2020/21 Double Super Challenge RecapBooks- Crepúsculo by Stephanie Meyer (English, 512pp)
- Sol de medianoche by Stephanie Meyer (English, 540pp)
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (English, 480pp)
- Armada by Ernest Cline (English, 432pp)
- El juego de Ender by Orson Scott Card (English, 368pp)
- Zona peligrosa by Lee Child (English, 528pp)
- Gambito de dama by Walter Trevis (English, 320pp)
- El príncipe de la niebla by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Spain, 238pp)
- El ruido de las cosas al caer by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia, 272pp)
- La vida invisible de Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (English, 504pp)
- El hombre que cayó en la Tierra by Walter Trevis (English, 224pp)
- La ciudad de las bestias by Isabel Allende (Chile, 304pp)
- Proyecto Hail Mary by Andy Weir (English, 406pp)
- Reina roja by Juan Gómez-Jurado (Spain, 568pp)
- La buena suerte by Rosa Montero (Spain, 320pp)
- Como polvo en el viento by Leonardo Padura (Cuba, 672pp)
- Recursión by Blake Crouch (English, 360pp)
- Los caídos by Carlos Manuel Álvarez (Cuba, 136pp)
- La mitad evanescente by Brit Bennet (English, 352pp)
- La conspiración de la Señora Parrish by Liv Constantine (English, 416pp)
- Divergente by Veronica Roth (English, 464pp)
- Cuatro by Veronica Roth (English, 256pp)
- La hija de la española by Karina Sainz Borgo (Venezuela, 224pp)
- Insurgente by Veronica Roth (English, 464pp)
- Leal by Veronica Roth (English , 492pp)
- Invisible by Eloy Moreno (Spain, 304pp)
- La carne by Rosa Montero (Spain, 240pp)
- La selección by Kiera Cass (English, 240pp)
- Gente normal by Sally Rooney (English, 256pp)
- La anomalía by Hervé Le Tellier (French, 366pp)
- El verdor terrible by Benjamín Lababut (Chile, 213pp)
- El consentamiento by Vanessa Springora (French, 200pp)
Total number of pages read: 11,671 (or 233 "books")
Reading Stats- Number of books translated from English: 19
- Number of books translated from French: 2
- Number of books natively written in Spanish: 11
- Average number of pages per book: 365
- Books I didn’t like: La conspiración de la Señora Parrish, Como polvo en el viento
- Favorite books, translated: El hombre que cayó en la tierra, La anomalía
- Favorite books, originally in Spanish: La buena suerte, Los caídos
- Books that were great for learning: Gente Normal for tense shifts and Invisible for POV shifts
Thoughts on ReadingI started learning Spanish from absolute zero in July of 2020, and I signed up for the Super Challenge when I joined this forum. I read 5 books in 2020, starting with Crepúsculo (Twilight) because it was the most repetitive book I recalled ever reading in English so I thought it would make a good learning book. I went from knowing nothing to being an excruciatingly slow reader by the end of 2020. I had to look up a lot of words, stuck to translated works I was already familiar with, needed frequent breaks, missed tons of details, and still probably didn’t really understand everything.
In 2021, I read 27 books. Now I’m able to read contemporary novels originally written in Spanish, encounter much fewer unknown words (averaging ½ to 5 unknown words per page depending on the book), read at a tolerable speed (though still nowhere near as quickly as in English), can read for hours at a time, and notice enough details to occasionally pick up on typos. Overall, the Super Challenge was a huge success for me.
I’m still not where I want to be with reading. I miss lots of nuance, and there’s always more vocabulary / phrases to learn. I rely more on context than I should, instead of explicit verbiage – for example, sometimes I don’t notice verb tense shifts until something happens in an unexpected order, and I go back and see there was a flashback in past tense. The book I’m currently reading,
Temporada de huracanes, has a lot of stream of consciousness that shifts tense as well as perspective within the same long run-on sentence with unmarked dialogue and flashbacks, and I have to pay extra attention.
I suspect progress will be slower from here on out, and that I’ll reach my desired level somewhere around the 100 book mark (actual books, not SC “books”). I want to read faster and get to the point where shifts in tense or POV feel obvious, and there’s always more vocabulary and idioms to master. The good thing is that the more I read, the faster I can read and the more enjoyable it gets. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving. Highly recommended!!!
Series and Films- 87:30 Flash
- 73:23 Flecha
- 56:21 Diarios de Vampiros
- 29:49 La Casa de Papel
- 24:56 Viajeros
- 15:32 Carbono Alterado
- 15:21 Sobreviviente Designado
- 15:17 Distrito Salvaje
- 11:29 How to Get Away with Murder
- 11:22 Siempre Bruja
- 10:06 Twilight Saga
- 09:24 El Dragón
- 07:01 Bolívar
- 06:52 Toy Boy
- 06:18 Divergent Series
- 05:37 The Blacklist
- 04:19 La Ley secreta
- 04:01 Ocean's 11 and 12
- 03:28 Russian Doll
- 03:04 Kung Fu Panda
- 02:49 Sense8
- 02:23 Startup
- 02:07 Star Trek (2009 film)
- 02:00 The Social Network
- 01:53 How It Ends
- 01:44 Luis Miguel
- 01:44 Mi Obra Maestra
- 01:17 7 Años
- 00:58 Ozark
- 00:54 Las Chicas del Cable
- 00:52 Living With Yourself
- 00:49 Los favoritos de Midas
- 00:47 Andes Magicos
- 00:40 Quien mato a Sara?
- 00:32 El Vecino
Total time: 422:39
Thoughts on FilmsAgain, I started at zero in July 2020. As I progressed, listening comprehension felt weak for me compared to the other skills, and I thought I had been working decently at it. It wasn’t until I read about other people’s experiences listening to hundreds of hours for the Super Challenge or binge watching series that I realized I simply needed a LOT more quantity. I tracked how much I was listening to, and it was actually fairly paltry. Despite not being a television fan, I started watching a LOT, mainly through Netflix.
The first 150 hours led to great improvement in my listening comprehension, but I knew I was only scratching the surface. I reached a point where I could easily understand clear “neutral” language like dubs or news, but native series are still challenging for me. I just don’t have the localized vocabulary necessary to keep up, and I have a very hard time picking up new vocabulary from hearing it. I do much better with reading for vocabulary acquisition.
Overall, the Super Challenge has been amazing for my listening comprehension, but I still feel pretty far away from where I want to be. In terms of improvement, podcasts like
How to Spanish seemed very difficult to me when I started, but now I think it’s “too easy” with obviously slow and enunciated speech. I watch
Noticias Telemundo without much difficulty except for the occasional mask-wearing guest with muffled speech.
Te lo resumo así nomás seemed challenging not too long ago, but after watching a few videos I’ve picked up some slang and common jokes and mostly understand it, though I definitely miss bits here and there.
My plan going forward is to (a) take a break from Netflix for at least another month, (b) listen to audiobooks for a change of pace and a “denser” listening experience, and (c) sign up for the next Super Challenge. I think I’ll need to watch hundreds more hours to get where I want to be, but I don't have a set goal for 2022.