Hit the wall

[Flickserve]

Have you ever had times in a lesson things just suddenly don't work? This happens a lot to me. Doing OK in the lesson and then suddenly, bam, brain dead, simple sentences not going in, stuck in a rut, repeating wrong order.

How do you cope?

BTW I have probably had it a lot in the past but can't escape from it in a one to one situation!

[anonymoose]

No. But I have noticed that some days speaking is a lot better than others, for some reason.

[imron]

How do you cope?

Drilling a specific skill for a sustained period of days until I break through whatever wall was in the way.

[Shelley]

Sometimes it needs drilling as imron suggests but then sometimes it needs not doing it for a couple of days and then coming back to it as if it was new and drill again.

 

Sometimes you need to give your brain a rest and a chance for it to sink in.

[zhouhaochen]

I know what you mean. I took a break and then like imron said tried again. If it did not work, then again and again.

Pretty much anyone who learned Mandarin up to fluency will have stories about hitting a wall, having the feeling of not progressing anymore despite intensive study or simply not being able to learn that phrase/character/conversation however hard one tried.

Fight through it - it will get better.

[Guest realmayo]

Have you ever had times in a lesson things just suddenly don't work? This happens a lot to me. Doing OK in the lesson and then suddenly, bam, brain dead, simple sentences not going in, stuck in a rut, repeating wrong order.

 

Yes, and I figure it's because the brain is tired, or more tired than normal. Either because the class is more difficult than usual, or I haven't prepared as well as usual, or just because I was tired for some other reason.

 

More precisely, it might be because of an involuntary drop in concentration. Concentration requires willpower. There's a whole book about how willpower is a finite resource each day, and how best to improve it: Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister

[edelweis]

Sometimes happens (inability to make normal sentences), even in my first language, if I have slept less than 5 hours, or if my blood sugar is low (missed my normal mealtime, or had a too sweet breakfast which guarantees a weak moment around 11).

Immediately after a too heavy meal I'm also not at my best but that's a different matter...

(jet lag also causes issues but I assume you're past that?)

I suggest that you keep a log of your lapses and see if they happen at a particular time of the day. Then adjust your meals and/or your class hours. Or, if the lapses happen on specific days of the week, go to bed earlier the previous days.

Edit: if you exercise before class, it may also impact your blood sugar...

[Flickserve]

Edelweiss, I think you are right. It's affected by tiredness. I have an irregular work schedule and try to fit lessons in here and there. Probably the 11pm lessons aren't too productive. The last lesson was at 6pm and happened this weekend. The sentences were fairly straightforward, I was doing ok and then suddenly, after about 45 mins of the lesson, the teacher's mandarin wasn't registering in my brain. Perhaps 45mins is my limit.

[edelweis]

Yes, tiredness and irregular schedule will make everything more complicated. You need to plan your schedule carefully.

 

Regarding that 6pm lesson - what time do you usually have dinner?

I usually have dinner around 6:45 or 7pm, and I noticed that if I stay late at work, I really really need to get a sandwich around 6:30 (or earlier), while I'm still able to think about it.

Else starting from 7pm I am unable to concentrate enough to work productively, or even remember that I need food, or even make the decision to go home because I'm obviously accomplishing nothing (and sometimes I don't realize it until the light go out in the office).

[Flickserve]

Dinner is anywhere from 6.30pm to 12 midnight. Sometimes I fit lessons in during the daytime but it can be unpredictable and I have lost some lessons like this.

You know, you may be right about accomplishing nothing. I don't think I have made great progress with the time I have put in. The teachers say it is quite OK compared to other learners.

My reading and looking up Chinese characters is ok because of knowing spoken Cantonese and exposure to characters in HK.

[roddy]

11pm lessons? Go to bed and schedule a lesson for 7am. Then nap at work. 

 

Sounds like you're knackered, to be frank. Chinese learning's hard, and you should be feeling a bit drained by the end, but if you've had a tough day at work as well, you can't expect to be firing on all cylinders. Maybe try and make sure you're getting short and varied activities - when you drain the listening part of your brain, you may be able to get another ten minutes out of your reading part, etc. Maybe have low brain-power activities (say revision of stuff that's already quite well known) to intersperse with harder work.

 

I did 90 minute 1-2-1 pronunciation lessons for a while with a very good but demanding teacher. I remember once just hitting some kind of mental block, blurting out in English 'No more' and then sitting silent for a minute or two while my brain got its breath back. 

[Flickserve]

Thanks Roddy. 7am lessons are also a bad time what with starting at 8am. That's why it's difficult for me to schedule classes. That's good advice about doing low level stuff. Took that on board last night.

Last night I went through the MP3 of the PSC book. Just doing some shadow work of the pronunciation. Just 10minutes worth. The book is actually fairly inexpensive but I had to get the simplified version from Mainland China. HK only has the traditional characters version.

I also watched an episode of CCTV growing up with Chinese. It happened to talk about past tense with 正在。I asked my HK colleague about it and it is not used in conversational Cantonese. So I did learn something new despite not having a formal lesson. It just need 14hours to cover it completely!