1k Hour Update
Hey everyone! It was time for another update. I hit 1k a couple days ago, and it’s kind of a weird feeling. I’ve seen other posts on the Dreaming Spanish subreddit from folks hitting 1k hours and saying similar stuff, and now I get it.
It’s kind of this weird paradox. On one hand, the progress is obvious. Like, if I go back to easier content now, I can understand it almost word for word. A lot of the time I even have to speed it up because normal speed feels too slow.
But then on the other hand, you hit this big milestone, you’re like “okay, 1k hours” and then you move into harder native content and immediately get humbled lol.
That’s basically where I am right now.
I’ve been using native content the whole time, particularly Plus Belle La Vie, which I talked about in my previous updates. But lately I’ve been trying to transition more fully into unscripted native content, and man, it’s a different level.
Scripted native content is already its own thing, but unscripted YouTube, podcasts, random conversations, that type of stuff? Different beast.
Sometimes I’m listening and I just can’t catch what’s being said. I know words are being said, I know it’s French, I know I’ve put a thousand hours into this thing, and yet my brain is still like “yeah good luck with that.” So that part can be pretty frustrating at times.
But I’m trying to focus on the positive, because the positive is definitely there. I’m almost never completely lost. I pretty much always know what’s happening, or at least the general gist, the plot, the topic, or whatever. It’s usually the fine details and the nuance that I’m missing.
And honestly, I think that’s what keeps me going. Or not even “I think”, I know that over time, the ambiguity is going to start melting away. That’s basically how the whole process has worked up to this point anyways. Stuff that used to feel impossible eventually becomes normal, then easy, then almost boring. So I’m trying to trust that the same thing will happen with this next level.
As far as changes go, I’m not doing anything too crazy. The only real change I’m thinking about is starting to add a little bit of speaking practice. Not full-on conversation yet, and probably not crosstalk either. I know people love crosstalk, but I don’t think it’s really my style.
I’m thinking more like shadowing, or maybe just reading out loud here and there, just to start working the muscles of the mouth and get used to actually producing French sounds. I don’t think I’ll really dive into speaking until I hit level 7, but I do think it’s probably time to start lightly waking that part of the brain up.
Other than that, I’m staying the course.
I’m still watching Plus Belle La Vie. At this point I have this unofficial goal of finishing the whole thing someday lol. I’m really just curious what my French would look like after watching all of that.
Overall, no real complaints. It’s working. Not always in the dramatic “1k hours and now I’m fluent” way that I secretly hoped for, but it’s definitely working.