Learning Spanish? Improve your LISTENING with "The White Cat"

Get the ear-training Anki flashcards here:
spanishinput.gumroad.com/l/twc
Channel member discount:
Get 60% off the flashcards for this story using the code in the "Membership" tab of this channel. To join as a member, please visit kzbin.info...
Here's the full playlist of members-only videos, including comprehensible input videos:
• SpanishInput 1 (Beginn...
If you're learning Spanish, the most important thing is to improve your listening. "The White Cat" is a short story created especially for this. The story was written using a list of the 5,000 most common words in spoken Spanish, so you won't be wasting your time with uncommon words. The only word outside the list is "gata".
If you want to do the transcription exercise using GlotDojo, here's a step by step guide:
• The BEST way to improv...
VIDEO CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
03:14 The White Cat part 1
05:21 The White Cat part 2
07:57 The White Cat part 3
09:51 The White Cat part 4
12:28 The White Cat part 5
13:51 Anki flashcards
If you're curious, this story is based on an old story in the public domain called "Tobermory", by Saki. But I've made so many changes it's barely recognizable. The previous story, "The Mysterious Woman" was based on "The Sphinx Without a Secret", by Oscar Wilde.
AI USE:
The images for this story were created using Adobe Firefly inside Photoshop. It took me a week to generate the images because I had specific requirements for each character, so I had to re-generate each image (completely or partly) many times.

[@spanishinput]

EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT: Get 50% off the Anki flashcards and other study materials for this story using code helado50 during checkout. Valid until March 19th, 2024. Here’s the product page: spanishinput.gumroad.com/l/twc

[@duotonsatz]

¡Qué esfuerzo has hecho! Acabo de comprar la pila de Anki. No conozco a nadie que proporcione materiales de aprendizaje tan bien organizados. Estoy encantada. Voy a trabajar a través de "Helado" y luego espero que publiques más historias de esta manera. Sería fantástico. Muchas gracias!

[@JuanMoreno-wo5yb]

No se pero Anki siempre parece complicado y no estoy tech!! Pues, voy a investigar

[@user-kq7ze6ej6u]

I am learning Spanish as a beginner,and that's one of the best Spanish tutoring channels I have found, especially the bilingual subtitles, looking forward to your more excellent episodes.🎉🎉🎉

[@spanishinput]

谢谢你、星哥！ In part, I base my methods in my previous experience learning Chinese.

[@ryanbon2414]

I just want to say I really appreciate you taking the time to make these comprehensive lessons. You deserve more subscribers, please keep it up!

[@spanishinput]

Glad you like them!

[@romariohales2130]

Just subscribe because of this comment ,didnt realize

[@maxwellhunter8255]

Best Spanish learning channel !!! ❤❤❤❤

[@ayayeshakur]

Wow this is exceptional.... and because I love it so much , I can only Increase from it.... Very interesting story....es muy divertido! Muchas Gracias....

I don't often comment on videos but man, I can't express how helpful your content and especially your learning technique is. I've been watching for a few months now but found it quite inconvenient to write the words down in word or similar programs. With the flashcards this technique came to a whole new level for me. Unbelievably effective! Thank you so much for making these videos, I'll stay tuned!

[@spanishinput]

Thank you, Marlon, and I'm glad you've found my flashcards useful!

[@RedErin]

Your lessons are so clear and encouraging, I’m thrilled to have found your channel at the very point I need lessons just like this. Your voice, oh I wish I knew how to say in Spanish how lovely it is to listen to and how perfect your audio is - I will learn!

[@spanishinput]

You're very welcome!

[@JuanMoreno-wo5yb]

Tell him: Me gusta el sonido de tu voz. Tu voz es muy suave y puedo entender todas las palabras. Me encanta oírte hablar y algún día quiero hablar así. ❤ Tell him: I like the sound of your voice. Your voice is very soft and I can understand all the words. I love to hear you talk and someday I want to talk like that. ❤

[@joelcabello5761]

Eres un excelente instructor en línea. Por favor continúa compartiendo tus videos.

