It's been almost a year since I started actively learning Spanish. In that time, I've managed 300 hours of study.

Why am I learning Spanish?

There are several reasons:

  • I'm always looking for ways to take my work to the next level.
  • Spanish is an attractive language.
  • It allows you to communicate with a huge number of people around the world.
  • We travel to the Canary Islands, where Spanish is spoken.

Over the year, however, that has changed a bit. As I discovered the magic of Latin America, I'm now learning more to use Spanish in the streets of Buenos Aires and by the seven lakes in Bariloche 🙂

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Did you know that Spanish is the 2nd language in the world by number of native speakers? It has 484 million native speakers. Only Mandarin Chinese has more. English is more widespread, but for most, it is a second language.

Traditional Learning Methods and Their Limits

I had struggled with learning Spanish before in various stages. Like many people, I installed an app like Duolingo and tried to learn with its help.

If you want to go this route, I recommend Babbel. You have an app, but you combine it with classic lessons with a tutor (in a group or 1:1). You can attend as many lessons as you want, and the app is included in the price. They also have a lot of extra materials (podcasts of different levels, etc.). The service is called Babbel Live and costs €79 per month. If you take 3 lessons a week, it comes out to €6 per lesson. You won't find that anywhere else.

Unfortunately, this method didn't work very well for me personally. Studying grammar, vocabulary, and isolated phrases is not something that suits me. It's a way of studying that requires you to sit down and study. That's not sustainable for me in real life, because there are always more important things to do.

It was hard for me to maintain consistency, which is absolutely key to learning a new language.

Learning Without Torture: Comprehensible Input

One day, I came across the Comprehensible Input method. This method promises that you will learn the language more slowly, but better. In an easy way, purely through consuming content in the target language.

It's nothing groundbreaking - you've surely heard from someone that they learned a second language by watching series on Netflix.

It intrigued me because this is exactly how I learned English and how I have improved the most throughout my life.

How Comprehensible Input Works

Learning with the Comprehensible Input method focuses first on listening. As a student, you start by listening to simple sentences and conversations, which are supplemented with pictures and various drawings.

These visual aids help you understand what the speaker is trying to express, and you start connecting words with their meaning in your head.

But for this method to work and be effective, it is necessary to focus on content that is just a tiny bit more difficult than what you can currently handle.

So you start by watching a video, like this one:

You can't just start watching La casa de papel in the original and hope that in a little while you'll be speaking like Tokio.

You need to understand what is happening in the story well - only then can your brain take care of filling in the gaps of what it doesn't yet understand.

Key Principles of the Method:

  • Context is the foundation of learning - you always see a given expression in some context. Never as a flashcard to memorize.
  • You start with simple content full of visual aids.
  • You postpone reading and speaking until later, much later. Learning grammar is optional and is rather not recommended at the beginning.
  • It's important to primarily consume content that interests you and that relates to topics that are personally relevant to you - only then will you better maintain your attention.

Dreaming Spanish: My Main Learning Source

At the beginning of your learning journey, it is quite difficult to find suitable content. With limited knowledge, you need a lot of visual aids, and it's not always easy to find interesting content for absolute beginners.

And this is where the website Dreaming Spanish enters the story, which tries to fill this gap. They have focused on creating content tailored for people trying to learn Spanish.

Dreaming Spanish creates content that is diverse enough for everyone to find something that interests them and that will be appropriate for their level.

I have to say that they have succeeded very well because I started with content for absolute beginners and I never felt like I had to force it or that their content bored me. There was always something interesting to find that could be a relatively fun way to spend time.

And of course, as you get further on your journey, it's great that a much larger amount of more interesting content opens up to you so it becomes easier to listen more and more during the day.

Advantages of Learning from Authentic Content

Learning a language through authentic content from native speakers has a huge number of advantages:

  • You encounter different dialects from day one - you hear Spanish from Spain, Mexico, Argentina. Their differences become completely normal to you.
  • You naturally perceive differences in pronunciation - which is always only theoretical in textbooks.
  • You learn the language as people actually use it - including informal expressions and words they use from English.
  • You avoid overly formal phrases that no one uses in normal communication.

When using traditional methods, you have explanations of how given sounds are pronounced and what the differences are, but it looks abstract in a textbook. Even if you hear simple listening exercises with different pronunciation variants, it is still very theoretical.

With the Comprehensible Input method, one moment you're listening to a Spaniard, the next a girl from Argentina, and then an abuelita from Mexico, and you naturally hear the differences.

