Video summary
The speaker announces the immediate termination of his two-year-long experiment with Automatic Language Growth (ALG), a methodology popularized by linguist J. Marvin Brown and implemented through the service Dreaming Spanish. After accumulating exactly 1,166 hours of practice, he concludes that the project is fundamentally flawed due to violations in its core principles. The ALG method claims to mimic natural child acquisition by strictly forbidding any conscious study, grammar lookups, or dictionary use, asserting that even minor deviations cause "damage" to a learner's potential for native-level fluency. However, the speaker reveals he inadvertently broke these rules early on when he began speaking before reaching the required listening threshold and later discovered an old video from ten years ago where he had studied Spanish via Duolingo, proving his claim of having zero prior experience was false.
This discovery regarding his past study habits became the final straw for him because it directly undermines the credibility of his entire challenge. The ALG philosophy is so rigid that any previous exposure to a language renders one "damaged" according to its own rules, meaning there would be no point in continuing under such strict constraints. Furthermore, he faced intense criticism from proponents of the method who accused him of ruining his test subjects by speaking too early and deviating from their specific guidelines. The combination of realizing his initial data was compromised and enduring relentless attacks on his adherence to the methodology led him to feel depressed and convinced that further participation in this specific framework was futile, regardless of whether he could still improve his Spanish skills personally.
Moving forward, the speaker decides to abandon the Dreaming Spanish service entirely, opting instead to track his progress using a simple Excel spreadsheet rather than paying for their platform's features. He plans to launch a new series called "Spanish Review," which will continue with 50-hour updates but without being tied to the controversial ALG doctrine or the specific content of Dreaming Spanish. This shift allows him to learn naturally without self-imposed restrictions, acknowledging that while he may have incurred some theoretical damage by breaking the rules earlier in his journey, it is now time to simply focus on learning the language for real rather than adhering to a restrictive and arguably cult-like set of guidelines that prioritize purity over actual acquisition.
Read the full video transcript
I'm [ __ ] done.
Yep.
I'm done.
This is the end of my automatic language
growth ALG Dreaming Spanish experiment.
An experiment that has gone on for 1,100
hours. 2 years at this point. I'm
[ __ ] I'm calling an end to the
experiment. It's over. It's done. Let's
call it. It's 6:08 p.m. on the 13th of
the 8th, 2026 Australian Eastern
Standard Time. That is the official
death time of this experiment. There's
no resuscitating this [ __ ] It's over.
For those who don't know what I'm on
about, this is my experiment. I have
been running this as I said now for
1,150
You know, that's a lie. I've been
running this experiment for 1,166
hours, exactly. And now it's over. This
experiment was essentially me trying to
learn Spanish using a very specific
methodology. As you can see right here,
the ALG purist approach. ALG stands for
automatic language growth, and I was
learning Spanish using this methodology
via service called Dreaming Spanish. And
I selected this service because this
service implements that methodology and
publicly states that they implement this
methodology. Now, this methodology, I
would say at this point, is very
controversial within the the space of
learning languages or even second
language acquisition. It is quite
controversial. Now, why is it
controversial? Because it goes against
what we know about second language
acquisition,
uh especially a around modern
understanding of how we learn languages.
Now, this methodology, ALG, makes some
pretty [ __ ] bold claims, but it also
has some very heavy restrictions to it.
And all of this can be basically
summarized in this book right here. Now,
when you read the title of this book,
you're going to think that this is the
[ __ ] manifesto of some cult, but let
me just run you through it. From the
outside in, also titled in other
versions as Cascades, the Secret to
Automatic Language Growth, the Cosmic
Shower by J Marvin Brown, who is
actually a linguist, okay? Now, he
claims
if you use this methodology to learn a
language, you will basically attain a
level in the language that is far beyond
any other methodology that exists out
there. As long as you follow the very,
very strict rules of the methodology.
So, this is not something where you can
kind of do, you know, 50% this method
and then 50% some other language. No,
no. If you do even 1% of something else,
you have already incurred something that
they deem as damage in this methodology,
and that is going to
limit your ability to reach a very high
level in a language. And if you don't
believe me, there's literally the word
damage, if you search this, damage is
repeated throughout this book. It is a
core concept to this methodology, okay?
