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United States
California
Southeast
Northeast
LORE DETAILS SNIPPED FOR BREVITY:
Following the Vikings discovering the New World in 1021 CE, word spread across Europe of a new continent across the Atlantic. However, with access to weaponry and transport of the High Middle Ages, these conquests were much slower and less expansionist than in our timeline. Eventually the native tribes were able to learn how to use crossbows, longbows, and calvary to successfully defend their homeland against attempted European invasions. The spread of the Black Death into the New World essentially resulted in the loss of most conquered land back to the natives. As a last resort, the remaining Europeans built cities along the coast and built walls as a form of defense among the tribes. These walled cities are now known in English as Boston, Washington DC, and Philadelphia, although the French, Dutch, and Swedish have followed suit building walled cities of their own. This method has largely worked, with native conquests to take back New England and the Chesapeake Bay region ending in failure
Over the course of centuries, the colonial cities have grown into wealthy city states which specialize in trading raw materials from America into finished goods for both Europeans and Native Americans. While still full of division, both the natives and European city states have largely turned towards cooperation, not conquests over the past century. Being said, hardline Native groups who wish to kick European powers out and hardline European figures who wish to invade the continent still remain
The city states of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Oxnard, and Santa Barbara California are all Japanese city states, not Western city states. They were formed in the late 19th century when Japan ended its sakoku edict. Much like Atlantic tribes in the Middle Ages toward Europe, the Pacific tribes remain wary of Japanese influence

TLDR: I can understand almost everything well and can speak quite comfortably. I haven't read much, but I could understand the things I have read without much trouble. I still have lots of room for improvement until I reach my definition of spoken fluency, which is speaking without hesitations or pauses. Click here to see me speaking at 1,500 hours.

Table of Contents

• My Spanish Background
• My Thoughts About Dreaming Spanish and Comprehensible Input
• Statistics Breakdown
• Major Milestones
• My Current Abilities
• My Plans Moving Forward
• General Thoughts and Advice
• My Related Links

My Spanish Background

I took three years of high school Spanish from 2015 to 2018. I also took two semesters of Spanish in college, one in the spring of 2020 and one in the fall of 2022. I could only conjugate the present tense, and it was difficult for me to understand anything. I started using the Refold ES1K Anki deck sporadically in mid-September 2021. I started using it more consistently in the summer of 2022 and finished it in mid-October 2022. I stopped using Anki when I finished the deck because I noticed I was picking up new words from Dreaming Spanish alone. I started using Dreaming Spanish seriously about two weeks before the start of the fall 2022 Spanish class, at which point I had 14 hours of prior Dreaming Spanish watch time logged. I got serious with Dreaming Spanish in January 2023. I hit 1,000 hours in November 2023.

My Thoughts About Dreaming Spanish and Comprehensible Input

Without Dreaming Spanish, I wouldn't be at my current level. The "just sit back and watch" method is so easy and straightforward that it motivated me to take learning Spanish seriously for the first time. I saw results so early in the process that I had complete faith in Dreaming Spanish and abandoned all grammar and vocabulary study. Having the entire journey laid out on the roadmap was also incredibly reassuring and provided micro and macro goals for me to achieve. I also found the roadmap accurate, so I will use it to learn future languages.

Statistics Breakdown

Here are my statistics as of 1500 hours of input and speaking (not including the 76.23 hours of Anki flashcards I did).
Figure A

ACTIVITY	TIME IN HOURS
Dreaming Spanish	550
Podcasts	330.92
Anime	319.85
Conversation Practice	138.62
YouTube	81.82
WorldsAcross Lessons*	44.1
TV*	16.47
Crosstalk*	8.57
Voice Rooms*	5.65
Udemy	1.25
Movies	0.5

Figure B shows what percent of my 1,500 hours each activity represents.
Figure B
https://preview.redd.it/esrwc6enx83d1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2f201928b0a3ea0f9e2c202c268bacfcecc236e
Figure C shows how much time I spent doing each activity between 1,021 (when I made my last update) and 1,500 hours.
Figure C

ACTIVITY	TIME IN HOURS
Dreaming Spanish	20.15
Podcasts	115.14
Anime	113.4
Conversation Practice	132.54
YouTube	12.59
WorldsAcross Lessons*	44.1
TV*	16.47
Crosstalk*	1
Voice Rooms*	3.78
Udemy	0
Movies	0

