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Can language learning be rushed ? | ||
Tags: Time to learn | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6149 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 1 of 9 26 September 2013 at 2:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I found that in my previous language endeavours, there was a certain period I needed for the language to settle in. Generally it was about forty days, but in some instances it could take longer, especially if it was very different from my native language, like Thai. In a few rare instances the time taken was shorter, as the language was very close to one I already knew. It didn’t seem to matter how much study I did during this period. If I spent five hours per day or just two, the effect after forty days was still the same, the language suddenly started making sense. Once this occurs, I could take a break, and return to the language quite easily for shorter study periods. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon ?
I used to think you could cram the basics of a language in three weeks, but now I’m not so sure. Perhaps early dabbling in all future planned languages is better them postponing them for later cramming sessions. For those who’ve completed 6WC’s, when did you find the language started gelling ? 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 2 of 9 26 September 2013 at 3:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think that sort of thing is more dependent on your mental state. If I'm depressed or
tired then nothing will gel anyways. If I'm relaxed and focused it usually sounds good. It depends on the language. But sometimes things end up gelling before you know it. I have had conversations in Hebrew that made total sense. But I didn't think I was capable of that. Usually it takes a couple months to get the base. More if it's unrelated, less if it is. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6548 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 3 of 9 26 September 2013 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Please allow me to broaden the interpretation of your question. Can a language be rushed? Is there a "settling in"
period? Rather early on in my language learning experience, I had what I thought was a major revelation. It seemed that no matter how hard I studied a language, I could only make so much progress in a given amount of time. I might have "learned" tons of vocabulary and grammar, but could only seem to use and recognize a portion of it. Then I noticed that a language I totally ignored had progressed by leaps and bounds during the same period. I thought back on several instances where I hadn't done anything in a language, but had progressed. My conclusion, or revelation, was that I could study a language hard for about a year, and then just let it sit and over the years it would improve to C2 with very little prodding. So I went down that road, studying a language to about the B1 level before moving onto the next. Several years later, I finally had to admit to myself that the theory is flawed. Although there seems to be some sort of language constipation going on while I'm studying intensely, or a minimum settling period that seems to be related to the amount of new material I've studied, just leaving a language alone and expecting it to steadily improve for years was going way overboard. Speaking of overboard, this discussion is related to my "language bow wave theory", which I'm still working on, but won't bore you with the details if there is no interest. Anyway, to answer my spin on the op's question, yes - a language can be rushed to a certain extent, and yes - there is a settling in period. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 4 of 9 26 September 2013 at 6:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
When I saw a leosmith post, I was excited that you would reveal more of your experience with what you call the "language bow wave theory". I myself am thinking this cycling periods of intensity on various languages may be helpful. I'm not sure yet. I just listened to Professor Arguelles experience with learning Russian for 15 minutes a day for several years, then doing an intensive 3 months in country to activate it. This is both sides of the coin. A little each day, and a period of high intensity activation. Do tell us more! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4907 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 5 of 9 26 September 2013 at 6:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
I'm more intrigued by the "language constipation" idea. I have been studying French for about 2 years, and have progressed fairly well (at least according to my expectations). Not as well as other people around here, but better than I've done in the past with other languages. One thing about my study of French is that I have stuck with it pretty much exclusively, ignoring other languages I usually spend time with. Now two years on, I'm not sure that was the best approach, and I think the concept of "language constipation" explains it quite well. An hour a day on French was usually a good thing, but more time in a single day gives me ever decreasing returns. I now think I should have stuck with a steady pace at French, while still studying my other languages, rather than do mad long sessions in a single day. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4826 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 6 of 9 26 September 2013 at 8:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Would it be worth starting a new thread for the "language bow wave" theory?
Sounds interesting, but perhaps getting away from the OP's topic (which was also interesting, and worth discussing in its own right). Also the "language constipation" idea. Anecdotal experience seems to suggest that regular breaks from active study allow the brain to consolidate what it has learned, and "digest" it better (to continue with the food analogy). Professor Arguelles' approach seems to be to study for many hours in a day, but usually not more than about an hour (I think) on any one language, and for him, studying many languages at once is a very efficient way of doing things. I don't think that would work for me, or appeal to me, at least not to the extent he does it. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 7 of 9 26 September 2013 at 11:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
There are a couple of experiences in my recent past that I have found interesting. 1) Spanish - which I have been proficient at for various periods of time - When I went from doing nothing to just 5-10 minutes per day reviewing FSI drills, my active skills came much closer to available in an instant. When I do nothing in Spanish, the "instantly available" skill goes underground. 2) Esperanto - a weekend Congress brought my listening skills up very quickly for that period of time and some time subsequently. I'm fairly convinced that some time studying each day is helpful for long term progress as well as letting a language "take root". 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6970 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 8 of 9 27 September 2013 at 10:54am | IP Logged | |||||
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I’ve also adopted a more gradual, non-rushed approach to language learning. Even though I am immersed here in Hong Kong, I’ve noticed that I have a hard time cramming in Cantonese. My improvement tends to come just from taking time to let the language sit in my head. I noticed, for example, a huge gain in fluidity and automaticity when I came back to Cantonese after two weeks of not speaking or using it. Of course, that time off didn't help me learn any new words or grammatical structures. But it helped fix in my head the language that I had studied up to that point.
Similarly, when I started learning Japanese a few months ago, sessions longer than 2 hours per day didn’t yield any additional benefit. But when I returned to the material the following day, it would generally make more sense. (Unfortunately, after two months with the language, it still hasn't "gelled" in my head.) I think my brain needs time to process and digest the new vocabulary and structures, and just gets tired and frustrated if I do too much all at once. I think that’s why I love Assimil’s approach of doing a little bit every day. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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