|
 |
Language Fatigue? | ||
Tags: Immersion | Difficulty | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5695 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes  Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 14 15 March 2011 at 8:17pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Does anyone else get this?
I was immeresed in Spanish for about 1.5 hour yesterday, mostly just listening (and speaking a little bit) with a family from Mexico and 3 or 4 of my Latino peers and after several minutes, trying to follow the conversation, I began to feel sleepy and strained. My eyes started watering a little bit, like when I'm really tired. I really enjoyed it, the experience, and everyone was really warm and encouraging towards me and willing to slow down in some parts, but I tried to just sit quietly and absorb the info. I found the task a bit exhausting. But 90% of what I did was passive (I did understand a lot, but I didn't speak much...) I really felt like I had a tension headache... After the Mexicanos left, the others slowly dispersed and I followed them out. Once I sat down, I felt utterly exhausted for several minutes, a few people stopped to ask if I was okay. It was kind of embarrassing that I needed a snack (3 small bags of chips) and a'power nap' (~15 minutes) to recoup after having been 'under' the Spanish wave for so long... Is this normal? How can I prevent this from happening? How long does this last during the learning stage? Will it be like this a month from now? A year? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Shenandoah Newbie United States Joined 5019 days ago 30 posts - 59 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 2 of 14 15 March 2011 at 9:20pm | IP Logged | ||
|
When I took my first immersion-style French course I experienced the same thing. I was
so tired after every class - that was 2 hours of nothing but French. Sometimes I wondered if I'd make it through those 2 hours, and then as soon as I got home I'd crash - sound asleep in minutes. Now I wish I'd get that worn out. I get home from class at 11:30pm and instead I'm wired and end up staying up another couple hours, even though I have to get up for work by 6:15am. But what you're experiencing is perfectly normal. It just comes from focusing so hard, and putting a lot of effort into it. It's just as easy to exhaust yourself mentally as it is physically. The more you study, and the easier the material becomes for you, the less you'll feel it. I can't really give a time frame. It depends how much effort you put into learning, and the level at which the people around you are speaking. But it will get better. Listen to radio and TV to practice. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5326 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 14 15 March 2011 at 9:23pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I cannot give you any time frame for when it passes, because that is highly individual, but I have also experienced this. When I first went to Spain and France I felt like sleeping all the time, because my brain had problems coping whith so many unfamiliar words.
When I first went to meetings in the international organization we collaborate with, which were held in German, English and French, and I in addition would speak Norwegian, listen to Swedish and Danish pluss speak Spanish and or Italian with people I met, I would have the mother of all headaches every time I left a meeting. The good part is that it does pass. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5661 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 4 of 14 15 March 2011 at 9:24pm | IP Logged | ||
|
When I first started going to a gym, I rushed from machine to machine, pumping my
muscles hard, and fifteen minutes later had a dizzy head, and had to lie down. Similarly, when I first started listening to the radio in Czech, within fifteen minutes I had a dizzy head, and had to lie down. Anything that is strenuous, and to which we are not accustomed has this effect on us. Over time, you build up stamina (both physical and mental), and at some point in the future you will being able to go for hours without strain. In terms of your question of "how long does it take", I don't think there is a simple answer. As soon as I could manage well at a certain level in the gym, I "upped the weights" and was back to having a dizzy head and having to lie down. Likewise, not long after I got used to listening to the radio in Czech, I started going to dinner parties where there were many conversations going on at the same time about world politics, and I had a dizzy head and felt like lying down. There is always a new, and tougher, level waiting ahead of you once you feel you are getting the hang of a certain level of difficulty. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5695 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 14 16 March 2011 at 6:24am | IP Logged | ||
|
I'm glad that I'm not the only one, but man, I'm a little depressed about this news. I