Figure D shows what percent of the 479 hours of input between 1,021 (when I made my last update) and 1,500 hours each activity represents.
Figure D
https://preview.redd.it/uphv2ghiy83d1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=4ed5b33da66fc3e94dbfe00be062f2eb171b2f5f
*WorldsAcross Lessons: This is the time during my tutoring sessions when I was not talking or barely talking. For example, if doing a 1-hour group lesson with 2 other students, I would count 1/3 as conversation practice and 2/3 as a WorldsAcross Lesson. Another example would be time spent listening to a tutor talk the vast majority of the time or watching a video with a tutor.
*Crosstalk: I only counted half of each crosstalk session as input. For example, I logged 30 minutes after having a 1-hour conversation.
*TV: Live-action shows
*Voice Rooms: This is the time spent lurking and listening to people speak in voice rooms.
Crosstalk
I did not do much crosstalk because I preferred to just watch content. Also, because of the way I chose to log crosstalk time, I felt it would be better to get 1 hour of input from media than 30 minutes from a 1-hour crosstalk session.
Podcasts
Being able to understand podcasts was a key point in my learning journey. I was no longer bound to a computer screen, and I could get input while doing chores or going about my day.
My top podcast early on was Español con Juan (ECJ). His podcasts are super fun to listen to and very comprehensible. After finishing ECJ, I listened to Charlas Hispanas, but only Fredo's episodes since I was only interested in Mexican Spanish. I then listened to tons of Siempre Hay Flores. I currently rotate between Leyendas Legendarias, Cuida tu Mente, El Dollop, and Siempre Hay Flores. I will occasionally mix in episodes from other podcasts like ECJ, WorldsAcross' advanced Spanish podcast, or Advanced Spanish Podcast by Spanish with Cesar. I started listening to Leyendas Legendarias and El Dollop after hitting 1,000 hours to challenge myself. They are comedy podcasts with the same hosts. The hosts speak fast and talk over each other at times. I can now understand Leyendas Legendarias and El Dollop very well, though I certainly miss things at times.
Anime
Dubbed anime is much easier to understand for me than live-action shows for native speakers. As such, I only watched dubbed anime pre 1,000 hours. I prefer animated shows over live-action ones, so this decision did not bother me. My Hero Academia and Black Clover are two anime with tons of episodes if you're looking for shows where you can get accustomed to the characters' voices. My Hero Academia has about 45 hours of content, while Black Clover has about 55 hours of content.
Anime is currently my primary source of audio-visual content. I tried incorporating live-action stuff to challenge myself, but I would always get bored. I am currently able to understand live-action shows. I have to pay attention more, and I definitely miss some things, but I can comfortably follow the story. I am still improving without live-action content, so I don't think it's necessary to watch it if you don't like it.
Conversation Practice
Essentially 100% of my time spent doing conversation practice (speaking) has been done with tutors from WorldsAcross* (see me review here). Most of that time has been with Venezuelan tutors. However, I now take more classes with Mexican tutors now that there are more on the platform. I decided to do tutoring instead of speaking with language exchange partners to save time because I was only interested in speaking Spanish. For example, I didn't want to have to do 30 minutes in Spanish and 30 minutes in English. Tutoring has also helped me be consistent with my output. I am currently doing five to six 1-hour lessons per week through WorldsAcross' unlimited plan and count the entire hour as speaking time. As I near 200 hours of speaking practice and my speaking skills get more refined, I will switch to their 15-monthly-classes plan to start making more Spanish speaking friends and talking with them.
*WorldsAcross (WA) is a subscription-based Spanish tutoring platform. They are a lot more affordable than iTalki if you plan on doing at least 10 classes per month. WA lets you book each 1-on-1 class for up to 90 minutes. If you only book 90-minute classes on their basic plan of ten 1-on-1 classes per month, the cost comes out to ~$6.67 per hour. You can also book same-day classes, and all their plans offer unlimited access to group classes, which I've had fun doing with other Dreaming Spanish users. My affiliate code YONTZAMIGOS will give you 30% your first month :)
Disclaimer: I will make a commission if you sign up for WorldsAcross using my code.
YouTube
YouTube was essential for me at around 350 hours because it provided variety in my input. Dreaming Spanish is a great resource, but I occasionally got burnt out with it. Luisito Comunica and Cocinando Corea were my most watched channels and are very easy to understand as far as native content goes.
Reading
Figure E

CURRENT GOAL	PERCENT COMPLETE
1,000,000	18.04

FINAL GOAL	PERCENT COMPLETE
3,000,000	6.01

Total Words Read: 180,363 Total Book Words: 171,571 Total Article Words: 8,792
Percent from Books: 95.13 Percent from Articles: 4.87
Figure F

NUMBER OF BOOKS READ	5
Number of Fiction Books	2
Number of Nonfiction Books	1
Number of Graded Readers	2
NUMBER OF ARTICLES READ	13

I started reading after hitting 1,000 hours. I started with two graded readers followed by the first Magic Treehouse book. After those three books, I felt I desperately needed to read something more interesting. I searched for easy-to-read fiction novels and found the El príncipe del sol saga. I read the first page and was surprised by how easy it was for me, so I decided to abandon graded readers and children's books.
Disclaimer: The links to El príncipe del sol and Magic Treehouse are affiliate links. I will make a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Major Milestones

