¡No Manches! - Uses "learning Spanish" as a cover so he can watch telenovelas all day and not feel guilty

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Re: ¡No Manches! - DELE C1 (2019)

Postby MamaPata » Tue Jul 10, 2018 7:37 am

I would be very surprised if you are lower than B1. Based on my experience with the French B2 exam and what I see of your Spanish here, you definitely have a B2 in Spanish. Are you going to do a practice test?
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Re: ¡No Manches! - DELE C1 (2019)

Postby NoManches » Tue Jul 10, 2018 1:07 pm

Tom wrote:I think if you can understand Radio Ambulante pretty well, your Spanish must be very good. I'm sure they are very difficult. Did you ever listen to the one about the woman in Peru who was on the game-show where you have to tell the truth? That was the first one I ever tried to listen to. I only understood bits and pieces, even with the transcript, but I was enthralled for some reason. Anyway, I can tell by your writing that you are very far along. I am actually quite surprised how much of your exchange with eido I am able to understand. I know it's not exact, but here is my quick translation of your last post...

NoManches wrote:
¡Muchas gracias! Creo que tu español es muy bien y puedes alcanzar cualquier nivel que quieras. Estoy muy afortunado porqué vivía cerca de la frontera y pasaba mucho tiempo en México, incluyendo unas clases que tomé al sur de la frontera. Pienso que C2 durará unos años más para mí...pero uno nunca sabe. Gracias por leer mi "bitácora" (es una nueva palabra para mí..gracias!)

De todos modos, me gusta mucho tu bitácora y creo que puedo aprender mucho de ti también

    Thank you very much! I think that your Spanish is very good and you can reach any level that you want. I am very fortunate because I live near the border and spent a lot of time in Mexico including some classes I took south of the border. I think that C2 will take a few years more for me, but one never knows. Thanks for reading my "log" (it's a new word for me...Thank you!)

    Anyway, I like your log a lot and I think I can learn a lot from you also.

Of course, there is no way I could have even come close to writing it the other way, from English to Spanish. But I'm quite happy that I have made enough progress to be able to read your and eido's writing and understand a lot of it. Well, you guys are an inspiration for me to keep going, and I want to wish you much success on your journey!



Tom, great job! The only big thing I would point out is that "vivía" near the border....I used to live near the border (I no longer live there). Since then I have moved, so it's a bit harder to randomly bump into people on the street and use Spanish.

MamaPata wrote:I would be very surprised if you are lower than B1. Based on my experience with the French B2 exam and what I see of your Spanish here, you definitely have a B2 in Spanish. Are you going to do a practice test?


Thanks MamaPata. Like I said before, I don't want to be that guy on the internet who says "yea, I'm fluent in Spanish...I took Spanish in High School .... so I must be a C1". In my self evaluation I'm trying to be tough on myself so there will be no surprises when I do take an evaluation.

Now that I think about it, sometime in 2016ish (I think after I came back from my Colombia trip) my tutor (who was from Colombia) gave me a series of random tests to try to determine my level of Spanish. I think these were just random tests she got off the internet, some from Spain and some from Colombia (I could tell based on vosotros and other words used). The "test" took me about an hour to finish and included grammar, vocabulary, and some other stuff (no writing though). After she told me that I was "definitely a C1". I knew that this was absolutely not the case. At the time time I could barely watch an understand television shows. I could speak to her 1 on 1 with no problems at all...I could understand everything she said to me but podcasts and TV were still hard. I think she was being nice and letting me know I was making progress and my time with her wasn't wasted lol


Anywho, I just realized they have practice exams on the DELE website somewhere. I haven't found them yet, but will take them soon. I signed up for some iTalk lessons with a Spaniard who is familiar with the DELE exam. Haven't spoken with her yet but based on reviews, she will give me some practice exams or something to do in my off time to get a better judge of where my level is.

Maybe I know I'm around a B2....but some days on certain subjects (writing) I feel like I'm a B1.8 or something like that. I just need to be consistent and make improvements so I don't have bad days.

Thanks for all the support and encouragement!
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Re: ¡No Manches! - DELE C1 (2019)

Postby NoManches » Mon Jul 16, 2018 5:47 pm

Diría que ayer fue el primer día donde comenzaba a prepararme por el examen DELE C1....

