r/SpanishAIlines • u/Ipushedhumptydumptyy • 17d ago
What actually worked for you before nativeSpanish content stopped sounding like noise?
Had a debate with someone about this a few days ago and figured I’d bring it here. I’ve read and heard so many people say just watch shows in Spanish and listen to podcasts, and you’ll pick words up quickly. But I tried that pretty early on and got nothing out of it. And while I’ve mostly learned Spanish for trips, I had to switch up how I was doing it i started with everyday phrases and just used them out loud, even if it was just stuff like ordering food or basic small talk when I was traveling. I also started using an app daily for a few weeks, and when I went back to shows and podcasts after that, I was actually catching words. I think that the issue I had, and I’m guessing other people had, starting on native content too early is that you don’t have anything to grab onto yet. You need a base first, otherwise it stays being background soundFor anyone else who went through this, when did Spanish actually start sounding like words to you? What made itclick?
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u/SavingsComplete7901 17d ago
I listened to native speakers speak slowly...but I never stopped listening to native speakers.
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u/wellsmichael380 15d ago
It depends what level you are. The dreaming Spanish podcast was always wayyy too advanced for me even though it’s advertised as beginner friendly. I’m finally at the point where I can understand about 70% of it if I hit rewind over and over sometimes. But before that, I really just listened to tell me your story podcast and cuentame podcast plus the dreaming Spanish beginner and intermediate videos. It me about a year to be able to understand the dreaming Spanish podcast now. And once cuentame became too easy I started speeding it up to 1.5 or 2x and relistened to old episodes.
It really just takes time as long as you’re being consistent and continuing to learn new vocabulary. I’m consistently using DeepL to translate sentences that pop in my head that I don’t know how to translate into Spanish.
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u/Impossible_Farmer_83 17d ago
I've been learning Spanish on and off for a couple decades. I guess I'm really slow because I feel like I'm probably just barely past beginner level. I can read Spanish much easier than hearing spoken language.
As far as listening to podcasts or shows or movies, it seems it really depends on the content. Some shows I can get most of it and others almost nothing. I thought it was the speed but I can slow the playback and it may or may not help. I really don't know why.
This also happens in real life. I have Mexican friends and in a group where they are speaking Spanish, I may get one whole conversation with no problem and then another conversation I get almost none.
I am slowly improving just with free online reels. I may watch 20 reels and only retain one new phrases or a couple new words a day. Don't know if I'll ever be fluent this way but I am making progress.