How long to brush up your Chinese after a long break?

[thechamp]

Hi,

 

I'm thinking of going on a short trip at some point, to brush up on my Chinese because I may have to use it in a work context. I passed the HSK 5 in the 80th percentile then spent a further year in China, so I think I could have scraped the HSK 6 before I left.

 

It's now been 3 years and I basically never speak Chinese except to make the odd waiter laugh, or to read Taiwanese friends' facebook messages as practice.

 

I've noticed it's definitely deteriorated. Do you think a couple of weeks with a tutor, would be adequate? I don't know of much research on language re-acquisition to be honest...I'm thinking of going to Yanghshuo for a couple of weeks and studying there and rock-climbing in the afternoons as a fun but useful trip!

[abcdefg]

The rate of language decay, just like the rate of acquisition, differs from person to person. (I cannot cite any research; just personal observation.) 

 

Your plan sounds like fun, especially if you go in the autumn or spring (weather considerations.) I'll bet, though I cannot prove it, that you would get a lot more benefit if you spend a month. Two weeks is pretty short. Arrive, unpack, get over jet lag, figure out a new set of logistics: There goes at least 2 or 3 days.  

 

And whichever time period you spend, of course make a strong effort to use Chinese outside of class 98% of the time. Don't hang out with foreigners and speak English. Be fierce and steadfast about the immersion experience. 

 

Good luck and welcome back to the forum! Welcome back to China as well!

[DavyJonesLocker]

37 minutes ago, abcdefg said:

Don't hang out with foreigners and speak English. Be fierce and steadfast about the immersion experience. 

 

 

Fully agree, and sometimes you have to be pretty brutal about this , and at the same time with trying to cause too much offence to people (especially English speaking Chinese who are just trying to be friendly).

 

[NinjaTurtle]

I am reminded about my experiences learning Japanese when I was in Japan. Of course, all of the Japanese people I knew there wanted to practice their English with me. But I wanted to practice my Japanese with them. This lead to many crazy conversations where I would say something in Japanese, they would respond in English, I would respond back in Japanese, etc. It always became a game of 'chicken', to see who would give in first. Once my Japanese was good enough, I would always win, and they would start talking to me in Japanese.

 

99% of learning a language is having the perseverance to get it done.

[Lu]

After barely using Chinese for three years, it will in all likelihood have deteriorated a lot. A month in country will likely not be enough to get you back at your old level. However, it will be very helpful (and fun and interesting), so definitely go for it. If you really want to keep up your Chinese, follow up with a teacher or dedicated language exchange or something similar once you are back home.

 

Good luck!

[thechamp]

I can still read pretty much fine it's just talking that is an issue. I notice that my pronunciation has deteriorated and I can't find the right words as quickly. I think in a month I could get close to where I was.

 

I also speak french and I notice that after a couple of weeks in a french speaking country, I'm pretty fluent again. But French is closer to English so...Someone should do some research on language re-acquisition - it would be an interesting subject and very useful for professionals who occasionally have to travel.

[Apollys]

You may want to consider a slightly different point of view - you will never get back to exactly where you were before.  In re-acquisition, some skills will be strengthened beyond where they were before, and some skills will lagg behind.  You will eventually reach a point where all of your skills have at least caught up to their previous level, but by this time your overall language proficiency will be noticeably above where it was before.

 

I stopped studying Chinese for a while at one point and experienced this firsthand.  When I came back, for a while I felt quite disappointed in my lack of discipline that originally caused me to take a break from studying and then led me to spend all this time reviewing and re-learning so much material that I had already learned.  But once I had re-learned that material to the point where it didn't feel like any one aspect was weaker than before, I could tell my Chinese as a whole had improved far beyond its former peak.

 

To address your question directly, however, I think 1-2 months is the appropriate timeframe, though it depends on what skills you value (e.g. if you don't care so much about knowing how to write every character that you did before, it could happen much quicker).