[@spanishinput]

¡Gracias!

[@susannetta]

The watercolors in this series are amazing! Why hasn't anyon e commented on this? What beautiful illustrations! Felicitaciones!

[@spanishinput]

Thank you very much! I created them with Adobe Firefly AI.

[@waynevandermeer3050]

So glad to see another story

[@spanishinput]

Thank you! I hope you enjoy it.

[@DmitroMishin]

Muy interesante, divertidoy muy útil para aprender español) gracias

[@ostrbor]

Thank you!

[@AMALaMaL-fm5kt]

Estas hestorias me ayudan a entender tiempos pasados muchas gracias . Empiezo aprender español desde 2 meses.

[@spanishinput]

¡Gracias por tu comentario!

[@terranikon7327]

Muchísimas Gracias

[@kpmedia8977]

muchas gracias!

[@TinTin-zf8sh]

gracias

[@anis.anis.a]

Nice video, thanks for you efforts ❤

[@Dvorak285]

This video is the great piece of work.

[@ladylee4792]

I really love listening and learning in this channel. Thank you.

[@inchainsambassador]

I really appreciate your videos! excellent work and thank you!

[@intramotus]

Great content, thank you !

[@roadtrippinhalls]

Yasss!!!! Mas historias para practicar escuchando !! Muchísimas Gracias ...este es el mejor canal del mundo por español ❤

[@robertordish3754]

These are great videos to learn from...muchas gracias.

[@beccalau1]

Thank you so much for these videos.

[@spanishinput]

You are so welcome!

[@texuztweety]

Love your channel so much. It's The Best channel out there! Thank you!!❤❤

[@robertordish3754]

Excellent teacher.

[@spanishinput]

Wow, thank you!

[@suehsuk]

Very interesting and inspiring story

[@Rexrex58]

Your Anki Card method is SO well done and so rich, and it makes your transcription method easier to do. THANKS for your efforts and dedication to our learning.

[@spanishinput]

Glad it was helpful!

[@adityaprasad465]

Thanks so much for making these! Also, the picture at 5:05 is going to give me nightmares lol.

[@natalyheyfets4840]

Mil gracias, profesor. Me encanta escuchar los videos de usted. ❤ Son ayudan mucho a mejorar mi español. Saludos desde Israel.

[@Trifecta123]

Fantastic! This is among the best channels for learning Spanish. Thanks!

[@spanishinput]

Wow, thanks!

[@ianstrom4365]

Thank you for your videos! Your pronunciación is really great and when I hear you I can understand so much more than when I hear TV! please continue with your work! 👍

[@spanishinput]

Thank you! 😃

[@_BolHariBol_]

Thank you for another great lesson ,to your hard work and wonderful motivation for us. Love from India 😊🙏🇮🇳

[@janettecardoso180]

Sou brasileira, assisto, entendo e amo❤. Obrigada 😅

[@arrunzo]

Ofreces contribuciones únicas al espacio de la enseñanza del español basadas en tus experiencias personales y bases lingüísticas. A diferencia de otros profesores, evitas las discusiones superficiales sobre temas trillados. Tienes la combinación adecuada de inglés y español. Hablas en español, lo cual ayuda tanto a los principiantes a aprender español como a reforzar el conocimiento de los estudiantes más avanzados. La información en pantalla está en inglés, lo cual es beneficioso no sólo para hablantes nativos de inglés de distintos niveles, sino también para personas que están aprendiendo español y que hablan inglés como segundo idioma. Tanto su edición como tus explicaciones son claras y eficientes. Te mereces todo tu éxito y más. ¡Te deseo lo mejor, hermano! ¡Sigue así! 💪

[@spanishinput]

¡Muchas gracias, Arrunzo! Veo que te interesan los idiomas también.