never had this problem with my other languages from when I was younger...*sigh* 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| FrostBlast Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5091 days ago 168 posts - 254 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Icelandic | Message 6 of 14 16 March 2011 at 7:44pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Food can definitely (and obviously) play a role in this. (And I'm sorry if I seem to assume that you don't eat well - it's just that I have to start somewhere)
Before long periods of intellectual work (such as studying Russian, which I've been doing for a little over 2 months, now), I always make sure to eat healthy and light food. I made some research online, cross-referenced the information I got on about 6-7 websites and picked out what would be the "best brain foods" for me among what's out there and started eating them on a regular basis. I've found it to have a very noticeable effect on my memory, my concentration, and on how long I can stay concentrated and efficient. Just like a bodybuilder will eat specific foods to meet the needs of his muscles, a "brain-builder" needs to eat foods that will meet the needs of his brain. Here are the foods I picked out for myself : - Blueberries (I buy them frozen and throw them in shakes every morning - half a cup blueberries, half a cup blueberry yogurt, half a cup milk - microwave the frozen blueberries to thaw them and shove that in the blender with some oatmeal for an awesome healthy brain-friendly breakfast) - Salmon and other fat fish (make sure you eat the brown stuff, lots of omega 3 in there) - Avocado (guacamole is a classic, but I found them to fit nicely with dried tomatoes pesto; I also put them in my hamburgers and salads) - Black chocolate (the darker the better, but go easy on that, 20 grams a day is plenty, and if you take it right in the middle of your intellectual effort, it acts as a nice pick-me-up. I personally always go for 85% cocoa or higher) - Almonds (the less stuff on them, the better - I find pepper and lemon is tastier than salt, as well as being much healthier - I buy plain unsalted almonds and put the stuff on them myself) - Broccoli, brussels sprouts, asparagus, spinach (steamed, not boiled - throw them in a bowl of pastas with salmon and some dried tomatoes pesto and you won't need salt or any condiment) - Colored vegetables (carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, etc - again, throw them in a bowl of pastas) - Eggs (the white is pure protein and the yolk is great for your brain, just don't eat too many cause they're high in cholesterol - though you can counteract that cholesterol with whole grains bread and pastas. I sometimes put whole raw eggs in my morning shakes - their texture doesn't show once it's blended and you'd never guess they're in there) - Whole grain bread and pastas (they need some getting used to, but the trick is to forget about eating them with what you usually eat white bread and pastas, you rather want to find out what they fit well with and build on that - I personally don't like brown pastas with regular meat sauce, but I really like them with various pestos) - Etc... Basically, start by eating healthier and you'll notice a big difference (eating a triple patty BigMac with a fry and a large coke before a 3 hours course is a very, very, very bad idea). Then, once you're used to it, you can start picking out your food to answer more specific needs of your system, according to what you want to achieve. PS: I won't go into the specific effects of each food I listed. I read about it and understood their beneficial effects though I don't feel comfortable explaining them. You can look up "best brain foods" on Google if you want more info. Edited by FrostBlast on 16 March 2011 at 8:47pm 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| polyglossia Senior Member FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5396 days ago 205 posts - 255 votes Speaks: French* | Message 7 of 14 16 March 2011 at 9:13pm | IP Logged | ||
I'm glad you brought up the subject !!! When you were younger, your brain was so much more eager and able to absorb any sound... Right now, I'm experiencing the same thing while listening for hours to radio in romanian or dutch, or listening to a language whose "music" I'm not accustomed to like irish or arabic... but for example, right now, I'm writing while listening to Radio Uno Italia, but since I do understand everything I dont have to do any more effort to understand and to stich to the "voice flow". I guess once you're accustomed to the "music" of the language and once you do understand ("passive ability") what "flows" in your brain, your headaches just vanish in thin air... But dont worry : I still do have headaches while listening to some people ven when they are speaking... French!!! (but that's another story ::) ) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5695 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 14 20 March 2011 at 12:40pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Hey, am I the only one who has to have some sort of eye-contact, or at least look at a
person when they are talking in Spanish to fully understand them? 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. |
