Spanish Struggles

So as those of you who read this regularly (thanks!) will be aware I've been studying Spanish.   And this is proving to be a challenge in ways that have nothing to do with learning the language.  Lol.   You see, while I've always been pretty useless at other languages, somewhere along the way I became reasonably good at English.   Which means when I try to express myself in Spanish I feel frustratingly stupid due to the lack of vocabulary.   And to add to it, I am very thoroughly on a plateau, which overachiever me does not deal well with.  Who's surprised by this? ;-P

Accurate.
Except I'm not even hanging that far along -- I'm further left. *sigh*

So while teacher/coach Lauren knows and understands about plateaus and how to handle them.  Learner Lauren is less onside with this.  Which means trying all the techniques to improve the situation.  And, well, you can't cross a chasm with two small jumps.  Soooo...   Yup - I'm going to Spanish school in Costa Rica.

Oh common, you're not new here.  Dramatic solutions to simple problems ;).  More vocabulary practice was clearly not the way.  Although, tbh, I'm also doing that.  And writing daily.  And my workbook, and lessons, and apps...  Multi-method small-burst learning all the way.

And the latest method includes trying to watch TV in Spanish on Netflix (pro tip: if you're trying this, set up a new account for your language programs.  Makes life much easier).  With the aid of close captioning (also in Spanish), I'm mostly understanding enough to follow what's going on, which I'm deeming a win.   With no cc, not a chance *sigh* -- which admittedly is a challenge since irl most people don't conveniently have their words written out for them when they speak ;).  Lol but I'm hoping this is a step towards understanding the spoken words.   Also, the level I test at is not yet the level that's supposed to understand TV, so I don't feel too bad ;).   Oh - but as far as tests go, I took a placement test for said Spanish school and actually scored a tiny little bit higher than I expected, so disproportionately pleased at that.

But the worst?!?!   One of the TV characters started speaking Portuguese.  I'm sorry but that's just not fair.  And the CC continued in Spanish w/ just a note about the language, but the audio obviously didn't match.  And sadly the first time, I didn't even catch that they didn't match cause I was so reliant on the text.  Brutal.  At least I later realized it ;). But still.  Sheesh.

Anyways - the TV challenge has made being on the plateau more entertaining.  I'm not really sure how productive it is, but I figure it can't hurt.  Especially for something I'm learning for no reason other than I feel like, so not like it's tragic if it doesn't go quite right ;)

And I am super excited about my immersion week!!!  Wanted to go for two weeks but my bathtub ate most of my travel budget, so I'm down to one.   Not sure that's enough to push me off the plateau (pretty sure a month is the recommended stay), but figure it's worth a try.