deeilna

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learning spanish

4 min read

so, i started learning spanish

why?

not going to lie, it was quite on a whim.

but i gave it some thoughts later on,
i have come up with a list of reasons why:

  • choosing german in high school (instead of spanish) wasn’t my own decision :(,
  • i actually like how spanish sounds (well, initially, i liked italian first… but close enough),
  • it is one of the most spoken languages in the world,
  • it is close to french, which is an advantage to leverage,
  • discover a new culture, cause why not!,
  • honestly fun, decently challenging, and stimulating to learn a new language.

those reasons may be superficial,
not deeply rooted in grandiose desires,
maybe platitudes?

but hey, they are enough for me to keep going,

and that is enough, that is what matters.

goal

i started on feb 9th 2025

my goal is to be B1-B2 by the end of 2025.

and i know there are multiple dimensions to it,

  • listening
  • speaking
  • reading
  • writing

i am not that strict about this,
if i am able to listen and understand with a B1-B2 level,
i’ll take that.

i don’t need to be able to speak as fluently and confidently.
those are not rigid expectations,
but more so directions,
“could be’s”.

resources

i. main tool: 🦉 duolingo (yeah…)

hear me out,

i know there are people who find it useful,
and some others who hate it— IT IS NOT AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL! USELESS! BOOOO

yes, i do love and hate it too :D

my personal opinion:

  • it is an accessible and entertaining tool to get started,
  • it is designed to keep you going, i.e. consistency (but how efficient? — to be discussed)

… well that’s it.

it’s not too bad, no?

well, i think one shouldn’t expect it to be the only supporting tool to rely on,
nor should one expect it to be as qualitative and complete as a “proper language learning material”.

basically, of course it’s not going to be enough to be fluent “efficiently” nor quickly.

but also, to each their own style of learning.

i admit the gamification is definitely a double-edge sword…

ii. the contender: dreaming spanish

learning with comprehensible input,
i.e. basically you learn from ingesting a disgusting amount of authentic content that is tailored to your current learning level (not too easy, not too dificult),

it is a more “natural”, intuitive and passive way of learning a language, centered around the concept of exposition/input/immersion,

it is your substitute to being immersed in an environment and you’re learning from this repeated exposure, mental connections you create yourself, grammar/syntax your pick up naturally because it “sounds right or wrong” all of a sudden, etc.

iii. others

spanish is such a popular language that resources online are plentiful (… contrary to cantonese… yeah i gotta write about this too someday… XXX)— which is great

in addition to those two methods above,
i also like the more traditional way to learn (textbooks and stuff),

i am crazy about tables and lists for literally everything,
so i use the numbers app on macos to centralise and track both my progress and knowledge:

  • conjugaison tables for regular vs. irregular verbs
  • grammar rule overview
  • vocabulary lists
    • from duolingo
    • frequency words
  • others.

i know of the importance of spaced repetition to consolidate memory, which is why i also use the Anki app to create flashcards and review words.

resources i collected to get started:

Backlinks