|
 |
Language "slumps" | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4637 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 1 of 15 19 February 2013 at 2:13am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I've been having quite a few of, let's say, slumps. One day I'll go from being able to comfortably watch a tv show, listen the radio, the news, etc then the next day, I'm not able to follow the radio, youtube videos, or anything else really. This lasts for a bit then all is back to normal until it happens again. It feels like my brain is just blocking it all out.
Does this happen to anyone else? How long usually? What do you do about it? Do you ever get discouraged from it or do you take comfort in knowing it will pass? Edited by sillygoose1 on 19 February 2013 at 2:13am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6904 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 2 of 15 19 February 2013 at 3:06am | IP Logged | |||||
|
It's perfectly normal; there are many factors that may influence your performance. For instance, you may focus more or less easily on a given day, you may be tired or distracted, sad or happy, you may just have a good/bad day etc. If I feel like I'm having a bad day I either try to overcome the initial difficulties or switch to easier/different activities. And I try to avoid getting discouraged - even if my comprehension on a given day is bad, it's still encouraging to think that my average performance does get better :).
2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| ilcommunication Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6693 days ago 115 posts - 162 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 3 of 15 19 February 2013 at 4:01am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I call it mind/tongue fatigue...I highly suspect it takes more mental energy to function in a non-native language, and so naturally there are times when my brain just moves through a language at a much slower pace. Plus, even if you really love a hobby there are inevitably going to be days when you're not into it as much as usual. Nothing to worry about, just do your best and let it run its course.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4950 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 4 of 15 19 February 2013 at 5:46am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Yes it is. It happens all the time to me to the point I come to expect it.
At first it really scared and frustrated me, because I thought I was regressing or doing something wrong with my studies. But eventually, I realized and convinced myself that it will pass, and that this feeling meant that I either was having an off day (and then got better the next day), or that I was truly burned out. If it was the latter (I'd say 1 of ever 4 of such episodes are burnout), I simply stopped studying for 2-3 days, or did some other form of studying like simple grammar review. When I came back, I always noticed how everything seemed so much better. I have to confess this is happening less and less with my target languages, even to the point where I don't really notice it much anymore. I think I've reached a level of comfort in reading/listening that it is not mentally draining. I still perform sessions of focused listening to pick up more obscure vocabulary or idiomatic expressions, but in my 3 target languages at this point I can have a totally off day and still watch shows or the news and not feel like I'm having to make a mental effort. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Majka Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic kofoholici.wordpress Joined 4658 days ago 307 posts - 755 votes Speaks: Czech*, German, English Studies: French Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 15 19 February 2013 at 10:03am | IP Logged | |||||
|
If you observe your everyday life with care, you will find that these slumps are there even in your native language.
Czech has even a name for it - den blbec - dumb (dunderhead) day. This is the day (or the week) where nothing you do is going right, your thinking isn't firing on all cylinders and you make such dumb mistakes that you cannot believe you could make them. It is simply more noticeable in a second language. Laugh at yourself and ignore it. It will pass ;) 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5533 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 15 19 February 2013 at 1:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
At any given time, my skills can vary by anything up to a CEFR level. Sometimes I can talk fast and easily, but at other times, everything falls apart. Similarly, my understanding of French TV has been oscillating between 70% and 95%+ all week. (But my best days are getting dramatically better.) This used to drive me absolutely nuts. But after the first 20 times, I eventually got tired of stressing over it. So now I mostly just sigh a little bit and try to ignore it. So far, I've identified at least 3 major causes: 1) When I'm tired or sick, my performance goes down. 2) If I neglect a particular skill for several days, I sometimes need to reactivate it. 3) Sometimes, even when I'm well-rested and studying intensely, my French will go "offline" for 2 or 3 days. When it comes back, I'll often see a big leap in my abilities. The most interesting is surely (3). Why would my French suddenly crash for a few days before improving? The brain is a mysterious place. Here's an interview in French talking about this phenomenon:
When I'm especially frustrated, I always remember that image of a cocoon and a butterfly. :-) 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 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 15 19 February 2013 at 3:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Speaking of cycles, for women the monthly cycle can have a significance as well. i'm exploring cycle-related stuff in my log.
edit: and i bet the daily hormonal cycle is important for men too. Edited by Serpent on 19 February 2013 at 3:14pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5263 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 8 of 15 19 February 2013 at 4:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
In addition to all the good advice above, I, also, have good days and bad days and sometimes even going half mad days with the language. Accept that you won't always be in sync all the time. The bad days eventually get fewer- the going half mad days too. Though they still come to visit just often enough to remind me that I will always have more to learn. Edited by iguanamon on 21 February 2013 at 7:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
