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Is a plan absolutely necessary? | ||
Tags: Study Plan | Time to learn | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| demie Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4031 days ago 12 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Japanese, Slovenian | Message 1 of 9 23 December 2013 at 4:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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Mostly I'm in the mood for certain activities (grammar drills, vocab study, listening to
radio, reading etc) at irregular intervals. Do you think it's better to do what you feel like when you feel like it, or to force yourself to stick to a plan? With the first option, I feel like the quality of study may be higher because you actually want to do it but surely the consistency of a plan is also helpful. What have you guys found has worked for you? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4679 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 2 of 9 23 December 2013 at 5:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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I know someone is going to say it eventually, so "if you fail to plan, you plan to
fail." There, now that THAT unpleasantness is out of the way...yeah I don't think it's all that important to be super rigid about your planning. It depends on your goals and needs, of course. Do you have a certification exam you absolutely have to pass by a date certain? Or are you just studying as a hobby? Or do you study for an unrelated reason? If there aren't grave consequences attached to your success or failure to achieve defined goals, I would set goals that you intend to complete, but place the most importance on doing SOMETHING. ANYTHING. As long as you keep moving forward, you'll keep moving forward. Important clarification: "I want to reach CEFR level C2," e.g., is not a goal, in the sense I mean above. I mean something that quantifies what you DO, like "study for 200 hours," or enter 500 words into Anki, or do something with my language every day for 30 days in a row. You have full control over these kinds of goals. Reaching a certain level of proficiency is more like a dream or a desire that may motivate you, but it isn't a goal that really helps you PRACTICALLY in terms of "what do I need to do right now, today?" 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5366 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 3 of 9 23 December 2013 at 5:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think short term goals are important. I would caution against very long term goals because you may progress faster or slower than you think you will and your long term goals may turn out to be impossible or too easy. I also like the idea of setting quantifiable goals instead of vague goals (e.g. I am going to finish Assimil this year or I am going to read 10 books this year versus I want to be able to hold a good conversation by the end of the year).
Personally, I always had relatively easy to complete goals going and then at the same time I also did whatever else I wanted in my additional time. I just try to have fun and setting realistic goals is fun. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5523 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 9 23 December 2013 at 5:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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This seems like a very personal decision. :-) I don't like rigid plans, so I try to keep things free-form.
But I often supplement this free-form study by picking one specific task and sticking with it for a month or so. For example: - Finish seasons 2 & 3 of Buffy. - Write 100 words per day on lang-8 for 30 days. - Introduce 15 new cards in Anki a day. - Finish one Assimil lesson per day. - Read a particular book as much as possible until it's done. A lot of these mini-projects will pay off in a noticeable way for a while, then either they'll stop working or I'll get bored. At which point I go back to free-form study or maybe switch to a new project. The advantage of a month-long, part-time project like this is that it gives me time to make gains in a specific area and solidify them. 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4524 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 5 of 9 23 December 2013 at 5:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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What worked for me over the last year and a half was the goal to finish the SuperChallenge (10000 pages of reading & 100 films). When I was half-way there was a lot of personal pressure on myself to finish (after all that work, not finishing would have made me feel like a failure).
But I also found just writing down each book and movie as I went along was a sort of reward for me, and helped motivate me to keep going. If I hadn't had a concrete goal and just read when I felt like it and watched films when I felt like it I doubt I would have done half as much as I did. As has already been said I think it's important to set concrete quantifiable goals (X number of books, films etc). Not general goals like I will be at B1 by X amount of time. Also I tend to get distracted I find it much more helpful to set a goal of reading X number of pages/day then the goal to read for x amount of time/day. Edited by patrickwilken on 23 December 2013 at 6:12pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| culebrilla Senior Member United States Joined 3988 days ago 246 posts - 436 votes Speaks: Spanish | Message 6 of 9 23 December 2013 at 6:14pm | IP Logged | ||
You like Buffy?! I would rip on you but I actually liked the series too. [blush] 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6588 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 7 of 9 24 December 2013 at 12:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Here's a good thread related to that. I totally prefer Iversen style.
You may also find the consistency thread useful. Sometimes it's important to have a small commitment along with the more chaotic fun. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4838 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 8 of 9 24 December 2013 at 12:53am | IP Logged | ||
This is dadgum awesome, especially that first link. Serp-link does it again! :) 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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