How I get 5+ hrs per day of Comprehensible Input

[@attaotigba]

This is how I usually watch KZbin. Passively. It's how I'm watching your video now. The trouble is that you need to be paying attention to the comprehensible input to optimize acquisition. That's what makes it a little difficult for me to get quality hours at first. The passive thing only seems to work when you're fairly settled in the upper intermediate level. Thoughts on this? Great video by the way!

[@realJoeSema]

Thanks! Yeah, in the beginning stages its definitely harder to do things passively. What you could try doing is listening super easy content that you have already watched and understand for passive content. I notice while working out, I need to tone down the level of my podcast and listen to something much easier as compared to driving in the car with the same podcast. Its definitely a sliding scale, but there is always something you could put on in the background once you pass really beginner stages. Hope this helps!

[@renegade-spectre]

That’s exactly what I do. I only really watch netflix, Disney+, KZbin while cooking, cleaning or while I’m on break from work..and KZbin is the only thing I may watch in English or Spanish (my native languages) from time to time…the rest I only watch in any of the languages I’m working on. Thanks to that I am able to keep up with Japanese, Italian and since my Korean is not as advanced I manage to make idle time in the morning into a short 15-20 min graded reading session.

[@tonis-g6129]

I don’t have a goal to travel internationally, especially solo, so I won’t be attempting any languages other than Spanish. And I don’t have any need for Spanish, but I’m passionate about it. I no longer keep track of my input hours, but I look for every opportunity. I try to consume as much media in Spanish as possible and I always feel like I’m wasting time on English content. Like right in this very moment. But I need to actually hear the content. Having buds in while brushing my teeth, doing dishes, vacuuming… that doesn’t cut it. I don’t really hear it so it doesn’t count. And depending on traffic, I may need to focus completely on the commute. I also have a spouse and family. The time I spend with my Spanish content is time that they don’t get from me. My friendships suffer unless they are those that I’ve made with tutors and language partners. I actually feel pretty socially isolated. The only social media is instagram and the only accounts I follow are Venezuelan creators. So I’m physically here in the US, but my brain lives in a Spanish cyberspace

[@chrisbunka]

Great advice! I'm doing a lot of what you're doing except in Brazilian Portuguese. I plan to loop back to Spanish later.

[@DavidLearnsSpanish-lu2tb]

Love the tips! Atomic Habits is a GREAT book!

[@realJoeSema]

Thanks! Yeah, definitely changes your mindset on how to approach goals.

[@Hahahahahahaha419]

Appreciate the tips, thanks for the great video !

[@realJoeSema]

Thanks!

[@AbdulKhan-nx8mk]

excellent tips!

[@realJoeSema]

Thanks!

[@Pedro94-dp]

Nice man good tips, I do the same thing withc podcast, but what I really like is to watch tv show now I'm watching friends ! your native language is English?

[@realJoeSema]

Thanks! Yeah, I'm actually Albanian so I know Albanian as well, but I grew up for most of my life in the US so I'm practically native in English.

[@Pedro94-dp]

@@realJoeSema Understood that's cool

[@royr8982]

Ive been slacking on my Spanish the last couple of weeks . I hit a plateau . I understand some intermediate topics . I don’t speak much . Can you recommend intermediate Netflix, KZbin/podcast ? I find KZbin to be too advanced same with Netflix, so I zone out . I’ve watched all the intermediate dreaming Spanish videos so I zone out rewatching .

[@realJoeSema]

It depends on stuff that you like and are interested in but one way I find new content is by looking at the things that I would consume normally in English and look for Spanish alternative. For example, If I really like finance stuff in English, look for finance podcasts / youtubers in Spanish. They will probably be easier than other content because you already have a lot of context from the English versions you already consumed

[@tbountybay3080]

How do you feel about the results that comprehensible input is giving you? My feeling is it's great for long-term, however the subconscious is gonna need like 5 years to sort things out to be able to use the language, and i don't have 5 years to not reach fluency. IDK, what's been your experience?

[@realJoeSema]

The results CI has given me have been way ahead of any classic classroom classes in my experience. I took French in Highschool for 2 years and I can't really listen or speak French at all even though I was really good at the grammar and was one of the top performing students. Using purely CI, in 1.5 - 2 years, I'm able to make friends solely using Spanish and listen to pretty much whatever content I like. I think the tough thing about the whole CI method is that you really need to put in the hours to get results. I do agree that the time commitment is high, but you definitely will get results, which is hard to say with most other methods.

[@tbountybay3080]

@@realJoeSema Word! Very well explained. So true. I took french in high school and it was a joke. I remember like 3 words. Thanks for sharing

[@junerdz]

@@realJoeSema from what i've heard about similar learning structures with a focus on comprehensible input, like the Thai Automatic Language Class (ALG) established by linguist Dr Brown in the 80s, one of his prodigees, David Long, who still works with the school said that it would take about 1-2 years within their course for students to get comfortable speaking which iirc translated to about 800 listening hours (this would also vary depending on one's own native langauge).

[@junerdz]

I say this becuase I think the time commitment can be personal, it could be 5 years or 1.5 - 2 years like in your case, depending on how many quality listening hours you have in the language.

[@shamicentertainment1262]

To do it faster you can’t just do input. You need to learn words, heaps of words and practice speaking.

[@DBoone123]

damn, bruv is going to learn all the languages at this rate

[@realJoeSema]

Haha I've thought of learning other languages like Russain but honestly, it takes a lot of deliberate effort and time so maybe I would lazily learn Portuguese or French just cause they are similar to Spanish. That being said, I'd be really happy being super fluent in just Spanish than be ok in like 3 - 4 other languages.