u/swosei12

I took and passed B2 in November 2025 (well, I didn't know until March 2026). While I have been doing things here and there to maintain my level, I would like to continue my journey to C1. Because of a scheduling conflict, I cannot take C1 until May 2027 so I have plenty of time to prepare for C1. Also, this conflict might be a good thing because I bombed the audio comprehension (9.XX) of B2. Although I did horribly in the audio comprehension, I did fine in the other areas - reading (20.XX), writing (21.XX) and speaking (25). I guess what I'm looking for is any advice or recommendations for something like "pre-C1" prep (clearly, I have to work on audio comprehension). I fear that if I start studying for the C1 exam itself, I will run out of prep materials and/or become burned out by the time May 2027 rolls around. If anyone else has been in this situation (i.e., having 9+ months to prepare for C1), I love to hear what worked and what didn't work for you.

Thanks in advance.

Just as the title suggests, I'm looking to hear your feedback/experience with ¡Charlemos!. Was the experience overall positive, do you think it helped improve your Spanish, etc.? Any and all information that you have regarding your experience would be greatly appreciated. :)

According to the DELE folks, I have a B2 level of proficiency. However, I think that I’m gonna remain stuck at B2 (or possibly regress) especially with audio comprehension (which was my weakness score on my B2 exam) unless I “jolt” my system. Fortunately, I have a husband who is from Spain. However, I do not know where to start with creating a more immersive environment. For those who have managed this, how did you do it?

-Did you start with building up from 30 minutes a day to more extended periods of time?
-How did you stop yourselves from defaulting to English (or your common language) when things get tough. In the case of my husband, he has been speaking English for 20+ yrs. So, his English is way better than my Spanish could ever be and it’s simply easier and faster to converse in English…even while watching things on Spanish.
-How do you manage an immersive environment without being a burden to your partner?

I will admit that part of my issue getting over my ego and making mistakes. However, I’m somewhat afraid to expose how much Spanish I don’t know. Interesting because I have absolutely no problem with speaking in Spanish to complete strangers. However, when it comes to folks I know, I become tongue-tied and easily frustrated.

Fortunately for us, we have a trip to Spain coming up which could give us a goal to work towards.

Just a long, random thought.

Over the past year, I have attended a few Spanish language exchanges in my new city. I’ve noticed that some members have a tendency to overemphasize a particular country’s accent (or whatever they perceive is that country’s main accent). Note, I’m not saying this is a bad thing.

I’m from the southern US, so while I try to pronounce Spanish words correctly with a neutral accent, I’ll always will have a bit of a southern twang while I speaking. Also, I feel like my accent is a part of who am I. So, why go out of my way to change this aspect of my character? I didn’t really notice (or care) that some folks were drastically changing their accents until I heard someone from my hometown do it because I was like “we” sound nothing like that.

Perhaps, I should do more of this to get more in tune with the language. I figured why bother bc no one from a Spanish-speaking country will ever mistake me for a native speaker (even if manage to become fully fluent or bilingual). Eh, maybe it’s just a form of code switching. Like if I were to go out of my way to speak in a Spanish/Colombian/Argentinian accent, folks will really see/appreciate that I’m trying to speak/learn their language

Perhaps, someone who has obtained Ghanaian citizenship via descent can help me on how to get started with the process since I'm STILL waiting for the embassy in US to respond to my emails.

Ok, I am a US-born citizen of a Ghanaian-born father with dual Ghanaian-US citizenship and a US-born mother. According to the information that I received from the embassy's chat feature, I'm technically am a Ghanaian citizen since my father was born in Ghana and still has maintained his citizenship. From the limited information that I received, to start the process, I would need to register my Ghanaian citizenship. However, this is where things get a little tricky for me. For one of the forms to register your citizenship if you are living abroad, one would need to provide your birth certificate and/or national card. However, how can can one acquire these items if you weren't born in Ghana?

So if anyone has obtained Ghanaian citizenship as a child of a Ghanaian parent in the last few years (or has established citizenship for their children born outside of Ghana), I would love to hear how you did it. Any and all suggestions would be extremely helpful.

Just in case someone brings this up. I'm trying to establish citizenship because my father who is in his late 70s is moving back to Ghana very soon to live out the rest of his years. I was thinking that it might be useful to establish citizenship to handle necessary paperwork when he unfortunately passes on into the afterlife...which I hope will not be for a while. I also figure that it might be easier to start this process while he is in the States (since I'll probably need

Perhaps, someone who has obtained Ghanaian citizenship via descent can help me on how to get started with the process since I'm STILL waiting for the embassy in US to respond to my emails.

Ok, I am a US-born citizen of a Ghanaian-born father with dual Ghanaian-US citizenship and a US-born mother. According to the information that I received from the embassy's chat feature, I'm technically am a Ghanaian citizen since my father was born in Ghana and still has maintained his citizenship. From the limited information that I received, to start the process, I would need to register my Ghanaian citizenship. However, this is where things get a little tricky for me. For one of the forms to register your citizenship if you are living abroad, one would need to provide your birth certificate and/or national card. However, how can can one acquire these items if you weren't born in Ghana?