Leer
He decidido pasar mas tiempo leyendo diariamente. Si quiero notar una diferencia significativa en mi español, creo que 30 minutos de leer no es suficiente. Por eso, tomé la decisión a leer 45 minutos por lo menos 6 días cada semana. También noto que para un examen como el DELE, tiene más sentido prepararme leyendo libros, revistas, y artículos, que son de no ficción, o usan palabras más común de la vida cotidiana. Si...algún día me gustaría leer un libro como Cien Años de Soledad, pero pienso que es mejor leer una revista como Muy Interesante por ejemplo. Ahora, leo un libro escrito por Jorge Ramos: Morir en el Intento: La Peor Tragedia de Inmigrantes en la Historia de los Estados Unidos. Como dice el en el libro: esto no es literature, es periodismo. El libro es triste, pero al mismo tiempo es importante que la gente sepa sobre lo que ocurrió. Jorge Ramos es muy inteligente y me gusta su manera de escribir y hablar. ¡De hecho, encontré el audio libro narrado por el! Me he encontrado mi mismo escuchando el mismo capitulo una y otra vez, porque realmente quiero escuchar y comprender todo....no quiero perder ni un detalle.

También estoy leyendo unos libros más divertidos. Antes de que me duermas, prefiero leer algo sencillo. Encontré el libro: Cuentos para Entender el Mundo por Eloy Meno. Los Cuentos son muy fáciles leer y entender, y son muy ingeniosos. Aunque son escritos para niños, es una buena forma de "comprehensible input" y me ayuda a dormir.

Además de estos libros, trato de leer diferentes artículos por internet. Me gusta la aplicación "Pocket" porque cuando encuentras un articulo interesante, es fácil guardarlo en "Pocket" por más tarde.

TV: Sigo con Por Amar sin Ley. He terminado episodio 72 y ya me faltan algo como 15 episodios más o menos. Me encanta este serie porque es muy fácil entender. Tan pronto como termina el programa, vaya a seguir viendo Dueños del Paraíso. Ya era ahora intento ver algo de España o de otro país hispanohablante. Si quiero dominar el DELE C1, debo pasar más tiempo con español de España.

Hablando de español de España, he estado escuchando algunos podcasts de España, aunque son de temas que me interesan poco. Pero, se que es importante tener la habilidad de platicar sobre cualquier tema. Pienso en pasar más tiempo escuchando a cosas sobre temas aleatorias y de cualquier país. De hecho, si fuera a evitar cosas de México, estaría bien por el momento. Supongo que el administrador del examen DELE C1 sea de España....pero realmente no tengo ni idea.

Conversación

Esta mañana tuve una lección por Skype. El profesor es de España y me cae muy bien. Está familiarizado con el DELE C1 y no puedo esperar para el próximo clase. Me ayudó mucho con errores que cometí y maneras de prepararme para el examen. Después de hablar con él, me doy cuenta de que necesito estudiar más gramática....pero está bien porque dado que aprendí de la gramática en la universidad, la segunda vez sería más fácil, ¿Verdad?

Metas para esta semana y el futoro:

Esta semana tengo otro clase por skype de un tutor Mexicano. Pienso en tener 2 clases por skype (2 horas en total) cada semana. Cuando el examen me acerca, trato de tener más clases cada semana....si mi horario lo permite

Voy a seguir viendo programas de television...voy a comenzar algo de España...tal vez Casa de Papel. Me parece una buena idea ver videos por YouTube. Lo veía pero dejo de verlos por alguna razón. Quiero ver mas documentales sobre varios temas....eso me ayudaría con el examen

Sería difícil pero, si alcanzo a leer 45 minutos cada día, definitivamente veré avanzos con mi español. No voy a evitar los libros de ficción por complete, pero quiero pasar más tiempo con materiales que me pueden ayudar con el DELE.

En relación a la gramática, voy a hacer unas lecciones cada semana. Iba a hacer el libro entero pero sería más fácil trabajar con los conceptos que ahora me cuestan mucho trabajo. Tendré bastante tiempo para pulir mi español.

¿Y que tal la escritura? Voy a tratar de escribir en mi diario en español. Me ayuda mucho con la gramática y es una excelente forma de señalar mis errores. En las próximas semanas voy a pensar en un plan para mejorar mi escritura a un nivel "C1".


