Hello everyone!
This is my first Spanish update in this blog. Unlike my other target language, Korean, I’m actually starting from near scratch with Spanish.
I thought of creating this post to hold me accountable, hoping to motivate me in my language journey (hence the name of this website).
That’s why I encourage you to share your progress as well, wherever you are in your journey. We could always learn from each other, even if it’s just one resource or method.
Shall we begin?
Brief Context: In my About page, I share the languages I’m learning, as well as how Multilingual Journey can help you out while pursuing your target language.
August 2024 Progress
Because there’s no previous update before this post, I’ll just share a quick background and starting point with my Spanish.
I’m a bilingual born in the Philippines, and my native languages are Tagalog and English. This is to point out that I have a headstart because a good portion of our vocabulary and grammar came from Spanish.
Also, my first target language is Korean. Most of the trial and error I’ve made in language learning were tested in this language. Spanish, being the 4th language I’m attempting to acquire, will now benefit from the best methods I’ve found (from Korean) when it comes to learning a language effectively.
One of the best methods I’ve found, which I can settle with when learning Spanish, is comprehensible input.
Comprehensible Input is any content you can read and listen to that you can fairly understand (doesn’t have to be 100%). With CI alone, I believe I can get really far with Spanish.
Now the question is, why am I learning Spanish now in 2024?
- Ease of Resources – There’s just plenty of resources to choose from to learn Spanish, so I have the luxury to choose the best ones for my journey.
- Closeness to Known Languages – I often wonder why I chose Korean as my first target language when it’s too distant from English. That’s why I thought, “How about taking a break and choose a closer one?”, making Spanish a great pick because I have English and Tagalog.
- A Supportive Community – For some reason, I didn’t expect that I will find a great community online to begin my Spanish journey with. So I’m capitalizing on the one I discovered.
- Culture and Environment Factors – Spanish culture is felt in my environment here in the Philippines. Not to mention when I watch English movies there’s a bit of Spanish culture that pops up unexpectedly.
- Future Opportunities – Who knows if I get really good at Spanish, what opportunities will I attract in the future?
- Future Travel Abroad – While I may not be ready to travel to a Spanish-speaking country yet, I’m not leaving out the possibility of traveling to places like Spain or Mexico for an enriching experience, especially with a high level of Spanish up my sleeve.
- Simply Have Fun – Why can’t this be a reason to learn any language, including Spanish? Currently, that’s how I see language learning – as a fun hobby that can also feel productive during my downtime.
I said a while ago that I’m starting from “near scratch” with Spanish. This means I’ve already started a little bit, just right under 100 hours in total immersion time.
In that short time, what have I already accomplished?
- I can understand basic sentences as long as the vocabulary is basic
- I can notice a lot of English words present in Spanish, as well as a bit of grammar
- Numbers are less of a problem, simply because I’ve encountered them in Tagalog
- Stories are easier to understand for me
- I found an amazing community to share my progress and successes with – a huge factor that I didn’t always have with Korean
- I can read some short YouTube comments in Spanish
- If you’re curious about my resource, I mainly use Dreaming Spanish as my immersion tool, and I’ve never missed a day using it (even while on vacation) since May 2, 2024
- According to the roadmap of DS, I’m already at Level 2 (there are 7 levels in total) because I passed the 50-hour mark
Moving forward, I wish to share with you my September goals for Spanish.
Goals for September 2024
I’m ready for the month ahead. Despite also making a commitment to learning Korean, I wish to continue my Spanish alongside it.
In short, I’m juggling languages.
How would I do it? Here are my goals:
- Focusing on Dreaming Spanish – I have no need to open, use, or purchase a new resource when the current one is actually working. DS contains over 1,000 hours of comprehensible input (CI) content, which could take me easily to high levels in Spanish.
- Being active in the community – right now I’m part of the Discord channel for DS users. That alone is strong enough motivation to make me immerse fully in Spanish, since people there are grinding 100’s to 1,000’s of hours, with some putting in over 8 hours per day consistently. I’d like to make friends with them and see where it would take me.
- Open up podcasts – while I said I wanted to go pure Dreaming Spanish, occasionally I’ll try to listen to podcasts if ever the community recommends something that I get curious with. Besides, podcasts are good while doing chores or other easy tasks.
Notice I have no specific hour target (say 1 hour a day) nor any tangible metric. I’m still testing the waters to see how much input I can consistently consume. DS has a pretty nice tracker, making the process simpler for me.
So far, that’s all I can say. Thanks for checking out my update.
Let me know in the comments, are you learning Spanish too? How’s your progress so far? What resources do you use?