So, what is the methodology? What makes
it so controversial, okay? What
Dr. Marvin Brown here was trying, well,
what he was stating was the way to learn
a language, is that we should do it like
how children do it. Now, I have my
qualms about what he says that children
do, having actually tutored children. I
don't believe this is what children do,
but he's the linguist here, and he's the
one who described this methodology, so
I'm just going to describe his method
for you guys to understand
uh so that we can just get it out there,
and then you can figure out why I'm even
doing this experiment, because I'm
basically I'm even doing this experiment
because I I fundamentally violated it. I
didn't even realize this, but it's a
[ __ ] 1,000 How many hours am I in?
1,166
hours, and it's at this point that I
realized I fundamentally violated this
entire thing, and it's like conducting
an experiment over 1,100 plus [ __ ]
hours, and then finding out your test
tubes have been tainted this whole time.
So, there's [ __ ] no point continuing,
at least not as an experiment. I'll keep
learning Spanish, don't worry about
that. Basically, to learn a language
according to the ALG method, you first
need to sit there and watch
level-appropriate content in the
language or converse with someone in the
language. And when I say converse, they
talk in the language, you can only
respond in English or whatever your
native language is. You do not respond
in the actual language. But you
basically want to get your listening
abilities via listening to natural
content or to a degree, okay, up to a
very high level before you start
speaking. And you should only ever start
making utterances in the language when
you just naturally feel inclined to. As
in, you should not force anything. There
should be a point where you just you
just randomly start saying Spanish and
you'll be like, "Oh [ __ ] okay, I didn't
mean that, but it's come out now." So,
you just say those things. And that's
basically them well, Marvin here trying
to mimic in his mind how a child learns.
Now, that's not the only aspect of it.
So, first you got to get your listening
to a high level. Once it's at a high
level, your speaking should naturally
start forming and coming out. And then
you get that to a high level. And then
once you've got your speaking to a high
level, then you're permitted to start
reading and learning the script of the
language in whatever way you want, okay?
But basically, that is the natural
evolution of it, okay? Now, there's
another aspect to all of this. At no
point are you allowed to basically
investigate the structure of the
language because according to Marvin
here, children don't think about how a
language is structured. They just let
the language flow over them and they
slowly develop an understanding for it
over time. There's no thinking about the
language. So, if you're thinking about
the language, you are already breaking a
fundamental tenant. I don't know if
that's the correct word, but like a
fundamental pillar of ALG, okay? So,
that's the first mistake, which means no
grammar lookups, no dictionaries, no
flashcards, none of that. If you do
that, you will be, according to this
methodology, damaged. Now, how damaged
you are depends on how much you do it.
But, if you wanted to be an absolute
purist and attain native level within
the language, as in like be an adult who
then attains basically native level,
like I know this sounds insane, but this
is what the methodology talks about,
okay? The only way to do that is to
start basically
with this method and only ever follow
this method. And if you ever look up
anything else, you you damage yourself a
little bit. The more you look up, the
more damage you encounter, okay? So, I
was trying to, via this series,
replicate this as much as humanly
possible, okay? Which means up until
this 1,166
hours, I was not doing grammar lookups.
I was not doing word lookups. I was
literally following the method as close
as I could. Now, I copped a lot of
comments from people saying I was doing
it wrong in different ways. I'm talking
about people who are proponents of the
methodology, saying I was doing it wrong
in different ways. And when it hit the
1,000 hours, this is here, I started
speaking. Now, I will say that I kind of
violated it a little bit then, because I
entered a conflict between following
Dreaming Spanish and following ALG.
Because Dreaming Spanish, although they
say they implement ALG, they actually
kind of don't. They give you
recommendations that go against what ALG
is. You shouldn't start speaking. And I
asked my community, "What should I do?