My Progress After 300 Hours

I started learning Spanish with this method in the summer of 2024, and I have currently passed the milestone of reaching 300 hours of listening. That's an average of one hour per day.

I started as a complete beginner, although I had tried various apps, a few online lessons, and so on before. It can't be said that I knew anything besides a few words.

My Study Breakdown:

  • Majority (approx. 65-70%) - videos from Dreaming Spanish
  • About 15-20% - similar videos from YouTube
  • About 10-15% - podcasts (only at a later stage, when I no longer needed as many visual aids)

Currently, I am purely listening - that means I don't read in Spanish, I don't try to speak, but I really try to listen and improve my comprehension.

What I Can Currently Handle:

I try to listen to a wide spectrum of difficulties. From the animated series Pocoyo, through Dreaming Spanish, to selected native content on YouTube.

The maximum I can currently handle with sufficient comprehension is a video like this one:

Future Plans:

My plan is to get to 600 hours reasonably quickly, meaning I need to add another 300 hours. At that point, I would like to start reading and probably gradually start speaking.

But most importantly, I'm happy that I've stuck with it so far - that never happened with other methods.

Unexpected Benefits of Studying Spanish

Getting to know Latin America was something I didn't expect and it pleasantly surprised me. My primary motivation was to learn Spanish for Spain, and Latin America was something distant for me.

Culturally and by distance, it is really far for us from Europe. I didn't know much about countries like Argentina, Colombia, or Venezuela, and their portrayal in Netflix series doesn't help much.

It was through learning that I began to understand much better what life is like in these countries, and it opened my eyes immensely. I learned a lot about the culture and the whole context of what life is probably like there. What a fun journey!

It Feels Like Cheating!

Another interesting discovery is that the Comprehensible Input method is actually a very "lazy" method.

You simply continue to watch what you would normally watch, whether for relaxation or pure procrastination, in the language you want to learn.

This means that you learn very passively and at one point you realize that learning a language is not some revolutionary skill, but that with enough consistency and long-term effort, you will simply learn it, whether you want to or not. Sometimes it feels a bit like cheating.

Who is This Method Suitable For?

Who would I recommend this method to?

It is not suitable for:

  • People who want to learn basic phrases for a vacation
  • Those who need to quickly master the basics for a specific purpose
  • Impatient students who expect quick results

It is ideal for:

  • Busy professionals who want to learn a language thoroughly
  • Those who are serious about learning a language long-term
  • People who dislike the traditional "school" approach to learning
  • Those who prefer a passive way of learning without much mental effort

The method postpones active speaking until you have listened for 600, 800, or 1000 hours. Only at that point it's expected that you have the correct image in your ears of how the language should sound so you don't develop bad habits.

At the same time, because it is a long-term effort and you are exposed to native content and real culture, after years you will probably be a little closer to a native speaker than someone who uses traditional methods.

How the Method Fits into a Busy Lifestyle

The key is that this method is compatible with a busy lifestyle because it does not require dedicated time for learning and does not drain valuable mental capacity 😄

How to integrate learning into your daily routine:

  • Replace watching series, YouTube, or podcasts in your native language with content in Spanish. I know I will procrastinate, so this way I can at least procrastinate productively 🙂
  • Use your time during sports - I listen to Spanish podcasts while running and it adds up.
  • During chores and routine activities (cooking, cleaning), play Spanish content.
  • Play Spanish content in the car or on the bus on your way to work.

This method allows for effective multitasking. Every day, you move forward without learning being exhausting.

Find Your Own Path

I would like to emphasize that the Comprehensible Input method is just one of many ways to learn a language. Although it suits me personally and brings results, I know that everyone has a different learning style, different preferences, and different life circumstances.

The great advantage of today is that we have a huge number of methods, approaches, and resources for learning a language. We can combine the best of several worlds - for example, supplementing a structured online course with listening to podcasts and occasional conversation with a native speaker through apps like Preply.

If you've tried one method and it doesn't work, it doesn't mean you don't have a talent for languages. It just means that you haven't yet found the right approach that will work for you.

I believe that there is a way that will suit you - whether it's a traditional course, an app, a private teacher, a language stay, or Comprehensible Input. Maybe it will be a combination of several approaches that you adapt to your needs.

The most important thing is to find a method that you enjoy enough to stick with it long-term. Because regardless of the chosen path, the key to success in language learning is consistency and perseverance. And that comes easiest when you are doing something you enjoy.

See you at 600 hours!