Hard to believe that was only 18 months ago.
To recap, I was trying to do Graceffo's "ALG home study" for Italian. And I understood the method as basically this:
1. Learn 1500 words any way you can (duolingo, frequency list, assimil, whatever)
2. Commence 800 hours of listening. Material has to be more than 50% comprehensible. Can't listen to anything more than once a month, but relistening counts. TL subtitles are allowed.
3. Commence speaking. 200 hours Italki, glossika and fsi as needed.
4. Read 100 books in the TL extensively. Can't read any book more than three times a year, but rereading counts.
I stuck fairly close to this plan. I found Glossika and FSI not helpful and gave them up quickly, but otherwise I did what was on the list:
1. I completed the Duolingo course
2. I watched about 800 hours of TV in Italian, plus maybe 50-100 hours in the beginning of "news in slow Italian".
3. Around the 500 hour mark I had so much Italian flying around in my head that I thought "I can speak this" and got a tutor
4. I've done 50 lessons with the tutor
5. I've read more than 5000 pages. I know 50 pages isn't a book, so I still have years more of reading, but even so ...
Results:
I can understand more than 80% of a standard TV drama in Italian. I can also understand 80% of audio books if they are plainly written (Buzzati, Levi, etc.) and not super-literary.
I can read fairly easily at about half the speed I read in English. My ability to read parallels my ability to understand audio books -- so right now I read a lot of history books and novels, but hold off on the most difficult writers.
For speaking, I can converse for an hour entirely in Italian without difficulty. I'm relatively fluent in the sense that I can produce a lot of speech. I have no problem with vocabulary -- I have a ton of vocabulary. I do have a problem with a few grammatical aspects. Coulda shoulda woulda is one area I'm trying to improve in at the moment, as I only get those constructions right maybe half the time.
I self-evaluate as a B2 in listening and reading, and a B1 in conversation. I think I can move up to C1/B2 over the next two or three years.
Conclusion:
This is such a fun easy way to approach a category I language. I've never had a bad day with Italian ... effortless!
After spinning around in circles a lot with my other languages, I plan to abandon all hope of doing things the right way, and just focus on ALG home study. I'll do all my grammar study when I have C1 skills already.