I realized I just reached level 3! I started June 18, 2025, but don’t force it daily.

Personal context I’m Filipina. We have multiple languages which are Spanish-adjacent in terms of vocabulary and pronunciation, so the cards were stacked for me. I also dabbled in some Germanic and Romance languages + can do decent Chinese calligraphy, so I started DS comfortable with the idea of imperfect understanding, of being in a fog that has patches of clarity.

Hoping to visit a Spanish speaking country by late 2026 or 2027.

Where I’m at SB/B videos and intermediate videos up to ~55 are relaxing to watch for me at a faster speed. I think 58ish is my current sweet spot. Anything above 60 can be a hit or miss depending on vocab.

I can just listen along; I don’t need to watch to understand what’s happening.

When people speak Spanish in English shows, I can usually understand everything (home economics season2 anyone?)

I can understand learner-targetted content and fragments of native ones.

Phrases pop up in my head all the time in correct contexts (ex. de verdad, es demasiado calor, lo odio... odiooo) and I can hear their voices (Agus saying “Chicos”+pause when she wants to emphasize something).

DS journey and things that worked for me I did duo for a bit and ~10 tracks of language transfer and some movies with Language Reactor on (English+Spanish subs),, so I credited myself with 40 hours for those.

Early on, I realized that speeding up videos stopped me from overthinking, so I watched SB content at 1.75 speed and Beginner content at 1.5 speed. It also helped the draggier videos finish faster. The “which is X-er” series was the worst for me gah.

Some days, I don’t have the energy to keep looking for something interesting, so I filter by length and just do one or two long ones. Some days I just take a rest day.

I usually check recents within my level then binge-watch a series or guide-of-the-day. All the main guides for SB/B have been my favorite at one point or another.

In the beginning, it was all about Shel and Andrea: Shel’s videos are so well edited and her reactions adorable. I look forward to her and her videos every time.

Andrea’s crazy (in the best way), which makes for entertaining content. I’m still waiting for her goodbye video to be released 🥲

I “graduated” to Agustina then Nati: Agus speaks the clearest and I love her nerdier content (I crossed 150hrs while watching her unknown tribe series 🥰)

Natalia is always “tiene mucha pasion”, which shows through. At the beginner/low intermediate content, she’s also the most conversational, as opposed to performing / teaching / lecturing.

Ngl, Andres was hard at first, but his content is either interesting... or he makes it interesting. Ex. the bottle opening hack video had me going “wheres the bottle” x 10 at the start. I wasn’t really interested in learning how to open a bottle until he turned it into a where’s waldo situation.

Mich has been my fave for the past few days. Her humor’s the least overt and I like cheering her on. Her knowingly giving wrong answers with a straight face in the “how well do ds people know each other” series was top tier trolling.

And Pablo...the goat. I have immense respect for Pablo for pushing out video after video after video even when it was just tiring, unpaid work which didn’t get a lot of attention. A labor of love, indeed.

I haven’t watched a lot of just Alma or just Jostin, but I’m excited to get to know them more in the intermediate videos!

I’ve also watched all cameos of Gustavo and Adria, even the advanced ones. We demand more.

What’s next I learned English mostly by reading. I was reading at 500wpm and 1-2 young adult books a day at age 10.

I got comfortable reading French by having Webtoons up in two devices - French in one, English in another. I finished a couple hundred chapters that way until I stopped needing the English one.

If I want to accelerate my progress in Spanish, I might use Webtoons with Spanish, too. Unfortunately, we don’t have Libby access, so I’d have to pay for individual graded readers if I go that route. Super open for recos!!

Verdict Super pleased with DS, it’s truly one of the most intuitive and effective ways to learn.

I’m going to watch my vids for the day now.

In Pablo’s words: Venga, adios!