First off, apologies - this post won't be anywhere near as detailed as I initially planned it. I spent nearly an hour writing this for the first time and it got wiped...

Progress report on reaching Level 2 just under a month ago (25 days) can be found here

Stats

Overall

• DreamingSpanish: 100h

• Outside CI: 50h

• Anki: 4h 50m (continuing with the Refold ES1K deck of 1,000 most common Spanish words)

Breakdown

• 100 more hours of DS logged, taking me to 617 watched videos. The vast majority of this was at beginner, but I did watch new superbeginner videos when they seemed interesting, and I did dip into intermediate videos I was particularly interested in, to test my comprehension (Pablo playing video games and Pablo's History of Spain series)

• 50 hours of outside content. I won't break everything down, but the main resources outside DS as below:

• Fabulaudit (YT): c. 10h

• Destinos (YT): c. 6h [up to episode 20]

• Zeta Lingua (YT): c. 5h

• Las Aventuras de Pedro (videogame): c. 5h

• Espanol con Juan (YT): c. 4h

• Extra en Espanol (YT): c. 4h [10/13 episodes]

• Spanish After Hours (YT): c. 3h

As I mentioned in this post, I started adding in what I've called 'sort-of-crosstalk' towards the end of my time in Level 2. Essentially, it is crosstalk, but done with the limitations of a video chat and with people who are for the most part not doing drawings. And none have done gestures. I won't rehash my post on it, but I have found that it breaks the time up nicely. Of the 50h I've spent outside of DS, 5h 20m to date has been spent on crosstalk.

Thoughts on (external to DS) materials used

Many, if not all, of these get regularly promoted in this sub. But to add some views for anyone considering using any of them, or at least looking into them further:

• Fabulaudit: while Francisco has now joined StoryLearning and continues to produce content, and his production values were somewhat limited on his own channel, it's a bit of a shame as StoryLearning hardcodes English subs into their videos. While the premise - someone telling stories using a whiteboard and drawings - may sound very similar to DS, I found it a good combination of both comprehensible and different enough. I particularly like how Francisco also writes the words for what he's saying, though I imagine the DS purist method doesn't approve of his writing (and then erasing) the English equivalent for certain harder to explain words or phrases.

• Zeta Lingua: I think her channel is unfairly under-subscribed, for the quality of what she puts out. Again, it's telling stories using a whiteboard and writing the Spanish words - but the cultural stuff is really interesting, and it's useful to visualise some of the grammar points by seeing things written down. Again, DS purists may not approve as she's a native French speaker.

• Las Aventuras de Pedro: the creators of this game were a bit generous describing it as 15-18h worth of content. Admittedly, I did refer to guides at a couple of points as I was finding myself walking back and forth and not doing a lot of interacting with Spanish but I think even if you were scouring the world and not getting any clues, there's realistically 10h of game here. That said, I'd still say it's value for money and like what they did as a concept. Again, a great change from DS videos.

• Destinos, Extra and Buena Gente. After (thanks to whoever it was!) clarification from Reddit, I found Destinos a lot better once you've skip/get past the first two episodes which are almost entirely in English and stop watching once the bird comes onto the screen in the last 2 minutes. That and the first 2 minutes in the first 10-15 episodes are English narration. Once this drops off, it's a really good concept - mostly for the fact you get characters doing something across the space of a day with a (Spanish) narrator summarising it in advance, the characters talking and doing what they're doing and then the main character recapping afterwards. It gives a lot of chance to understand. The cultural stuff is also pretty interesting, and the production values are miles ahead of the other made for learners series. You can tell it's over 30 years old though, and the melodramatic guitar backing track can get a bit much. I'll continue to watch Destinos. I find Extra cheesy to the point it can be difficult to watch, or I find myself checking how much longer an episode has to run. I don't particularly like the Friends style sitcoms it's sort-of parodying anyway, so I may just struggle with it more than others. The only good thing I can say about Buena Gente is that it's comprehensible. Overall, just very dull. I won't be continuing past early in series 2 [of, I think, 4].

• Espanol con Juan and Spanish After Hours: get brought up a lot, but deserve to be. They're both very entertaining as presenters, and the CI is sufficiently different that it's a nice change from DS. I particularly enjoy the way Laura compares and contrasts words (which really helped my understanding) and how Juan explores grammar within the context of interesting CI, like him on holiday/walking in different places. Both have material that's solidly beginner, and some that's definitely top-end beginner at best.

• Honourable mention to Natural Languages. I came across his channel as he was interviewing Florence (Zeta Lingua). He's also got a long video chatting to Alma!, which is a bit beyond my level at this point. He gets an honourable mention as he's doing similar to Pablo and DS by setting up a channel focused on teaching through CI, and has a number of slightly different ways of doing that (stories, building a sitcom, virtual tours of cities), but unfortunately just falls down due to both a lack of production values and a tendency to deliver things in a not very engaging way.

Going forwards

• Anki: I've yo-yo'd a bit between two extremes: absolutely hammering it at Level 1 (attempting Days of French N' Swedish's experiment and barely touching it during Level 2. I'd like to do a more consistent 15-20 minutes a day, complete the ES1K deck and move on to a larger frequency list. I'm not convinced I need Anki, but I really don't find it that much of a chore and when I used it heavily, I did notice it supporting me recognising / understanding words.

• Crosstalk: I've found it more enjoyable than I expected to, though I still don't see it as strictly necessary. It's a good way to mix things up for me, so I'll be continuing it going forward. Likely turning one of the Italki tutors into a regular weekly slot, and using Tandem to find conversation partners as and when. Hopefully some of things will become more consistent and allow me to rack up the hours without having to be endlessly do the Tandem small-talk with new people.

• I'll be focusing on intermediate DS videos, with the suggested methodology of filtering by 'old' first and starting with the easier speakers. That said, I'll continue to mix in the beginner content I haven't finished. I'll also try out harder intermediate content that I suspect will be less comprehensible but particularly interesting (e.g. the series on Mexican Drug Cartels). I can always leave the series if my comprehensibility is too low and/or rewatch it later on when my comprehensibility of it has improved.

• This month, while I've set a minimum of 2 hours (120 minutes) per day, I've had enough time to aim for - and exceed - 3 hours (180 minutes). I'll keep pushing while I have the time, and have managed to pull a couple of days at the 6/7h mark - but do find this is probably past that sweet spot of being fully engaged.

• Through trial and error, I've found I enjoy / focus more, and can more easily put up big numbers on the hours board, when I'm switching up what I'm doing during the day; with DS/YT videos, crosstalk, pure listening and playing the above referenced game the best combination. I'm hoping my comprehension will increase to the point it opens up more pure listening opportunities (podcasts, audiobooks). Until that point, I'm going to continue to use the DS premium "podcast" (collection of the audio from DS videos). I've found beginner videos comprehensible enough to focus and enjoy as pure audio whilst walking, which is a good way to add hours I wouldn't otherwise be getting and change things from just staring at YT/DS for hours on end!

A controversial view to close

I mentioned in my Level 2 update that I left a bit of superbeginner content on the table when pushing onto beginner, and that this was mostly Sofia's videos. I've watched a decent amount of her content at beginner, but... she's easily my least favourite guide to date. No offence to any big Sofia fans! I find the register of her voice difficult to listen to, I think. Even when the subject matter is otherwise quite interesting like her series on Frida Kahlo. I don't generally find the "my life as a kid" stories very engaging whoever's telling them (with the exception of a few of Pablo's), and Sofia seems to have more than most. This may just be my perception, given both Andrea and Michelle have series about their lives and Andrea's is specifically her childhood...