Studying hard, but fearing burn out.

[kongli]

Recently I have began really studying Chinese. I do 3 hours of class in the morning and then study the whole afternoon (4-5 hours), eat, work out, and then try to study for another 2-3 hours.

Is this too much? I need to have super awesome Chinese in a year so I have decided to try and do as much as possible. However I am kind of fearing 'burning out' or maybe doing too much for my own good. Is there such a thing? Do you think this is a pace that can be maintained? I am basically trying to imitate the intensity of an IUP type program.

Also, though I will no doubt be communicating with Chinese people (my girlfriend is one), it is definitely not my top priority because I really need to improve my reading and writing for grad school, I could sneak by with out having amazing kouyu. Is this type of thinking a mistake and am I crazy to be spending basically my whole day in the library?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Yezze]

I've often heard that studying for more than 20-30 minutes a chunk is bad, without a 3-5 minute break. For example, this summer i had a calc class and i did what you are doing for 3 days before the first test and i got a 85%, because there were a few rules i just couldn't remember. For the next 2 tests and the final, i studied 30 minutes at a time with a little break in between and repeated that process multiple times a day; both tests and the final were at least a 95%.

So in summary, yeah i think what you are doing isn't good/is bad, if you are just sitting and studying for up to 5 hours (in the afternoon) without a break. To be more scientifically, goolge around, there are some articles about studying, those might help.

[anonymoose]

So that's about 10 hours of study per day? Yes. I think it's too much. But then everyone's different.

[Scoobyqueen]

I think the key is to sleep enough so the brain can categorise information and store what you have learnt. Memory studies often quote sleep as being important for learning and retaining.

[roddy]

If that's all new input, probably too much. If a good chunk of it is consolidation in some form - review, reading using studied vocab, whatever, then it's a hell of a lot, but maybe feasible. Not for me though . . .

[renzhe]

It's probably too much if you keep it up for a whole year, but should be doable if you pace it so you take it easy for a while from time to time. The key is to keep it interesting, and not see it as a chore. If it's a chore, you will burn out.

[gato]

10 hours a day is ok if you have a variety.

For example: 2 hours textbook, 2 hour flashcards, 1 hours reading newspaper/magazine, 1 hour reading short story or novel, 2 hours talking to girlfriend and fooling around in Chinese, 2 hours watching Chinese TV. Before you know it, you've studied 10 hours.

[kongli]

Yea, that is what I have been trying to do, mix it up. I figure If I am working out of 2-3 textbooks, reviewing words, adding new ones, listening to t.v. /radio et. then it is enough variety.

Anyway, will see how long I can keep this up. I am kind of looking at it like a challenge, just how much Chinese can I constantly put in my brain and for how long? I wouldn't be this intense but I realized the circumstances I am in absolutely require it so I really have no choice. hehe.

I will be sure to sleep lots and take short breaks.

Oddly enough I think this is how a lot of Chinese people study. Usually when I am at the library the same people remain with me through out my study time and don't appear to move or anything, hmmm is this a good or bad sign?

[Iqbar]

My own university experience tells me that 10 hours a day is possible (but that isn't language study); indeed about optimum for me. That said, I tried to vary my topics throughout the day and kept moving around to different libraries/cafes to keep things interesting. Don't skimp on your workout, especially if you actually enjoy it - good physical fitness keeps your routine regular and your mind from getting sluggish.

[jbradfor]

That's not too far off from what I did for the UCB intensive summer program. 4 hours of class, then spent most of the afternoon studying. It didn't feel too bad. However, it was only 10 weeks, not a year.

My only suggestion is that if you start to feel burned-out, cut back for a week (or two). Don't quit; I know some people would suggest that if you get burned out you should drop it totally for a while, but I don't think that's a good idea for learning a language, plus I have a feeling that for your personality you would feel too guilty to do no studying for a whole week or two. Rather, if you can, take a vacation somewhere and cut back to a couple hours studying per day.

[feihong]

On the very few occasions when I felt like I was burning out, I stopped doing any explicit studying but didn't purposefully avoid listening to music or having casual conversations. The one thing I never stopped, though, was doing my flashcards. Those 10-20 minutes every day really added up.

[Don_Horhe]

A few years back when I had just started learning Chinese my routine was almost the same. What I did, though, was have a "no Chinese" day, usually Sundays, once a week, during which I did everything but study Chinese. Watch new movies, get drunk, sleep until the afternoon - anything to take your mind off it and let things sink in.

[rezaf]

Personally I couldn't do this at the beginning because I really didn't know how to study Chinese but if you know then do what you want to do. Don't forget to spend some of that time on speaking with Chinese friends and maybe writing something like your diary in Chinese every once in a while.

[rezaf]

Oh, you are the one who wants to do the master's degree in China right? In that case 10 hours is really just the minimum. If I were you I would focus on vocabulary and writing zuowen. I don't know about your level of Chinese but you should have a big vocabulary and good writing skills to be able to function as a student.

[gato]

That's true. Ten hours a day is nothing for a PhD student. You are going to be living in the library if you do a PhD. Some of the better universities allow graduate students to reserve carrels and lockers in the library for entire semesters.

[anonymoose]

Ten hours a day is nothing for a PhD student.

Really?

[roddy]

He's not doing the degree yet, and I suspect there's more of a case to be made for making time for consolidation and application during language learning. Although I'm not going to bother making it . . .

[gato]

Really?

Yes, it is not uncommon to have to read 1500 pages of material and write several short to medium length papers every week as a humanities / social sciences PhD student in the US.

[anonymoose]

Yes, it is uncommon to have to read 1500 pages of material and write several short to medium length papers every week as a humanities / social sciences PhD student in the US.

Yes, I'd have thought so too.

[gato]

Oops, forgot the "not". Teaches me not to use double negative. Actually, it is common during the coursework period of the first two years. You might be taking three or four courses, and each class would assign one book per week. You are supposed to read the assigned reading, though of course not everybody does, or at least not all the time.