Muchas gracias por leer, y espero que todos tengan una buena semana. Espero que poco a poco cometo menos errores en mi escritura y pueda alcanzar mis metas y superarme.
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Re: ¡No Manches! - DELE C1 (2019)

Postby NoManches » Wed Jul 18, 2018 5:50 pm

Debo practicar la escritura con mas frecuencia....supongo que me da mas excusas actualizar mi diario.

Me siento mal porque no leí 45 minutos ayer. Sin embargo, leí unos artículos muy interesantes en mi kindle y también por internet.

Trabajaba el gran parte del día, pero escuchaba podcasts todo el día. Cunado estaba a punto de terminar la jornada, me cansé de escuchar puro podcasts. Decidí a escuchar música en español...no es el mismo pero trato de escuchar música que me puede ayudar con la comprensión oral.

He hecho un poco de investigación y me parece que el examen DELE se enfoca mucho en Castellano. Es algo que fue esperado....dado que el examen es de España. Algo interesante: casi todo mi tiempo aprendiendo español, he tenido un "fobia" del español de España. La palabra "fobia" es tal ves un poco fuerte en este sentido, pero es parcialmente la verdad. Por alguna razón, siempre he pensado que fuera a escuchar español de España, desarrollaría un acento español, y que aprendería palabras que pueden tener significadas diferentes en México (casi todo sabe que no coges el bus en México....pero es España si). Además, vivía muy cerca de la frontera con México y casi todos las personas con quien me relacionaban eran de México. Entiendo que un mexicano puede entender castellano sin problemas, pera en esa época, tenía más sentido enfocarme en español de américa latina. Ahora, cuando miro a la situación, tiene sentida enfocarme más en español de México, pero no tiene sentido que evitaría castellano (y también el español de Argentina y Chile).

Durante la última semana, he buscado podcasts solo de España....y me encantan. La verdad es que hay mas podcasts que me interesan de España, comparado con podcasts de México. Para mí, el acento español no es tan difícil, de hecho, solo me cuesta trabajo entender algunos acentos de España.

Por ejemplo, ayer, comenzaba a ver Casa de Papel ¡Ese programa es genial! Pero, es un poco difícil entender el personaje principal (su apodo es "Tokyo"). Puedo entender el narrador perfectamente bien....sin problema alguna (me refiero a "audio description feature). Dado que solo hay unos 22 episodios, pienso en verlos en una manera intensiva. Al principio voy a ver cada episodio dos veces. La primera vez, solo lo veré sin parar, y la segunda vez veré de nuevo, pero voy a parar y repetir las escenas si no puedo entenderlas 100%. Con un programa con 80+ episodios, este método sería brutal, pero con un programa con un puñado de episodios es más tolerable. Por no Por no hablar del programa es muy padre y quiero entender 100%...no es como una novela típica donde se puede faltar un episodio y seguir viendo sin muchos problemas. (ok....admito que nunca he usado el equivalente de "not to mention" en español...por lo menos, no en el inicio de una oración....espero que la haya usado correctamente).

Si voy a usar Casa de Papel en una manera intensiva, necesito un programa que puedo hacer un maratón. Creo que La Reina del Sur sería excelente para este objetivo. De hecho, comenzaba a ver La Reina del Sur pero dejé de verlo cuando comenzaban a usar castellano :oops: :oops: .

Eso es todo...mi plan para hoy es seguir vieno Por Amar sin Ley (solo me faltan 9 episodios). También comenzaré La Reina del Sur y voy a trabajar con Casa de Papel. Pienso en leer 45 minutos (por lo menos 45 minutos...espero que pueda leer una hora o más). Y también, cuando paseo mi perro voy a escuchar un podcast....¡de España!
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Re: ¡No Manches! - DELE C1 (2019)

Postby NoManches » Sun Jul 22, 2018 5:02 am

A quick update (in English)...


I am wrapping up a book written by Jorge Ramos called Morir en el Intento. I have been reading it daily and at work I listen to the audio book. I always find that my listening is better when I read a chapter and then listen to that same chapter (obviously this would be the case). I just bought another book with the accompanying audio book by Jorge Ramos (this one is called Tierra de Todos). I think I'll make an effort to listen to the book first and then actually read it. On a side note: audio books are expensive. Not sure how many more I will buy in addition to the actual written version of the book.