Should I Should I stay the ALG pure 100%
path or should I diverge and follow what
the recommendations of Dreaming Spanish
are and then become kind of like a a
damaged version of ALG in a sense?" And
the mostly community wanted me to follow
Dreaming Spanish, and I figured this is
1,000 hours by this point. I should be
able to start speaking. I just got to
open my mouth, right? I'd never tried.
So, literally in that 1,000 hour update
video, I tried having a conversation. It
was [ __ ] atrocious. It was bad. But,
you could say it was artificially
forced, because at no point did I
just naturally start speaking. It was
for the video for the 1,000 hours.
And at that point is when I started
getting
pretty
heated attacks from ALG followers, okay,
of this methodology. I'm I'm trying
really hard not to say cultists right
now. These followers of the method
methodology who are like, you [ __ ]
you've you've screwed your your your
test. You start speaking, you weren't
ready. You just did it because that's
what Dreaming Spanish recommended. But I
kept going, okay. And I literally made a
video about how people were not happy
with that, okay. And then 1,050 hour
update, my Spanish improved a bit. 1,100
hour, improved a bit more.
But also it kind of didn't. And then
1,150 hour kind of just it just settled.
Like I I did not make any real
improvement in my speaking ability. Some
little bits here and there. I keep
getting these like online attacks about
the fact that I'm not doing the method
correctly, okay. Now realistically, as a
YouTuber, the [ __ ] doesn't bother me,
people attacking me, because I knew I
was following this the [ __ ] book,
following the experiment as close as
humanly possible. I knew
I was doing it right. Sure, maybe I
started speaking early, maybe that
damaged me a little bit, okay. But I
hadn't broken [clears throat]
fundamentally the other
you know, pillars of ALG, the ones
about, you know, actually doing real
damage, which is thinking about the
language or studying the language or
anything like that. So I was okay until
this morning. In my Discord, that's
attached to this you can go down to the
description, hit join, okay. There is a
thread that is just for people who are
interested in ALG. As you can see, there
is 2,200
and 20 2,022 comments, sorry, in this
thread. I have read all of them. Every
single comment that came in I read up
until this morning and then I was like,
I'm [ __ ] sad now. I'm actually a bit
depressed. So this comment came in from
Digital Nexus 92, reposting it here so
it doesn't get lost in general chat and
it's about the ALG series anyway. Evil
Deer, what did you mean by this?
Studying Spanish slowly making inroads,
you know, type of thing. And then this
one, I have absolutely no experience
with Spanish, zero. I've never studied
Spanish.
I assume you forgot you did then. What
did you study? I was very confused about
this. I was like, "Huh? What is this?"
Cuz it's just like some bare links,
okay. Now, if we go back to this, this
is my original video, I'm assuming.
Yeah, so this is from my 50-hour update.
Over 1 year ago, my first ever posting
in the experiment. About me, especially
if you're new to the channel, so you
know what I've entered into this with.
I have absolutely no experience with
Spanish, zero. I never studied Spanish.
I think the only times I've ever
encountered Spanish realistically is
probably in the Discord where people
just randomly type out Spanish, and I'll
see a couple of things here and there.
So, I had not studied Spanish. Up until
this morning, I believe that was true.
I legitimately did. But, there was this
comment here. Now, if you guys have been
following my channel, I've been doing
YouTube for [ __ ] 13 years. And I've
recorded pretty much every single day of
me learning languages or using languages
on this channel. Like, nearly every day
I've been saying something on YouTube.
And apparently I made a video 10 years
ago. So, here is the video I made 10
years ago. Is Esperanto useful? 31K
views, that's actually quite impressive.
Anyway, let's hit play.
>> ever in that class because of the girls.
Um and I studied French. Yeah, failed at
that. I'm currently studying Chinese,
not much progress. Studying Spanish,
slowly making inroads, you know, type of
thing. But, Esperanto has
It's the only language I've ever
>> So, you have probably heard that, right?
I'm studying Spanish. I don't [ __ ]
remember that.
And I think this comment was in regards
to
maybe doing something on Duolingo. And
the reason I say that is because
Duolingo was all the [ __ ] rage about
10 years ago. And maybe I'd opened up
Duolingo and I was doing Spanish on it.