[@ETakacs]

¡Las tarjetas flash de ANKI están funcionando con El gato blanco! No tuve problemas con la instalación. ¡Muy apreciado!

[@spanishinput]

¡Gracias por tu compra!

[@ROSAMARIAK-jx5hf]

I absolutely love your images!! Where are they from? Did you draw them?

[@spanishinput]

Hi! I explain this in the video description.

[@gpkelly75]

The flashcards make such a difference, thank you for putting in the effort! Will there be an option in the future to also have the English translation in Anki?

[@spanishinput]

Hi! Actually, every single flashcard does have the English translation. Just click on "Traducción" to see the translation. It's hidden by default to encourage you to stay in "Spanish mode".

[@gpkelly75]

@@spanishinput thanks very much!

[@olegdimcov2794]

Gracias ! Muy divertido ! Este istoria parar mi es bastante facil. Puede ser tienes istorias mas largo como La mujer misteriosa? )

[@spanishinput]

¡Hola! Si buscas los videos más viejos de mi canal encontrarás más historias largas. Por ejemplo, "El amigo fiel".

[@l.t.c8.1.46]

Excellent Video! I genuinely enjoyed the story - there was some quality humor in here. I have been using my lunch break at work to practice transcription, and it is absolutely the most beneficial exercise for learning a language (I actually had started doing it myself as a quiz of what I was hearing before I found your channel, but now I am all the way in). Personal anecdotes aside - I was able to comprehend >85% of the story from listening, and my transcription was ~90% accurate. I am wondering what level of difficulty you think the story is based on the words used, the speed and cadence of your reading, along with the context clues in the images in the video. Would this be upper beginner to early intermediate? Where would you place this? Additionally, though I'm certain that this will be coming in future content - I have recently started to focus my study on conjugation and my comprehension and listening ability has increased dramatically. I was easily able to pick out words like "hicieron", "podemos", "trajeron", "salió", "olvidó", "ha pasado" and many others, as well as comprehend their tense and pronouns, because of my conjugation practice. I was really excited that this story is told is past tense, both for this practice and for help in distinguishing between preterite and imperfect - which as a native English speaker, I struggle with. I haven't seen many others talk at lengths about the difficulty of conjugation and familiarizing oneself with it, however, I for one don't think that its entirely obvious that words like "tengo" and "tuve" are, in fact, the same verb. Curious to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks again for the great content, I look forward to every video!

[@spanishinput]

Hi! These stories are aimed at intermediate learners. If you were able to have 90% accuracy in the transcription, I'd put you squarely in the intermediate category. You might want to try transcribing materials aimed at native speakers, such as podcasts. Regarding conjugation, I've worked on preterite vs imperfect with some students, but always in the context of stories. Grammar is better studied in context. Also, please remember that not all conjugation of a verb are equally valuable to learn. Some are super uncommon. That's why I created the Spanish Input word list. I also have some color-coded verb conjugation tables and a list of the most common verb forms which I haven't published yet. (Too many WIPs)

[@l.t.c8.1.46]

@@spanishinput Thank you so much for such a comprehensive answer! It's very helpful. I will take your advice and work on native level material. I'm sure that will be quite a challenge. I certainly agree that I think blind memorization of conjugation isn't going to be very useful for most. In my case, I think it just allowed me to better recognize what verb is being used as well as the tense based on the context of a sentence, but the only verbs/conjugations I have truly learned are the one's I have heard used in context and comprehended. I agree not all verbs are common enough to concern oneself with at this point, and my primary focus remains on listening and input. Your common word list has been very helpful, and I look forward to future materials you put out, such as conjugation tables. i truly believe this is the best channel and content for learning Spanish on KZbin. The only bad thing about your channel is how young it is - I really could listen to you all day. Thank you for your continued help and encouragement.

