what would you do?
UPDATE
What would you do if you had six weeks to become fluent in Spanish using any method at your disposal?What if you were getting paid to do it?
Watch me Crosstalk with ChatGPT!
Why Spanish?
I took Spanish for nine years and I didn't learn much more than some basic vocabulary. I could have done that on my own. This is a lofty goal, but not insurmountable. It's also a damn useful skill.
How is This Possible?
I don't know yet that it is! That's where the DELIGHT comes in. I'll use the Comprehensible Input method, combined with Crosstalk using a mix of humans and AI, and vocabulary memorization and hopefully, all of that + many hours = at least one interesting conversation.
Who Cares, Right?
You absolutely should not care about this at all. I have the chance to turn one of my thought experiments into reality. That's a rare event, so I don't take it lightly. I'll document as much as I can here and on my podcast so you can decide if any of this was worth it. I'm so glad you're here!
February 12, 2024Sometimes the Universe hears your plans and laughs. Sometimes it hears your plans and lets you know that someone else's plans take priority.The short version of a very long story is that a buddy of mine is in a bind. They need help STAT and it involves a broken database and corrupt data and all kinds of things that I would consider fun if this weren't my friend. Some Excel! Some SQL! Lots of failing before success!!Bottom line: I'm pausing my Spanish journey to help them out. There's not much else to say here other than Dreaming Spanish is awesome and one day I'll go back to it.
February 4, 2024I'm so excited right now I can barely stand it.One of the things that has been the most difficult about my Spanish language journey has been trying to find a reliable Crosstalk partner. So far, either my chosen partner didn't show up, or they just wanted to flirt, to put it mildly. No thank you.I knew that Cove was always going to be the most reliable option, but I also knew that there was no way to slow down the speech speed. Or that's what I thought. It turned out to be ridiculously simple. I just needed to tell him to use "......" to pause between each word. I also let him know that the success of this Crosstalk task depended on the pauses. It worked!Is this a perfect solution? Of course not. But it's way better than no Crosstalk at all. The added bonus for me is that I'm not wasting anyone's time, I can do it 24/7 and at a moment's notice, and it costs me nothing extra. Added bonus: I also have a transcript of everything that was said!
February 1, 2024Finally, some progress. Not much progress, but a few hours anyway. I supplemented Dreaming Spanish with the ¡Cuéntame! podcast. I'm very thankful right now for all of the teachers, instructors, and generous humans who have given their time to helping folks like me learn this language!
January 31, 2024Another sick day. What the actual, y'all?
January 30, 2024And there was sickness in the land. When it rains it pours.
January 29, 2024I didn't get in as many hours as I had planned. Life decided to throw a few curveballs my way, so I ended up with 6 hours of Superbeginner Dreaming Spanish instead of 8.OMG I'm in love with Calcetin. IYKYK.The only thing I didn't really think about before I started this is just how much music I listen to on a daily basis. I'll miss that. But you know what? It's six weeks, not forever. As far as I can tell, Tchaikovsky, Father John Misty and Glen Campbell will still be there when I return!