Slowly making inroads into it.
I actually searched my own channel to
find any other mention of Spanish prior
to my series and it's there's literally
just one video where I talk about and
this one's from 5 years ago. It's in
Esperanto. Basically, I was telling a
story about a time I tricked a girl into
uh
well, I was
I told her I was teaching her Spanish,
but I was actually teaching her
Esperanto. But apparently, 10 years ago,
I did study some Spanish. Don't [ __ ]
remember it. I'm guessing it was some
Duolingo or something. But it doesn't
matter because that's that's going to be
used against my experiment. And you
might be thinking, "Well, Evil Deer, if
it was so little you don't even remember
it, does it really matter?" Well, maybe
not for the experiment, but for the
outcome and the credibility of the
experiment, yeah, it matters. Literally,
the [ __ ] reason I chose Spanish is
because I thought it was the only
language I'd never touched. I've done
German before, I've done Japanese
before, I've done some Korean before,
like what other languages?
I did some Cornish before, I [ __ ] did
Latin. Like I've touched on
literally every language I was
interested in and I thought Spanish,
that's a language I haven't actually
touched. That would be good for the
experiment and there's this great
service called Dreaming Spanish, but
apparently, I [ __ ] touched on Spanish
as well and I saw this coming this
morning and it [ __ ] disheartened me
because this goes right to the core of
ALG. Now, you might be thinking this is
this is dramatic, this is over the top,
um this is stupid, you know, but it
literally destroys the whole point of
the challenge. I've got I've got people
out here investigating
historically, I guess, on what I've
done. So, that's it.
I was already on the edge. That was the
push. Might as well call it quits at
this point. No [ __ ] point. I'm
damaged anyway. I guess my final thing
is if you uh if you want to learn
Spanish and you already learned some
Spanish before, don't follow the purest
method. You're already damaged. There's
no [ __ ] point. You might as well just
do whatever you want to do. Um okay, so
what is going to happen now? Well, let
me just uh say this is my Dreaming
Spanish series. This video you're
watching right now is the last video in
the series.
Okay, so what's happening with my
Spanish? Well, I will continue. I will
decide over the next day or so how I'm
going to continue Spanish, but I started
another series. It's called Spanish
review. That might sound a little bit
strange. Evil Deer's Spanish review, are
you reviewing the Spanish language?
Well, I am in a sense. You're going to
continue getting the 50-hour updates
here. I put all the historical Dreaming
Spanish in here, but all further like
50-hour updates are going to come in
here and they're not going to be called
Dreaming Spanish cuz they're not going
to be related to Dreaming Spanish. In
fact, I may actually end up just
canceling my whole Dreaming Spanish
thing. So, for those who want a final
outcome of what I've done
on that 1,166
hours of Dreaming Spanish, here's the
two calendars so you can have a look how
much I done. And then if we go over to
the view hours outside platform because
I know people like to break this down
and say I did not do enough hours on
platform. I've done 760 hours off
platform, 9 hours of reading. I know I
didn't create like a reading record for
you guys, whatever. Uh and I've done 68
hours of cross talk /
um actual Spanish like speaking. How
much? I don't know. Doesn't matter.
[ __ ] series is coming to an end
anyway. I will launch an Excel
spreadsheet. I'll track everything there
and I'll probably cancel my Dreaming
Spanish subscription because I don't
think I need the service anymore. Sure,
it's got some good content and all, but
like
I can plan find plenty of CI content on
YouTube and I don't want to just keep
paying for a service just because it
gives me a [ __ ] little handy tracker.
And that's it, okay. I can just track
this [ __ ] in a spreadsheet and that's
what we're going to do moving forward.
It's a pretty undignified end to the
series when I think about it right now,
but I I'm just I'm sick of like I can't
this 2022 comments, I can't I can't keep
playing within these blocked lines and
apparently I'm I'm [ __ ] anyway.
>> [laughter]
>> Let's just learn Spanish for real. I'll
see you all in the next video. Make sure
you're there.