[@rohlimah]

Me sorprendí con Helado. No sabía que era un gato tan grosero jajajaja

[@waynevandermeer3050]

just want to shout out thanks for making these videos. theyre very helpful.i mus admit in part 5 i was hung up on "Carlos conocia el lado oscuro de Gloria.. el lado just keep sounding like helado.jaja

[@spanishinput]

Yup, I did that on purpose to trip up learners.

[@waynevandermeer3050]

Now I know

[@Ricky_Bobby1]

More stories like these. Best on KZbin. Can you do stories with majority future tents,present tense words, or stories filled with dialogue?

[@spanishinput]

Hi. If I remember correctly I did write a story mostly in the present tense, called "El arroz verde". Or was it "Lágrimas de acero"? You can find them if you order my videos from oldest to newest. The future tense is not used as much as other tenses.

[@Ricky_Bobby1]

@@spanishinput Really ok that's good to know. I have learned more in 3 months from your videos than I did in school. Thank You

[@Jmc401]

Thank you for your story, and I totally believe in your method of teaching, because of my own experience. My only suggestion is to make the story a bit shorter so it’s easier and quicker to consume. Maybe it’s my own ADHD, but for me the shorter the content, the easier it is to remember and digest

[@spanishinput]

Hi! I also have short animations. Check out the one about pineapple pizza.

[@Danishmastery]

Nice! Which country’s Spanish is he speaking?

[@spanishinput]

Hi. It's General Spanish.

[@duotonsatz]

Hola Miguel, me gusta mucho tu nuevo video, es destacado! Tu pronunciación es tan perfecto que todo parece muy fácil ;-) Tengo una pregunta. En minuto 17:11 mostras una Anki-opción de hacer click en un botón como si fuera un MP3-reproductor. Qué tengo que hacer para ganar una opción así? Sería muy feliz cuando puedas ayudarme. Muchas gracias!😘

[@spanishinput]

Hola, Duo. Este reproductor aparece automáticamente cuando uno de los campos de una tarjeta Anki contiene audio.

[@duotonsatz]

@@spanishinputMuchas gracias. Entonces, cuando compro tu Anki-Cards con audio, voy a ver eso y podré usarla. Perfecto! Muchas gracias!

[@batgirlp5561]

If I buy the $5 anki deck, is audio included on the cards?

[@spanishinput]

Hi! Yes, every card has audio.

[@Abcd-jz4gp]

"prometió hacerle caso" "He promised to make her case" is the way to say "He promised to obey her? I know there is another verb to use (obedecerla) that is probably not on the 5000 word list. What I try to focus on in translation is how another culture expresses itself. Sure would like to know how to get better at understanding translations that are not straightforward. Experience and time, I suppose. TY

[@spanishinput]

Yup, "hacer caso" means "to pay attention", "to listen", etc. It doesn't sound as Orwellian as "obedecer".

[@Abcd-jz4gp]

@@spanishinput funny

[@restymacalisang]

Mi antes entiendo historia : ❤🐈😻😘🎁💐 Me ahora entiendo todos historia: 😭🐈🍧🍨🤬😡😤👿🤪😱😰😰 El metodo transcription is MUYYYYY divertido. Yo aprendo mejor palabras necesitan en mi “daily” life. Puedo usar “todavia”? Jaja Perdon po mi español pero yo tengo que intentar escribiendo para practicar!!! Gracias por historia y este video! ❤❤❤🎉

[@user-pr1xm6my2q]

Really enjoying your courses.In The White Cat.there is one thing i do not understand.At the end of part 2 it says....to buy her old car.Why do you say como para before buy her old car.Thankyou.

[@spanishinput]

Hi. "tan tonto como para" means "as dumb as for" or "dumb enough to". This became split across two lines. You have to consider the full sentence and not just a single line.

[@user-pr1xm6my2q]

@@spanishinput Thankyou for clearing that up.Now having a go at part 3.