For other reading, I've been reading a bunch of random articles and magazines. It looks like the DELE C1 exam throws a little bit of everything at you. I need to make a better effort to read some technical materials and maybe even some scientific journals. I want to keep this a fun process so I'll have to work with material that really interests me.

I've been listening to a bunch of random podcasts. I've found a few from Spain that I really like. Today was the first time I think I've ever sat down to listen to a podcast while taking notes. It's crazy how great my comprehension is when I force myself to pay attention.

I have about 6 episodes left of Por Amar sin Ley. Right from the beginning my comprehension of this show was incredibly high. There are a few times when I miss something, get curious, and do a quick rewind to see what was said. Usually throwing on the subtitles to pick up a new word that I can't make out does the trick. If there is a season 2 of this show I will definitely be watching it.

I am putting Dueños del Paraíso on hold because I've been watching La Reina del Sur. Some of those Spanish accents are really tough but I can always make out what Teresa Mendoza is saying. The plan is to binge watch La Reina del Sur and work a little more intensively with Casa de Papel.

I'll start incorporating some news and youtube videos back into my daily studies, if I can find the time. Usually if I have free time I try to read something in Spanish. What a drastic difference.....only a few months ago I would ditch reading in Spanish to watch a YouTube video instead.

I've been doing a lot more speaking (with tutors, but mainly to my dog). She picked up really quick what ¡siéntate! means lol. I'd really like to find a commuted language exchange partner who wants to practice at least 1 or 2 times each week on a set schedule. I've had a lot of luck finding partners of italki and conversation exchange before, so I'll give that a shot.


I've been squeezing some writing in but I need to step that up. I can't believe I used to be capable of writing 6-7 pages of Spanish for college classes. Now I struggle with writing, it is definitely my weakest skill.

That's all for now!
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Re: ¡No Manches! - DELE C1 (2019)

Postby NoManches » Tue Jul 24, 2018 1:10 am

I had a pretty productive Spanish lesson today via Skype. My tutor is very familiar with the DELE exam and our lesson is based around the oral portion of the exam (with the written portion being homework). Working with him definitely let's me know where my weaknesses are. I have developed a habit of using the subjunctive when it is not needed. I don't ever remember doing this before, so I wonder what the deal is with that. I'll have to do some review of the subjunctive this week in the grammar book I just bought. One thing I noticed is that when you read and answer questions on that reading, it makes you realize how much or little you really understood about a text. Knowing that questions will follow a text really makes me focus a little more than I normally would, and the same applies for listening. I need to start reading and listening with a purpose. Maybe I can come up with some generic questions to answer about every podcast I listen to or every text I read. Anybody do this before? Suggestions for generic questions to think about while listening/reading?

I finished Por Amar sin Ley. 87 full episodes! It looks like they are coming out with a season 2. I'm very excited because this has literally been the first TV show I've ever watched in Spanish where my comprehension was through the roof. Who knows when the new season will come out but I will be binge watching it.

I also finished a book by Jorge Ramos caller "Morir en el Intento". What an amazing book about such a horrible tragedy. I love reading non-fiction because I feel like the vocabulary is more commonly used in real life. Some of the fiction I've come across uses vocabulary that you would never hear in real life. It's good to expand your vocabulary to include the not so common words, but right now I'm on a different type of mission. I'll be seeking out more works of non-fiction and will spend more time reading news articles. Really I'm focusing on reading a little bit of everything.

I'm currently on episode 9 of La Reina del Sur. Some of the thigh southern Spanish accents are becoming easier to understand. I don't think I'll do any intensive work with this show, I'm just going to try to binge watch it every day. I will be working intensively with Casa de Papel though (nothing new there).

In preparation of the DELE exam I've decided to give documentaries another go. I feel like they are great for picking up academic vocabulary. I sort of stopped watching them way back when because I wanted to work with the tougher to understand Spanish found in telenovelas.