150 hours: I started listening to podcasts alongside Dreaming Spanish because I realized I could listen to and understand Español con Juan.
~250-300 hours: I genuinely understood Luisito Comunica's videos. I had tried watching some of his videos in Superbeginner and was utterly lost. I also visited my Spanish-speaking family roughly around this time, and I was able to follow a 30-minute conversation they had. I also started focusing on Mexican Spanish content at this time.
~440 hours: Dubbed anime became accessible to me. I started watching My Hero Academia and One Punch Man, and I understood them well enough to enjoy them and follow the story just fine. However, I decided to stop watching dubbed anime after I finished One Punch Man and one or two seasons of My Hero Academia because I felt I would benefit more from learner-focused content.
611 hours: I revisited My Hero Academia and found it was much easier.
~800 hours: Anime became my primary source of daily input. I started watching anime I had never seen before and could comprehend everything extremely well. At this point, I started only watching new Dreaming Spanish videos that seemed interesting.
1000 hours: I had a conversation in Spanish for the first time. I spoke for two hours, and I was blown away by my ability to convey everything I wanted to say. It wasn't smooth or effortless, but I surpassed all expectations I had for myself. Click here to listen to a recording of my second conversation after hitting 1,000 hours.
I started reading this book for Spanish learners, and was able to understand basically everything. There were some words that I didn't know, but they didn't impede my comprehension of the text.
~1150 hours: I started reading my first Spanish-language novel, El príncipe del sol by Claudia Ramírez Lomelí, and was able to easily understand the story.
~1450 hours: I started reading El ego es el enemigo by Ryan Holiday. There were plenty of words that I didn't understand, but they didn't hinder my understanding.
Disclaimer: The links to El príncipe del sol and El ego es el enemigo are affiliate links. I will make a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

My Current Ability

I can understand basically everything I watch or listen to. I haven't read much, but I seem to able to read well too. I can speak very well and have conversations with native speakers about complex topics, but I do not consider myself fluent yet. It's important to define what I consider fluency (specifically spoken fluency), so here is a definition Chat GPT gave me that I agree with:
"Spoken fluency refers to the ability to express oneself smoothly and coherently in spoken language, demonstrating ease of communication without frequent hesitations, disruptions, or difficulty in finding words."
By this definition, I am not fluent because I still pause, hesitate, and struggle to recall words. I will be fluent once I can speak without many interruptions, even if I still make errors. My grammar usage is pretty accurate and I can almost always tell when I make errors. Certain uses of the subjunctive trip me up the most. It is easy for me to switch between English and Spanish. Overall, I am delighted with my current level and look forward to getting even better.

My Plans Moving Forward

I wanted reach 500,000-1,000,000 words read and get 100-150 hours of conversation practice before hitting 1,500 hours to show what someone who did a LOT of reading, speaking, and listening could achieve by level 7 of the Dreaming Spanish roadmap. I managed to reach my speaking target, but I completely missed my reading target. As such, I will be reading more consistently by reading here and there throughout the day. I didn't have the habit of reading before learning Spanish, so the prospect of reading for long periods of time made me shy away from reading.
As of now, I plan to keep tracking words-read and speaking time until 3,000 hours of input.

General Thoughts and Advice

I plan to learn another language after Spanish. Although, I'm not yet sure which one. I will likely do a lot more crosstalk and count 1 hour of crosstalk as 1 hour of input instead of 30 minutes like I did with Spanish.
I would read more consistently after hitting 1,000 hours. I don't know if waiting until 1k helped me jump to more advanced texts faster, but I don't regret not having read earlier.
The toughest periods are the very beginning and 300-500 hours. When I first started Spanish, I would do Pomodoro sessions to help me focus as much as possible on the Dreaming Spanish videos. It's completely normal to feel tired from listening to Spanish, especially in the beginning, so take breaks when you need them. The period between 300-500 hours was an absolute grind for me. I no longer found things interesting just because they were in Spanish, and the things I really wanted to watch were above my level. If I had to start over, I would likely do a lot more crosstalk during this period. Thankfully, I found some YouTube channels that were easy enough to carry me through this period.
My greatest success was the first time I spoke after hitting 1,000 hours--that conversation lasted 2 hours! I hadn't spoken before that point, and I was blown away by my speaking ability because I had absolutely NO prior expectations.
Spoken fluency is a grind. You will sound terrible at first and likely feel awkward and embarrassed. You just have to keep pushing. You might also feel like your speaking ability is actually somehow regressing at times. Don't worry. That feeling is completely normal and comes and goes. As long as you keep spending time speaking, you WILL improve.
Try not to stress about accent. Good pronunciation and speaking confidently without hesitations or pauses will make you sound a LOT better than having a good accent.
Your accent is most influenced by your identification with a particular group or region. For example, Americans who wish to adopt a Mexican accent but do not feel a genuine connection to Mexican culture or the "in-group" will subconsciously retain their American accents. They may also feel like they are exaggerating, mocking, acting, or playing a character when attempting to sound Mexican, which further hinders their ability to speak with an authentic accent.
Consistency is king! Do at least a few minutes of Spanish every day rather than completely skipping a day.
Make sure you get enough sleep! I feel like I speak much worse when I'm tired. Our brains need sleep to solidify everything we learn.
Exercise! Be active, even if that means just going for a walk every day. It'll help you learn better and faster.
Feel free to ask my questions about anything I may not have covered in this update!!

My Related Links

My 1000-Hour Update
My Speaking Progress Videos
My WorldsAcross Review
My Spanish Progress Website
My Spanish Resources Website