Simply just wanted to reflect on my own spanish (TL) journey with the community. Happy to answer any questions. Hope something is useful here.
TLDR: In about 5-6 months of very very consistent input via Podcasts, Gaming Youtube Videos and about 3 months of consistent output of iTalki classes + writing and journaling - quite a lot of B2/C1 content is doable. I can go hours speaking in spanish though maybe at a B2 level but with nuance, detail and deeper explanations, perhaps its like B1.5 at times. I believe I was roughly A2 with sparks of B1 before.
What I wish I did more/before - More speaking and output. It has consistently been reinforcing my reading and listening comprehension while helping me utilize what I learn and speak fluidly and confidently. To me this is like exercising.. it is uncomfortable and difficult but doing it regularly helps so much and yes - certain teachers are good and others are just there for an hour to do "the job"
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For some reason, I thought to myself ah 2026 is going to be my language year. I actually began the year like probably everyone else going "Yes, Japanese, I will romanticize the idea of living there and shall learn it before I go!".
After a week I felt great with the two alphabets and then realized what a whirlwind the grammar and vocab was going to be and I was like.... hell nah.. this is pointless, let me maybe switch back to Spanish.
My background before
I studied spanish for about 2 semesters in middle school and 2 semesters in highschool. Maybe covering present and the simple past tense. In 2023 on a short trip to Mallorca, I could barely dribble a few words out - like a sad baby. But I loved that feeling. Whatever little I could do felt great and inspired me.
After returning I took a 8 week course at instituto cervantes which was 3 hours a week for 8 weeks and classroom setting and homework was great but such a waste of time and money. Way too many people who want to escape to Spain and elderly. People mis leveled for the class range and virtually minimal speaking opportunities. I began doing some on and off italki, maybe a total of 8-10 hours but it helped a lot and I really liked my teacher. She gave me a lot of homework, daily drills.
What did I do in 2026
Jan - April
Half assing my work here. I got back into doing dream spanish about 15 minutes a day. Coffee break spanish podcats from the beginning when I go for walks. Went to 1-2 spanish meet ups in my neighborhood and said it wasn't for me. Phone was entirely in spanish though as a "immersion technique"
April - June
Here I started to go to the spanish meetings in my neighborhood weekly. Roughly 60-90 minutes weekly. I was listening to more podcasts, longer podcasts - upwards of 45 minutes a day. The east coast weather allowed me more walking time. More walking time meant more input and then I would narrate my thoughts, what I am seeing... talking to myself to get my spanish brain going.
Podcast rec: Espanolistos.
I began playing "Guild wars Reforged"... entirely in spanish. It is such a text and quest driven MMORPG and aligned with my hobbies. I don't know how the game worked and it was tough and i got help from the community but I can genuinely play the entire game like its an interactive novel and read and do every quest (which lol, I never do in any video game). But it limited my willingness to video game as I got fatigued after 40-60 minutes of playing and reading.
July - Oct 5
The spanish meetings were coming to a close in July and I began to do Italki session about 1x a week for 1 hour and eventually 2x a week for an hour each. I began dabbling in harder podcasts and more native youtube content, upwards of 90 minutes a day. When speaking and talking during my iTalki sessions, they have way more depth and interest to it. Just last week, we did a discussion on why Denmark is the happiest country with the happiest kids, the impacts and value behind academic rigor and pressure.
on Youtube, Black Mango has been very enjoyable.
I continued playing the video game (finished the first expac) - I definitely noticed my reading speed and comprehension go up quite a lot.
This is where I feel like 70%+ of my growth and improvement has come from. The loop of speaking and speaking and getting as much input.. I put my youtube in spanish and location in spanish on their settings + got an add-on to block recommended videos.
To finish
I'm glad I returned to spanish. It is going to be a lifelong skill I am excited to dedicate more time and effort to. I have probably a A2/B1 comprehension of Tamil growing up around it but my speaking is so horrible/non-existent. This journey of picking up Spanish taught me about how I learn and work with Language and how it works for me. I will soon move on maybe in 2027 sometime, with learning Tamil and plan to use my learnings from here. My goal there is to be conversational and pass the language on for the next generation and to connect with my family.
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