Almost six years since starting my Spanish journey, here's where I'm at today.
It occurred to me today that it has been a long time since my last post regarding my journey in Spanish, something that I used to post updates on pretty regularly in the past.
My journey in Spanish started in February 2020 when I hired a tutor from iTalki to take me from zero to, well, fluency (or so I hoped). Four days a week I was having lessons, and outside those lessons, I'd self-study by reading stories for language learners.
I've had my ups and downs, especially in the beginning. I'd study and practice for hours, then attempt to have a small conversation with someone at the store when visiting Mexico, and not understand a word. It was demoralizing. But even when I felt at my lowest, I kept going, and things started to turn around.
The Language Started to Slow Down
As time went on, I'd say that I reached a new milestone in my language learning journey about every six months, and the language started to slow down for me. That's not to say I understood every word someone said, but I understood enough to know what we were talking about.
I'd work my way through conversations with my tutor and family. It felt awkward at times, and there were many times I faked understanding, but the consistency started to pay off.
Roughly three years in, and I had reached a point where I could participate rather naturally in a dinner conversation. Not perfect, but I wasn't trying to be perfect. I was trying to understand, and to be understood.
How I Learn Today
Today things are different. I don't have three or four classes per week with a tutor going through exercises and vocabulary. I'm fluent, and that stuff bores me to no end (plus, it would be minimal gains at this point).
Instead, I have two sessions per week with a native speaker, and we just chat for an hour about whatever. The news, vacations, life, family, culture, history, or whatever else we feel like at the moment. He's a pretty solid guy, I really enjoy our conversations.
Between those sessions, I read books in Spanish for entertainment. This is where I push my language abilities because I'm always coming across new vocab or ways of saying things. Also, it exposes me to cultural differences. A book written by an author from Spain will often use different words compared to an author from Mexico, for example.
I have a vocab list, but honestly I don't review it very much. It contains words that come up during my one-on-one conversations. Sometimes I'll zip through them, but I could be better at this.
Last, I speak Spanish with my wife and her family fairly often, seeing as they are from Mexico. I still get opportunities to learn new expressions and ways of saying things through these conversations.
My Status and Goals
Currently, I'd say that I'm averaging a High B2 level in Spanish. Interestingly, this is around the same place I think I was at two years ago. The difference today though is that some topics I'm definitely at a C1 level, whereas others maybe I dip a bit if I'm not as familiar with the vocab, but still very much fluent.
In regard to listening comprehension and reading, I'm at a C1 level for sure. I don't have many issues when talking with folks, at least when it comes to vocab and subject (sometimes their accent may throw me off as I get accustomed to it). I read books in Spanish now for fun that are written for native speakers.
So on one hand, I think I'm pretty darn good at this point, but on the other, I feel like I could be a little more refined (speaking), especially after six years. My improvements are very tiny at this point, but so is my effort. I don't push myself consistently in the ways necessary to reach higher levels.
As of right now, I'm pretty okay with that. I can communicate just fine 97% of the time. I don't get tripped up often, and if I do, it is usually due to an individual accent rather than lack of vocab or grammar knowledge.
In the end, I feel so grateful to be at the place that I am with Spanish. It has opened up a world to me that I would have never known without it.
#personal