[@grisha4167]

What accent do you speak? (If any )

[@spanishinput]

Hi. On my KZbin videos I speak in General Spanish. It's the "nowhere accent" and I've been cultivating it for years.

[@grisha4167]

Gracias amigo! A mi me gusta mucho tu Espanol, porque yo entiendo todo. That's because I've asked. And thank you for your videos and your perfect accent

[@user-nx8oo3hq6m]

​@@grisha4167 🤝 💯

[@spanishinput]

Hi. General Spanish uses a “middle of the road” set of sounds for each of Spanish phonemes. I have learned which sounds are the most common ones or the “middle of the road” ones through the study of phonetics books and spending tons of time analyzing the speech of people from different countries. I’m distilling all of this knowledge into practical phonetics lessons for students, which are available for channel members here: kzbin.info/aero/PLNDr0kknnWpaHflmKQn-l74ygZ0Zl77-t As I say in my videos, the goal of the learner is NOT to try to imitate any regional accent. The goal of the learner is to understand and be understood. Trying to imitate a regional accent (Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia) is just adding extra workload to yourself for dubious benefits, and might actually make it more difficult to understand you. I also practice what I preach: I try my best to speak General Spanish in my daily interactions, and no one from my city (Guayaquil) has commented on it. The only ones who notice it are people from other cities or countries, who tell me I don’t sound like other Guayaquileans. I take it as a compliment.

[@blackstar_1069]

Pobre Helado 😿

[@kennethschwartz898]

No puedo tirar mi R. ¿Alguien puede tener la amabilidad de decirme cómo debo pronunciar una R al principio de una palabra y una RR en el medio? Gracias

[@spanishinput]

Hola. Tengo varios videos sobre el tema en esta lista: kzbin.info/aero/PLNDr0kknnWpb4L-XEev0aEZCBKv5SdZEd

[@kennethschwartz898]

@@spanishinput I watched them all.. you really dedicated yourself to this.. congratulations.

[@zamzamsamir4891]

how is this suppose to have 5000 words? is the whole story going to be uploaded later ? I hope so

[@spanishinput]

Hi. Just as I said in the video, this story avoids using words outside the list. I never said the story uses 5,000 words.

[@user-fl4wv3uw9e]

He entendido todo por la primera vez de escuchar sin subtitulo, que significa eso de mi nivel de español?

[@spanishinput]

Hola. ¿Hiciste el ejercicio de transcripción? Solo así puedes estar seguro de que realmente entiendes todo. Cuando haces transcripción empiezas a notar detalles que nunca has notado. Por ejemplo, jamás decimos "por la primera vez", sino solo "la primera vez".

[@arrunzo]

En cuanto a la cuestión de "por primera vez", cabe señalar que lo que se considera correcto o incorrecto en un idioma es a menudo arbitrario, es decir, la regla es la regla a veces porque fue lo que llegó a ser aceptado. Incluso entre lenguas tan similares como las lenguas romances, cosas muy pequeñas que se considerarían "malas" o "impropias" pueden considerarse correctas o incluso preferidas en otras lenguas. 🇬🇧 ENG: I ate sushi for the first time. 🇵🇹 POR: Comi sushi pela primeira vez. 🇪🇸 ESP: Comí sushi por primera vez. 🇦🇩 CAT: Vaig menjar sushi per primera vegada. 🇫🇷 FRA: J'ai mangé des sushis pour la première fois. 🇮🇹 ITA: Ho mangiato sushi per la prima volta. 🇷🇴 RUM: Am mâncat sushi pentru prima dată. Se puede ver aquí en todas las demás lenguas romances, se usa el artículo definido. La excepción es el catalán, lo cual creo que se debe a que casi todos los catalanohablantes también hablan español, cosa que puede influir la sintaxis del catalán. Según mis observaciones, aunque el portugués y el español comparten una mayor relación genética, es frecuente que el español y el catalán compartan traducciones palabra por palabra, probablemente debido a que son parte de la misma unidad política durante cientos de años. Otro ejemplo de algo que está considerado incorrecto en un idioma es decir "ir" + "infinitivo" en italiano para expresar el futuro, donde se considera correcto y se usa en otras lenguas romances: 🇬🇧 ENG: I am going to read a book. 🇵🇹 POR: Eu vou ler um livro. 🇪🇸 ESP: Voy a leer un libro. 🇦🇩 CAT: Vaig a llegir un llibre. 🇫🇷 FRA: Je vais lire un livre. 🇮🇹 ITA: Leggerò un libro. 🇷🇴 RUM: Am de gând să citesc o carte. En italiano, se puede decir "andare" + "a" + "infinitivo", sólo cuando la acción implica movimiento físico, no una idea general de hacer algo en el futuro. "Vado a leggere un libro" implica que el hablante viajará a algún lugar para leer el libro. Todo lo que dije es básicamente una forma prolija de decir que si dices algo mal en español, es posible que sea correcto en otra lengua romance. Bastante interesante, ¿no?

