Learn Spanish on Duolingo

by mar_mar

Language Learning Completed

Language Learning Journey Overview

Follow this step-by-step language learning journey to see real progress updates, challenges overcome, and practical experience.

Progress Updates (7 total)

Update #1: Learn Spanish on Duolingo

I would love to be able to speak it well when I travel
Challenges Overcome: I’m at unit 4 of section 2

Update #2: I find myself sticking to it more after setting up the goal, regardless of the time. The image I’m sharing reflects my enthusias

20% complete
I’m still in section 2 on unit 7 out of 26. In the process of finding useful sites to help me further, I discovered an old tv program that teaches Spanish called Destino, which was created by a college professor. I find that it adds visual and interest to the learning process. I shared the link for free viewing, on learner.org
Challenges Overcome: Duo thinks that I’m doing well because they are upping my challenges based on accuracy and speed
Obstacles Faced: If there’s a challenge to the process, it’s the fact that I can’t practice talking to anyone with the little that I know so far and for lack of diversity we’re I live I also don’t know how many levels are on Duolingo, so it’s not possible to have metrics by which to measure my fluency
Next Steps: I hope that I should be able to start conversing soon even if I only use the present tense for now
Looking Back: It turned out that learning is muy divertido and wish I kept at it when I first started a couple of years ago.

Update #3: I’ve been practicing for 31 consecutive days

50% complete
This is the longest I ever continuously practiced on a daily basis

Update #4: I’m halfway through section 2 with 58 uninterrupted days of studying

50% complete
Happy that I’m learning so many new words suitable for different situations
Challenges Overcome: The one good thing I’m trying to do is to practice every day
Obstacles Faced: It’s hard to remember all the new words especially if similar words have different meanings in another language
Next Steps: Duolingo offers video calls to help with practice. Once my vocabulary is large enough, I will subscribe and start speaking with AI
Looking Back: I wish I stuck with it when I first started 2 years ago. But that said, I believe the app is a lot better now anyway.

Update #5: I’m at 100 continuous days of Duo

50% complete
Since practice makes perfect, I am noticing improvement
Challenges Overcome: Even at such an early stage of development, I sometimes find myself thinking in Spanish
Obstacles Faced: Looking at the statics available on Duolingo, I realised that I’m only at 18/260. Pretty depressing!
Next Steps: There’s only one way to do this if I plan on becoming fluent. It’s not always easy but it became one of my bedtime routines, so I hope I can stick to it
Looking Back: Considering how long it takes to master a language, it’s important to start teaching it at a very early age in children’s lives

Update #6: Just completed a 200 day streak

50% complete
It’s been tedious no doubt, but I find myself able to form simple but full sentences. Despite spending 20-30 minutes a day, I am still at the high A1 level of CEFR which is an international language standard that starts at pre A1 up to C2.
Challenges Overcome: We went to an authentic local Mexican eatery and was able to order my meal, ask about the different kinds of beer, and decide on the right color without flinching ;)
Obstacles Faced: Keeping up with learning every single day despite a few personal upheavals in the past couple of months
Next Steps: I feel like giving myself a break, but who knows? I do enjoy learning after all.
Looking Back: I’m learning that perseverance does pay off

Update #7: I like to close out my goal at day 239

100% complete
It will take me a long time to master the language, therefore it doesn’t make sense to drag this on on Opus
Challenges Overcome: Because I was getting bored with the daily routine, I decided to change the base language on Duo from English to another language I know, French. It made more sense because the grammar structure and gendered nouns are very similar
Obstacles Faced: Despite being a novice, I was able to find a lot of mistakes in the program, which was confirmed when I checked the web for other users feedback. So, yes, it’s not the perfect way to learn a language, but you get what you pay for ;)
Next Steps: I’m not going to give up on Spanish but I would love to learn it in a native land. Hasta pronto!
Looking Back: To my surprise, and although they started me at level 20 when I was already at 25, it was far more advanced than the English version. I also found out that they teach the real Spanish instead of that of the Americas. Consequently, some words were deemed wrong like carro vs. coche for car

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