The Day I Finally Started
Woke up Tuesday morning thinking enough is enough. Been saying “I wanna learn Spanish” for years, probably. Scrolled past another Instagram reel with some cool Spanish phrases and just decided – today’s the day. Grabbed my phone still half asleep.
Getting Totally Overwhelmed
Opened the app store thing first. Typed “learn Spanish”. Whoa. Seriously, thousands of apps popped up. Free ones, paid ones, ones with cartoons, ones that looked super serious. Felt like walking into a library where every single book shouts at you. Total nonsense. Almost closed my phone right there. Went down a rabbit hole for an hour, downloading and deleting stuff faster than I could swipe.
- Tried App 1: Felt like kindergarten with cartoon birds. Too easy.
- Tried App 2: Immediately threw grammar rules at me. Too scary.
- Tried Website A: Ads everywhere. Annoying.
- Tried Website B: Wanted money upfront. Nope.
Got frustrated. Almost gave up before even starting.
The “Just Pick One, Dummy” Moment
Sat back on my couch. Told myself: “You’re not becoming fluent today. Chill.” Saw an app I hadn’t deleted yet. Free basic lessons, decent reviews. Fine. Clicked “start”. First lesson: “Hello” and “Goodbye” in Spanish – “Hola” and “Adiós”. Okay, even I knew those. Felt a tiny win. Did the little exercises where you match words. Simple stuff. Didn’t feel dumb. Progress?
The Biggest Surprise – Talking to Myself
This app had this microphone thing. Said “pronunciation practice”. Hesitated. Felt silly talking to my phone. Did it anyway. Whispered “Hola”. Phone showed “Great!”. Blinked. Did it louder. “Excellent!”. Huh. Kept going. Tried “Gracias”. Phone said “Good try!” – needed to roll the ‘r’ more? Tried again. And again. Sitting alone in my living room, muttering Spanish words like a crazy person. Actually fun.
Finding a Tiny Routine That Sticks
Made coffee after that little session. Decided – 5 minutes every morning with coffee. That’s it. Before scrolling the doom feed. Stuck to it Wednesday. And Thursday. Just opening that one app. Doing maybe one super short lesson. Sometimes just repeating the pronunciation bits. Feels small, barely anything. But doing it daily? That feels different than the crash courses I tried and bombed before.
The Messy Bits I Still Deal With
It ain’t all smooth. Friday morning lesson introduced “¿Cómo estás?” and “Bien, gracias”. Fine. Then it throws “¿Y tú?” and “¿Qué tal?”. Suddenly three ways to ask “How are you?”! Brain freeze. Why? Got confused. Typed it out stupidly in my notes app:
- ¿Cómo estás? = How are you? (to one person)
- ¿Qué tal? = What’s up? How’s it going? (more chill?)
- ¿Y tú? = And you?
Still fuzzy on the differences honestly. Just accepted it for now. Skipped ahead once, regretted it instantly. Went back. Reminded myself – it’s a slow cook, not a microwave.
Where I’m At Now (Pretty Much Still Lost But Trying)
So yeah, it’s been just over a week maybe. Can’t form a real sentence. Definitely can’t understand a song yet. But:
- I know maybe 15 words. Seriously counted them last night.
- I can kinda sorta pronounce them without sounding (completely) like a gringo fool.
- I did my 5 minutes every single day. That’s the biggest win.
Found some free kids cartoons on another site. Watched one. Understood… “Hola” and “Adiós”. Thrilling. Made a note to look for ones with subtitles. Someone mentioned “frequency lists” online – common words first. Sounds smart, might peek at that soon. The app keeps pushing subscriptions now that I’m past the free stuff. Annoying. Might look at one other free resource before deciding if I toss them any cash. Most important thing? Not quitting. Still muttering “Buenos días” to my coffee every morning.