[@zachasnacks7036]

Si entendí todo de este video, ¿qué nivel de español crees que tengo?

[@spanishinput]

¡Hola, Zach! Si entendiste todo, yo diría que ya tienes un nivel avanzado y estás listo para materiales nativos, como Radio Ambulante.

[@wesleyh2251]

Hola. Tengo una pregunta. Una vez está escribiendo ¨cualquier puede aprender¨ y otra vez, está ¨cualquier persona¨. Persona tiene LA ... la persona. Por eso mi pregunta, porque no es ¨cualquiera puede aprender¨ y ¨cualquiera persona¨ ? Gracias de antemano.

[@spanishinput]

Hola. "Cualquier" es la forma corta de "cualquiera", y se usa cuando está *antes* de un sustantivo. Es lo mismo que pasa con "buen" y "bueno".

[@lcomfort8683]

Siempre pensaba que los animales son más inteligente que los humanos.

[@jessicasimpson773]

Estas historias son hecho de I.A.? O por lo menos hecho con la ayuda de I.A.? Me parece poco raro la historia 😅

[@spanishinput]

Hola. No. He probado la I.A. y todavía no sirve para mis propósitos. Como explico en la descripción, esta es una historia original del autor británico Saki, y yo la re-escribí por completo.

[@jessicasimpson773]

@@spanishinput Muy bien! Gracias por compartir y ayudarnos aprender español :) Saludos desde Gringolandia

[@jimmypierre5138]

El botón no funciona, al presionarlo también no funciona

[@spanishinput]

Hola, Jimmy. Gracias por comentar. ¿Qué botón?

[@kennethschwartz898]

Why is "y hoy" combined to yoy...... what rule would this fall under

[@spanishinput]

Hi. It's natural connected speech. Please check my two recent videos about the subject. They explain the rules and provide lots of examples from highly educated speakers and voice professionals.

[@kennethschwartz898]

@@spanishinput I have to give you credit, you are one of the few channels that respond to all questions on a timely basis

[@austinsowers2974]

What level of spanish is this? A2, B2?

[@spanishinput]

Hi! It's for intermediate students in the B1-B2 region.

[@sandra.saverio]

Historia cruel y sin sentido😢😢😢

[@dougw297]

The option are toooo damn complicated

[@uteloew5233]

Great way to learn Spanish, no doubt. But I very much dislike the idea of a cat being locked up for the rest of his days. Why not make her travel to China to learn Chinese. It is well known, cats can understand only one language, so learning Chinese makes him forget Spanish. Not my story, as it is.

[@spanishinput]

Hi! The original story is "Tobermory" by Saki. In the original the cat dies in a fight with another cat. I spent days thinking how to end the story without the cat ending up dead, and this is the best I could come up. But I like your idea.

[@rimaruttempest6109]

The AI generated art is creepy as fuck