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Good days and bad days | ||
Tags: Loss of confidence | Motivation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Lightning Groupie United Kingdom livelanguagelove.bloRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5119 days ago 58 posts - 70 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 9 of 15 28 November 2010 at 10:27pm | IP Logged |
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I know exactly what you mean! I get good days and bad days too. I basically just do what what has already been mentioned. I either do passive activities (for me, consists of watching dramas / listening to music) or I just immerse myself in something else. :)
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| Lindsay19 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5602 days ago 183 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC1 Studies: Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic | Message 10 of 15 29 November 2010 at 12:00am | IP Logged |
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It's definitely something that happens to all language students at one point or
another. when I have those kind of days, I either take a break from learning altogether and do something else, or will go into passive mode. I won't make any attempt to do "active" things like speaking or writing. I won't even read in the language. I find it best to just do simple things like listening to some music or watching a movie or show in the language. If I'm tired of the language altogether, I'll watch a comedian performance in it - though this really only works if you're at least at an intermediate level. If I'm frustrated with what I'm currently working on, but still in the mood to learn, I'll simply switch. Because I have two languages that I study full time, I can switch between the two when I get tired of one of them. If one day I think German is boring and stupid, and am tired of hearing it everywhere I go, I'll do something with Swedish. If I'm frustrated by all the things I still have to learn for Swedish and feel "stuck in the mud", German suddenly regains its beauty and wonderful structure; a language I'm a lot better at than Swedish. If I'm tired of both, I'll fool around with Icelandic or Faroese so I'm never bored. Edited by Lindsay19 on 29 November 2010 at 12:01am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5748 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 11 of 15 29 November 2010 at 3:21am | IP Logged |
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I think that frustration and feelings of doubt and discouragement are normal in language learning or in any other long-term pursuit. Actually, (for me, anyway) that's the pattern of life in general, and I'm not sure it could be otherwise. You just can't sustain a consistently high level of motivation at all times; too many other things get in the way. Setbacks and times when I don't work very well bother me, too, a lot, and I've lost periods of language time to family or work obligations or illness or just plain laziness. Sometime I just lose momentum for no apparent reason at all.
The important things is keeping at it, even if it's only for a few minutes a day, if possible. It's OK to take time off, too, if you need to do so. The enthusiasm comes back if you give it time. When I lose some learning time for any reason, I try to remember that at other times, I'll do a lot of work, so it all averages out as long as I continue. I'm rather self-critical and have to always remind myself about this. Here's an exclusive look an my own internal conflicts (actual length of time varies; "day" has many meanings, of course!) Day 1: OK, that was good. Day 2: Still good. Day 3: Hey, I'm getting this. Cool. Must do more. Day 4: Uh, what was it I meant to do? Oh, that. Day 4: I guess I did something but I don't recall exactly what. Day 5: Damn. Do it again. And again. And again. Progress! Day 6: I didn't do anything today. Day 7: I meant to do something today. Blah. Day 8: Blah, blah, blah . . is that your native language, idiot? Seriously. Day 9: I did A LOT today. Really! It'll be OK. I like this. Day 10: Good! This is excellent! Tomorrow, 597 pages, for sure. Day 11: Blah. Day 12: (censored) Day 13: I have learned a few fine expletives in foreign languages, at least. Day 14: I just found the best learning program in the world and will study and love it forever. Speak to me, audio file, I am listening . . . Day 15: Actually, it sucks and I hate it. But I tried another one. Day 16: Sigh Day 17: Doctor, sometimes I think about other languages . . . Day 18: I must accept this fickle self and my horrid ridiculous useless pursuits. Day 19: Got some stuff done, finally. I can do it! I'm gettin' it DONE! Day 20: I started to work but then stopped and don't know why. Day 21: Well, today I started again, went to study, and then I logged on to HTLAL and just wrote a lot about studying, without actually studying. Day 22: I did NOTHING BUT study today. NOTHING. Day 23: You know, I need to have a normal life too . . . Day 24: Nice try. Back to irregular verbs. Day 25: Blah. EDIT: Anyone notice that Day 4 occurs twice? I'll leave it in the post though; I've long suspected that some days just won't go away! Edited by meramarina on 10 January 2011 at 9:35pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5886 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 12 of 15 29 November 2010 at 5:03pm | IP Logged |
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Day 26: Hmmm...that movie/blog/book looks interesting, ach it's only a couple of hours...
Day 27: Guilt induced mammoth study session. Day 28: ? to be continued..... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Marc94 Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5027 days ago 32 posts - 50 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian | Message 13 of 15 30 November 2010 at 1:12am | IP Logged |
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The irony is that I stumbled upon this thread today, when I am having quite a bad day myself. The other day I was flying through German newspaper articles and understood a large amount. Today, I feel like I can only understand every other 5 sentences and I am zoning out. Maybe it is just best to let your brain relax for a day.
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| sydneycarton Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5289 days ago 23 posts - 46 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 14 of 15 01 December 2010 at 1:18pm | IP Logged |
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Aye, this is just a natural part of the learning process. For me, the most helpful things to bear in mind are your ultimate goals and where your abilities were , say, 12 months ago. It will come around again - it's just a temporary loss of form and everybody goes through it now and again, be they footballers, academics or musicians.
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| vickyyuchi Newbie Taiwan Joined 4899 days ago 14 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English | Message 15 of 15 09 December 2010 at 2:11pm | IP Logged |
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I do have similar experience, too. Sometimes I rehearse my presentation in the target language for many times the day befroe my presentation. However, when I come the stage the next day, I have no idea what am I saying. All the preparations lead to an awful mess....What I do is just to do someting else and let my brain cool down a little bit. Generally speaking, the bad days won't last long. I would get the fluency soon. Therefore, maybe it's time for you to relax for a while. Like most of people said, do some passive activities and let your brain cool down. There definitly are difficulties in the process of learning a language. I believe if one could work on it and never give it up, he would reach sucess. Anyway, good luck. Edited by vickyyuchi on 09 December 2010 at 2:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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