Hello!
I have been out of university for several years, but I have a very odd Spanish-learning background. I start Spanish with during my freshman year of high school (2003). I took all four years during high school, but never paid attention. I bs-ed my way through each course, managing either a low A or a high B, with Spanish 2 being my worst grade in high school (either a B- or a C+). Specifically speaking, I was not understanding a SINGLE listening activity, the teacher or other students speaking Spanish, or my own ability to respond back in Spanish. I was fantastic at pencil-paper activities regarding verb conjugation, etc. But each year I forgot even that stuff over breaks and such since I did nothing in high school. (I was unmedicated for my severe ADHD at the time.)
I went on then to continue learning, having not paid any attention during high school. I started with Intermediate Spanish a couple of years later during college, but had no idea what was going on. I became so overwhelmed and shut down during listening or speaking activities. But again, I managed to score a B in the class because I could do all of the written and reading activities for the most part.
I used Google Translate for nearly every activity from there on out, but correcting any of the obviously wrong errors within it. This allowed me to pretend like I had any idea what I was doing.
I ended up, in total, with 7 entire years of Spanish from high school through college. I had my minor technically (I had it at my original university -- but when I transferred during my last year, they required multiple other classes and I did not have funding/room for them, so I graduated without it). My very last class was Advanced Literature in Spanish. 100% Spanish spoken class, absolutely zero English allowed. I grew a severe level of anxiety at this point because I had NO idea of ANYTHING that was being said.
The unfortunate part is realizing right now that what I did by continuing to advance in classes by scoring low A's and high B's in every single one (I graduated university summa cum laude with my Spanish courses being my worst grades) lacked all logic and was one of the dumbest things I could have done.
So, altogether I have 7 years of Spanish from beginning to advanced levels, but even in the present back then I had no idea what I was doing. Now it has been over 5 years since I took my last Spanish class, and I REALLY have no idea what I was doing. I'm between a rock and a hard place because I can't really justify starting at ENTRY-level Spanish. I know my present conjugations, some of the past ones still. I remember some of my verbs and basic sentence forming. I obviously know colors, months, numbers, alphabet, most common verbs especially, pronouns, etc. I can read basic articles and such in Spanish still. What I canNOT do is understand ANYONE speaking Spanish even if they talk slow. I have lost almost all of my vocabulary and most usage of verbs, participle usage, forming correct grammar, etc.
I've tried Duolingo, but I get super bored. The super early on lessons are so easy I quit relatively quickly, but the later ones leave me with a large gap in vocabulary.
I've decided I do want to register for some courses or something, but I really have no idea which ones TO register for. I don't want to be too bored and can't justify the very first Spanish level, but I also don't want any gaps. Based on my level now and when I graduated, I have so many gaps to fill in, so maybe I really SHOULD start from scratch. I am WAY too unmotivated to self-teach or go through lessons on my own. I really need something more structured. Apps and such reminding me do not work, I'll simply leave the notification there because of my ADHD.
Does anyone have an experience that is to this degree? Any advice, thoughts, ideas?
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