Taking a break from Chinese

[黄有光]

It's about time for a little vacation from studying. I have been cramming vocabulary since the beginning of this year, and in that time I have managed to more than double my vocabulary, acquiring nearly 8,000 new words and reading six different books along the way -- my first books ever. I'm quite pleased with my progress! ?

 

But even the best of us can fall victim to burnout -- and I would know, because it's happened to me before. That's why I'm taking two-ish weeks off from all things Chinese. I'm making this post just to remind everyone to take some time every now and again. A little break here and there does wonders for staving off burnout.

 

[alantin]

Good for you!

 

I had about two months "off" and I'm slowly getting back on the bandwagon again. I had a few chats with a couple of my regular teachers and chatted on wechat, but I stopped all my regular study activities. Busy time at work also helped with that though..

 

They also say that sometimes after a break you can actually come back more fluent than before, because your brain has had a chance mellow while you took some time off. I'm not sure I see that in myself, but be that as it may, it does do wonders to take a break and it's nice to get going again after a while with renewed vigor. Maybe two months is a little too long though.

[Jan Finster]

On 9/17/2021 at 12:02 PM, 黄有光 said:

I'm taking two-ish weeks off from all things Chinese

slacker! ?

 

On 9/17/2021 at 9:54 PM, alantin said:

I had about two months "off" and I'm slowly getting back on the bandwagon again

 

On 9/17/2021 at 9:54 PM, alantin said:

They also say that sometimes after a break you can actually come back more fluent than before, because your brain has had a chance mellow while you took some time off. I'm not sure I see that in myself, but be that as it may, it does do wonders to take a break and it's nice to get going again after a while with renewed vigor

 

I also took 2.5 months off and to my surprise my listening comprehension did not suffer. I would even say it has "mellowed". I am sure there is some brain development and processing that occurs in the "off" period, just as muscles grow in during rest and not during exercise.  

[phills]

Yea, it's easy to get burned out, if you're chasing a number.

 

I've taken 2 breaks this year (1 for 6 weeks, 1  for 2 months).  The hard part for me is getting re-started.  Each time I only meant to take a 2-3 week break, but it took another 3-4 weeks to restart

 

But once I do, I find I make more progress because I'm more interested. I have definitely forgotten some stuff, but I recover it in the first week or so.

[Hijinks]

Credit where it's due, that's a phenomenal improvement over such a time frame! As fun as Chinese is, life and your well-being is more important. Take care of yourself (and don't let the SRS slide too far)!

[黄有光]

@Hijinks I have eight days left of my break. I've been using the time to read a novel in English -- Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky. It's brilliantly written -- dystopian post-apocalyptic thriller. So good.

 

I'm not too worried about the SRS. If I need to I'll just delete the deck and start anew. Sure, I'll lose some words -- but it will all be compensated for in due time. I am enjoying my break but definitely looking forward to returning to serious study.