Some final notes:

In a dedicated effort to bridge the gap between B2 and C1, I've decided to do another round of ASATT (all Spanish all the time). I'm busier now than ever and my opportunities to use Spanish are limited since most of my work is done in English and my GF only speaks English. There are tons of short periods of time in my day when I could be doing stuff in Spanish, but I typically don't. I just read some log entities made by whatiftheblog and I'm motivated to do ASATT and buy myself a speaker for my shower so I can squeeze some more Spanish podcasts into my routine. One of the problems I have is getting easily distracted. I do best when I leave my cellphone in the other room when trying to do something in Spanish. Yes, my phone is in Spanish and loaded with tons of Spanish content, but that damned Facebook keeps ruining my attempts to avoid English and only use Spanish. I subscribed to tons of Spanish pages on FB but all it takes is one interesting post in English and I spend the next 30 minutes doing stuff in English. :evil: I've decided to make Facebook a once a week thing. Also, as much as I love this forum, I think I will make it a once a day thing. I find myself searching the forums for stuff when I could be doing something on my L2 instead.

So here's to ASATT, or at least, MSATTAAEWNN (mostly Spanish all the time and avoiding English when not necessary).
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Re: ¡No Manches! - DELE C1 (2019)

Postby eido » Tue Jul 24, 2018 2:17 am

Buena suerte, mi compañero de aprendizaje. Puedes hacerlo, sé que sí.
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Re: ¡No Manches! - DELE C1 (2019)

Postby NoManches » Wed Jul 25, 2018 3:37 pm

A few notes ( and by notes, I mean me rambling on about a few language learning thoughts that I have on my mind):

Right now I'm on my allotted time to use English on the forum. Logging out of Facebook was a great move on my part. I find myself reaching for my phone throughout the day and since I'm logged out of FB, I can't see any content when I go to the website. That's all it takes to remind myself that I need more Spanish....not English. I keep my Pocket app loaded with interesting articles so I try to read those during any downtime I have.

Yesterday I briefly touched on the topic of reading comprehension, or at least how I do better if I'm reading for a purpose. One of the 2 DELE C1 exam preparation books that I ordered came in the mail. I'm already looking forward to the intensive reading with comprehension questions that I will be working on. It blows my mind how often I read something (English or Spanish) and can barely tell you about what the article was about. However, if I read with a purpose, telling myself that I need to pull out as much useful info as I can from the reading, then I do fine. This isn't a language learning problem, it's just a comprehension problem in general (that a lot of people have trouble with). Do a quick search on the internet and I'm sure you will find tons of articles on how to "remember what you read" or "improve reading comprehension". One problem I suffer from is "monkey mind". A while back I asked a question about a post I once cam across that talked about a wandering mind. Fortunately, fellow Spanish learner coldrainwater found the post ofr me on the old HTLAL website...and I completely forgot to share the link or mention anything about how he helped me out by finding it. oops! Here's the link:

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=5&TPN=2

It's actually a post from Ari...you might have to scroll down to find it. Other good info on that thread as well...

Basically, many of us have problems with keeping our minds on the present, on the here and now. Over the years I've mentioned a few times how I have problems with concentrating for long periods of time in Spanish. I really don't think this is anything more than a "monkey mind" problem since I can usually concentrate for longer in English. Many people have mentioned to me "mindfulness", which at first I thought was some type of meditation that I could never see myself doing. Lately though, I keep hearing more about mindfulness and how it could help improve my comprehension and concentration in language learning and everyday life...and apparently it isn't like the type of meditation that we thing about when we hear the word meditation. Well, long story short, I found a Spanish podcast called ETM (entiende tu mente) that has really some cool podcasts. They also have a pay feature which gives you access to a ton of podcasts and "challenges" which they update constantly. They have a mini lesson on mindfulness with a bunch of audio and PDFs, and since its in Spanish....I pulled the trigger and subscribed to the pay feature. I figure that I will do the lesson in mindfulness in order to defeat my monkey mind, and after if I think the cost is worth it I will keep paying. I can always justify spending money on language learning material.

And my final thoughts before going back to a day of work and Spanish study:

I am still working on La Reina del Sur and La Casa de Papel. Both are excellent shows. I recently found a thread created by James29 called the
"Official" Telenovela and Series (in Spanish) Reviews and Recommendations

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... ela#p95966

I found a bunch of recommendations for different shows and last night I ended up watching the beginning of a few different shows. They ones I "previewed" are:

-Gran Hotel
-Mar de Plástico
-Tiempos de Guerra
-El Ministerio del Tiempo


As you can see, I'm seeking out some content from Spain to work on my comprehension of anything NOT from Mexico. I gotta say, I understand a huge portion of the shows but the Spanish accent in these shows is really hard to understand at times. I've talked to dozens of Spaniards and other than when I started off learning Spanish, I have literally never had a problem understanding them when I speak 1 on 1. However, watching these shows is pretty tricky. I am really hooked on La Case de Papel but that show is just too damn good to watch with comprehension less than 90%. I was working intensively with it but I want to enjoy this show, not make it feel like a chore.

