Lately, I feel like I’ve hit a plateau with my Spanish learning. Every day it’s memorizing vocabulary and watching shows, but my self-studying Spanish progress feels incredibly slow, and it’s getting a bit frustrating, like my self-studying Spanish journey is stalled. I wonder if anyone else on the forum feels the same way?
To give us all a little motivation, I had an idea: why don’t we have an informal Spanish Self-Study Challenge! It’s not a serious exam, just a space for everyone to share and connect. Let’s see, among all of us hustling here in Spain, who has the most unconventional study methods, who’s making the fastest progress, and who has the funniest stories to tell from their self-study of Spanish.
How to Participate?
It’s simple: just reply to this post and share your story. You can focus on the topics below, but feel free to get creative and share whatever you like:
- My Secret Weapon: What are your unique study methods? For instance, which app do you find most effective, how do you use your spare moments, or do you have any weird but effective memorization tricks?
- My Moment of Glory: Tell us about a time you felt a great sense of achievement because of your Spanish skills. Maybe you won an argument with your landlord, or you fully understood an Almodóvar film without subtitles.
- The Pitfalls I’ve Faced: Share some of the mistakes you’ve made, like a textbook you wouldn’t recommend or an embarrassing moment caused by a tricky grammar point, so others can avoid them.
- Setting a New Goal: Set a small goal for yourself. For example, improving your DELE practice test score by a certain amount in a month, or being able to chat with your downstairs neighbor for ten minutes without any issues.
Learning Resource Ratings
To get the ball rolling, I’ll start by sharing and rating some of the resources I’ve used. Feel free to use this as a reference or add your own. This is all completely subjective, so please be kind!
| Resource Type | Recommendation | Brief Description |
|---|
| Duolingo | ★★★☆☆ | Good for absolute beginners, but gets a bit repetitive, and the grammar explanations are weak. |
| Netflix Spanish Shows | ★★★★★ | An amazing tool for immersive learning, especially with Spanish subtitles. Great for practicing listening and mimicking pronunciation. |
| Modern Spanish (Textbook) | ★★★★☆ | A classic, well-structured textbook, but the content is a bit dated and can be dry. |
| iTalki | ★★★★★ | The top choice for finding language partners or tutors for speaking practice, although it does cost some money. |
I’m looking forward to seeing your posts! Hopefully, this little event will make our Spanish learning journey feel less lonely. Who knows, we might find the key to breaking through our own plateaus in someone else’s experience! ¡Ánimo a todos!
