Milestones in language learning
I recently watched a movie in Spanish without subtitles, and I understood it. That was a milestone for me, and it got me wondering what other milestones people have counted. Getting a joke, for example, or understanding the words to a song. Using the language out loud. Small or large, I would like to know what sort of markers people use along the road of language-learning.
19 Answers
The first time you realize you're thinking in Spanish. That was a big one for me.
It seems like the road to learning a new language includes a lot of work, a few struggles and then.....the milestones. The milestones make it worth the while. 
I have had several. One that sticks out in my mind is being in a Spanish speaking country and being able to understand all of the prices that were given me by vendors. I had memorized my numbers as high as possible, which is good when even a bottle of soda can cost 750 pesos. I was able to understand, without hesitation and immediately pay the correct amounts wherever I went. I was also able to help those who were with me who spoke no Spanish at all.
I transcribe tvshows everyday in order to just write it down and learn it that way. I realize more and more that I understand what I am writing. Of course if often feels like I am teaching myself to understand Spanish TV since I still barely understand the guys at work even though I can understand a movie just fine.
Many years ago (1964) I started a job in Copenhagen. I knew some Danish and my Danish colleagues all spoke English but only spoke Danish with me. I remember very clearly going home every day with a headache. Until one day after about 3 months (May 6th) while walking home wondering why all the windows had lit candles in them I realised that I felt OK. That was a milestone for me.
The candles? They were lit to celebrate the liberation of Denmark in 1945. I haven't been there for a long time so don't know if candles are still lit on that day.
A much more significant milestone for me has been (and still is) the developing ability to understand what I am listening to / what people are saying to me in Spanish without the continual need to translate into English in my mind as I go along .. I also do this when reading my bible in spanish
This has built upon a previous milestone of listening to the whole sense of what is being said without the need to translate word for word in order to understand the meaning
A Spanish teacher I once had helped me to begin to do this when she insisted that I listen to the tape/s she played in Spanish and asked me comprehension questions afterwards. She had a degree in Spanish and her husband was a native Spaniard.
Perhaps the next target for me/ the next milestone is to think in Spanish. Praying in Spanish more often could help me to achieve this..
My most recent milestone per se was finishing the book Los Cuatro Acuerdos by Don Miguel Ruiz without having to stop and look up every other word. I tried a year or so ago and couldn't get past the first chapter. I decided to try it again and this time I actually understood (or at least think I did) most of it without the dictionaries help.
Well I just had a real biggy - a thumbs up from the great Alvite himself, He of the sarcastic, acerbic wit. I am totally starstruck and in awe. Made my week (no - year).
My first milestone was ordering lunch at a “soda” and a little small talk with the server/cook.
My second milestone was ordering “pollo frito express” fried chicken delivery over the phone which included answering the questions about my phone number, side orders, and the most difficult my address.
For those that have never seen a CR address they are directions from a landmark and description to identify the house.
This is an example of a "Wal-Mart" store address I pulled off the web. The landmark is “mercadeo Central”, and the description is the store name “Más x Menos”.
Más x Menos: Costado Oeste del mercadeo Central, 50mtrs Oeste Frente a Panadería Leandro en Heredia Centro.
One recent milestone for me in Spain last year was to be able to:
1 Ask at a special travel agent if I could change an old travellers cheque 2 Ask what the exchange rate was 3 Explain that I needed to go back to my hotel nearby and get my passport 4 Understand all the basic, necessary implications of the exchange rate and sign the necessary documentation
I later went back to ask for a card to place in the hotel to recommend their services to future tourists/holiday makers. I had already obtained the permission of the hotel in which i was staying in Callela to do this.
I was able to carry out all these steps in Spanish
I "heard" parts of a conversation between a Mexican and a local where the Mexican was discussing her difficulty learning English.
My milestone was realizing I could read and understand almost every Spanish label for household products (tea, toilet paper, etc).
For me, my milestone was actually I could express myself in Spanish and be understood. I thought it would take years of learning to reach that point.
A small milestone for me was being able to order food in Spanish in our Mexican restaurant here, and actually being served what I ordered!
I have been in the U.S. and I still don't get their jokes...not a question of language though 
Para mí el hito mas profundo era cuando realizé que pudiera relatar bromas y chistes con éxito en español.
For me the most profound milestone was I realized that I could sucessfullly tell jokes in Spanish.