I'm thinking off watching the above mentioned shows in order of how much I can comprehend, working my way up to the harder material. I will just keep binge watching La Reina del Sur ( on episode 12 now) since there are so many episodes and I can afford to miss some stuff that probably ins't important.

I think that's all I have for now. :D
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Re: ¡No Manches! - DELE C1 (2019)

Postby NoManches » Fri Jul 27, 2018 3:43 am

The only thing I even care about mentioning today is that I finally signed up for a MOOC....and it was probably one of the best decisions I've made in regards to learning Spanish! Not sure how I found this particular course but it's offered by la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. It's available on a website called edX...and they also happen to have an awesome mobile app.

I've only done a portion of the lesson but this far it involves a few videos, and some rather straight forward readings. Not sure about any quizzes or anythong like that, but there is a forum section where people taking the class can interact. This particular course is self paced so I might not be able to interact with a lot of people (it's not like it just started and it's a full class). Maybe the next one I'll do will have a solid start date and will have a lot of class participation online?


MOOCS have been mentioned a lot on this forum, and like a lot of things mentioned here, I put them off until way later and always regret it.

So if you are reading this go check out a MOOC in your TL. Don't be like me and check them out a year from now... You'll wish you had done it soon.
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Re: ¡No Manches! - DELE C1 (2019)

Postby Cavesa » Fri Jul 27, 2018 3:02 pm

NoManches wrote:A few notes ( and by notes, I mean me rambling on about a few language learning thoughts that I have on my mind):

Right now I'm on my allotted time to use English on the forum. Logging out of Facebook was a great move on my part. I find myself reaching for my phone throughout the day and since I'm logged out of FB, I can't see any content when I go to the website. That's all it takes to remind myself that I need more Spanish....not English. I keep my Pocket app loaded with interesting articles so I try to read those during any downtime I have.

I need to do this too!

One of the 2 DELE C1 exam preparation books that I ordered came in the mail. I'm already looking forward to the intensive reading with comprehension questions that I will be working on. It blows my mind how often I read something (English or Spanish) and can barely tell you about what the article was about. However, if I read with a purpose, telling myself that I need to pull out as much useful info as I can from the reading, then I do fine. This isn't a language learning problem, it's just a comprehension problem in general (that a lot of people have trouble with). Do a quick search on the internet and I'm sure you will find tons of articles on how to "remember what you read" or "improve reading comprehension".

1.I'm looking forward to hearing more about the books, as I don't know which one(s) to choose, when I finally have time for dragging my Spanish to the exam
2.It's interesting to read about the reading difficulty. You know, this has always been my strength (except for medical textbooks, I have the attention span and memory of a goldfish, when it comes to those), it is hard to imagine it is the opposite for some people, even though it makes sense. But I'm sure you'll get through this, you seem to be approaching this really smartly. After all, you have gotten so far in Spanish, you will get over this obstacle too!


-Gran Hotel
-Mar de Plástico
-Tiempos de Guerra
-El Ministerio del Tiempo


As you can see, I'm seeking out some content from Spain to work on my comprehension of anything NOT from Mexico. I gotta say, I understand a huge portion of the shows but the Spanish accent in these shows is really hard to understand at times. I've talked to dozens of Spaniards and other than when I started off learning Spanish, I have literally never had a problem understanding them when I speak 1 on 1. However, watching these shows is pretty tricky. I am really hooked on La Case de Papel but that show is just too damn good to watch with comprehension less than 90%. I was working intensively with it but I want to enjoy this show, not make it feel like a chore.

I'm thinking off watching the above mentioned shows in order of how much I can comprehend, working my way up to the harder material. I will just keep binge watching La Reina del Sur ( on episode 12 now) since there are so many episodes and I can afford to miss some stuff that probably ins't important.

I think that's all I have for now. :D

Have you considered Cuéntame cómo pasó? A Spanish family from Madrid, lots and lots of episodes, talking about lots of normal things, it is fun, the language is not too standard but also not one of the hard southern dialects. I think it might fit your criteria. :-)
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