So if anyone has obtained Ghanaian citizenship as a child of a Ghanaian parent in the last few years (or has established citizenship for their children born outside of Ghana), I would love to hear how you did it. Any and all suggestions would be extremely helpful.

Just in case someone brings this up. I'm trying to establish citizenship because my father who is in his late 70s is moving back to Ghana very soon to live out the rest of his years. I was thinking that it might be useful to establish citizenship to handle necessary paperwork when he unfortunately passes on into the afterlife...which I hope will not be for a while. I also figure that it might be easier to start this process while he is in the States (since I'll probably need for him to provide some documents) rather than trying to do this once there is an entire ocean between us.

This is probably a very general question, but I figure why not ask anyway. Perhaps, I can learn about some new ways for improving my audio comprehension and/or building my vocabulary.

A little about me (TLDR): Originally, I was planning to take DELE C1 this November, but I recently found out that I'm running a marathon on the same day. Rather than traveling to NYC to take DELE C1 in October or finding another fall marathon to run, I decided to postpone DELE C1 until May 2027. Although the May 2027 DELE is a year away, I think this postponement will give me ample opportunities to improve on some of my weak areas, not only for the DELE exam, but also learning Spanish.

Although I took DELE B2 in November 2025 and passed, my scores reflect an extreme deficiency in audio comprehension. My other sections were not too bad, but I wished that I performed better (at least 20+ points) in the reading and writing portions.

• Comprensión de lectura: 19.06/25
• Comprensión auditiva: 9.17/25
• Expresión e interacción escritas: 19.75/25
• Expresión e interacción orales: 25/25

I think part of my struggles with listening comprehension is that the quality of the recordings hard to follow (at least for my ears). When there is a bunch of static, random sounds or echos, I lose focus. As a way to get used to this, I have started to listen to talk radio broadcasts, where the audio is not a "top-tier" as single-person podcasts.

Although I just started easing into studying for November's DELE C1 exam, I'm gonna have to make a choice - a mental challenge vs a physical challenge. I learned that my fall marathon (my physical challenge) and the exam (my mental challenge) are on the same day in November. In my neck of the woods, DELE exams are offered only in Nov and May. On one hand, I probably should go with the exam since there are plenty of opportunities to run a marathon in fall 2026. On the other hand, I really want to run this particular marathon (which has the nickname America's Friendliest Marathon)...especially, since I deferred last year's marathon to this year.

After checking out another Instituto Cervantes, there is another option. I could travel to & spend the weekend in NYC (about 4 hrs by train) and take the exam in October.

Decisions, decisions, decisions 😉

First question: Do folks have any recommendations for free (or near free) flash card apps? Since I have a few (well 12) spreadsheets with Spanish -> English words, I would need an app that will allow me to upload a CSV file to create the flashcards.

Second question (the main one): What are some tips that has really helped you incorporate new words into your working vocabulary? I'm currently at a B2 level, and I would like to advance to C1 at some point. Although I would like to take the C1 DELE in Nov 26, I think it might be better to take it in spring 2027. Since I am in the intermediate hump, I feel like I am at a bit of a stalemate with incorporating new terms in that:

• if I do not know a specific word (e.g., greenhouse of harvest), I can still explain the concept of the word to get my point across.
• I use words without appreciating the nuances. Lately, I found that I use obtener (especially while speaking) in way too many situations where something like conseguir, adquirir or alcanzar would be more appropriate. While writing, my vocab is a bit richer but I think that's because I have more time to think (even under timed conditions) about the appropriateness of my selected words.

I do read Spanish-language material like newspapers, magazines and books, but I feel like I'm not doing enough "homework" to really incorporate new words into my working vocabulary. For instance, I'm currently reading Animal Fam (aka Rebelión en la granja) in Spanish. Would it be advisable to take 5 words (at least) from each chapter that I don't know, create some sort of vocab list, and give myself daily drills? But then, this becomes of question of finding a balance between reading for pleasure and turning leisurely reading into a chore.

I posted this request back in November but did not receive too much traction. However, I recently received a few DMs over the past couple of weeks about this topic, so I figured why not check in (again) to see if folks are interested in establishing a Spanish-language speaking group. Since the weather is nicer, there might be a greater interest this time around.

Feel free to respond here or send a DM, and I'll add you to the chat on Reddit & request that you complete a brief (anonymous) poll.

Original message from 6 months ago

>In an effort to improve my spoken Spanish, I figured why not see if anyone in the area wants to do the same and would be interested in meeting once a week in a group setting to randomly converse in Spanish for 60-90 minutes. I realize there are a couple of Spanish language meetup groups (mainly in DC), but they don't really meet frequently and one has to travel to DC. Ok, so DC isn't THAT far, but I'd rather commute 15 minutes rather than 40 minutes. Maybe we can make this happen if enough folks are interested.

>Since I do not want to step on anyone's toes, please let me know if something like this already exists in DTSS or Wheaton.