the content. I do typically like Agustina´s videos about history, travel, geography, etc. That´s not to say I like zero percent of what the others put out but just not consistently, so it makes it a little disheartening when I find a lot of it kind of boring.

So basically just immersion... I recommend Migaku, which is paid and language reactor or better said comprehensible input but the crosstalk is a fascinating, never heard about that

Thanks for sharing! One of my goals is to be able to read Percy Jackson in Spanish. The mini stories on LingQ don't capture my attention enough even though I appreciate the purpose of their structure. I normally listen to Spanish teaching podcasts and follow along with the transcript on LingQ

The biggest problem I see with DS is that it takes a very long time. If you're devoting 1 hour per day, it will take you FOUR YEARS to reach 1500 hours. If you're devoting two hours a day, it will still take TWO years before starting to even try output. And that's just to START with output. Of course, when you first start outputting, you're going to have a whole new set of learning to do. I don't see DS as being a good method by itself. It's a good source of material to leverage comprehensible input. But unless you're willing to spend a very long time for low-effort methods to eventually pay off, it should only be a PART of your learning plan.

My perspective is a little different. I have a solid foundation of grammar and vocabulary but still had the habit of translating in my head which inhibits my conversational skills. A video on KZbin recommended comprehensible input as a solution to this problem. I have no idea the why but watching the DS videos has greatly improved my conversational skills. I hear the Spanish and I respond in Spanish without the stop off at English in both directions. Even though they speak slower than normal, it helps me process faster Speakers.

Hace unos meses empecé a leer libros en inglés en voz alta y descubrí que el tiempo de mi concentración aumentaba considerablemente y que muchas palabras, que aún no había dicho, en mi cabeza sonaban bien, pero cuando intentaba decirlas, mi boca no era capaz de pronunciarlas correctamente. Así que, creo que con este método también estoy trabajando la pronunciación y la musculatura de la boca. El punto negativo es que lo hago en todos los lugares donde suelo leer, como la playa, la piscina, el salón de mi casa... y a mis hijas y mi mujer les da mucha vergüenza estar a mi lado xD. No sé si le servirá a todo el mundo, pero para mi funciona muy bien. Gracias por los consejos.

When I set out on the Spanish learning journey I bought Cuentos de Eva Luna by Isabel Allende to read when I could. I read it in English years ago and loved it. I’m only at just under 200 hours with Dreaming Spanish but I use LingQ and Lingopie to read and listen at the same time. I enjoy it.

I like your idea of a “goal book.” Brilliant.

“When you read easier stuff, you can read more stuff. And when you read more stuff, you get better at reading and can read harder stuff.” Amen.

I have the first 5 books in Juan Fernandez Spanish For Beginners series. They build in difficulty level but I found them easy and interesting to read.

This is so true & such a great reminder!!

Learning to be as kind to yourself as you are to others is SUCH a valuable skill!

Some really helpful insights here! AND this makes me want to try watching Avatar in Spanish 😄

I love your videos though I’m terribly biased (I did 2.5 years or so of DS. The best IMO). Great stuff! Keep up the nice work. Have you ever tried crosstalk?

I needed this video today. Thank you.

Well said!!! Also, what a relaxing video.

You mention about taking Spanish in school for years and lessons etc . Did you include those hours in how long it took to be fluent ? If not , how many hours in and out of DS has it taken you , Total ? Nice video by the way . Very encouraging .

Thank you for mentioning this series. I need to do more reading in Spanish.