A 341-day streak, six tools, and five hours of silence at a family dinner
Posted by u/Humble_Cranberry5273 in r/languagelearning on 2026-04-08 · read the original
Summarised here as captured on 2026-08-27. Posts can be edited or deleted after that.
In their words
I think I've been training the wrong thing this whole time.
I could follow the Spanish subtitles on Narcos, like actually follow them, not just word-spot.
Excerpts only — the full post is the author's.
What they used, and what for
Grouped by the job each tool did for this learner.
daily drill
- Duolingo
Every day for 341 days
Their verdict: trained the wrong thing
grammar
- Babbel
Added around month 3
- A physical workbook not in our catalogue
passive listening
- Dreaming Spanish
200+ tracked hours over six months
- News in Slow Spanish not in our catalogue ~4×/week
On the commute
SRS
- Flashcards not in our catalogue
For words they kept missing
Approaches in play
- Comprehensible Input — Acquire a language by understanding lots of messages slightly above your level, rather than by studying rules.
- Spaced Repetition — Review each item just as you're about to forget it, so a fixed amount of study buys far more long-term retention.
What this account leaves open
- No stated hours per day, so the year of effort cannot be compared with logs that count hours.
- Whether the input hours were genuinely comprehensible at their level is not established.
Not a criticism of the author — a guide to how far the log can carry you.
Read this one with care
This post names products in a way that reads promotionally. We cannot determine intent and are not claiming any.
The original account of the failure is detailed and specific. A later edit, added after the post went viral, attributes the fix to a little-known paid app said to have been suggested in DMs — a pattern worth reading with care. The failure narrative below does not depend on that edit.