How much study time per week to go beyond treading water

[Jan Finster]

I have been studying Chinese since just before COVID hit. There have been phases of intense studying (30 hours plus per week) and extended study-free periods. Currently I can at most put around 30-60 minutes per day into Chinese due to other obligations and I feel like treading water. At best I maintain my level in a certain area (eg listening OR reading OR speaking) but not in all areas at the same time. Definitely I am currently not really improving noticibly. 

I wonder how many hours per week you think you need to invest for obvious progress. Parts of me think unless you can put in 20+ hours every week, you are not getting any further. Ideas? Thoughts? 

[Tomsima]

Putting in 30-60 mins a day should see you making steady progress for sure, I think treading water would be doing a bit of Chinese 2-3 times a week and that's it. If you are not in China itss a lot more difficult to feel the progress, but you'll notice it when you do go next. Bear in mind that if you've put in 20-30+ study hour weeks previously, you're way past the big leaps of growth and are now chipping away at the last 10% year by year, so the incremental steps are small enough that it feels like treading water. Set a goal for yourself to mimic the feeling of achievement that studying may once have given and your motivation will come back. I've been doing about an hour of study a day for the last year or so and believe it or not it feels like I am actually getting worse in my abilities!

[becky82]

I feel I don't notice any change without putting in 100+ hours of study in a particular area.  I'll improve, but not noticeably.  But if I took one of my weaknesses (like listening) and did that for 100 hours, I'd expect to notice a small improvement.

[anonymoose]

On 2/21/2025 at 12:50 PM, Jan Finster said:

Currently I can at most put around 30-60 minutes per day into Chinese due to other obligations and I feel like treading water. At best I maintain my level in a certain area (eg listening OR reading OR speaking) but not in all areas at the same time. Definitely I am currently not really improving noticibly. 

 

 

I think this is too personal for someone who doesn't know you to give you a good answer. It depends on so many factors. For example, how exactly are you spending your 30-60 minutes per day? How good was your Chinese before? The more you know, the more there is to forget (especially vocabulary).

 

Also, unless you are in China, you should have realistic expectations. I lived in China for 10 years and reached an advanced level. I have now been learning Japanese (albeit not intensively) for a couple of years, and my progress is significantly slower than it was for Chinese, mainly because I am just not in an environment conducive to learning Japanese.

[Moshen]

Many years ago George Leonard published a small book called Mastery.  It is a classic, and you can still find it :

https://www.amazon.com/Mastery-Keys-Success-Long-Term-Fulfillment/dp/0452267560/

 

He talks a lot about the dynamics of "the plateau" stage of mastery of any skill, where you do not feel you are making progress, and then suddenly you slip onto a different plane of ability.  I strongly recommend this book because it might change your attitude from "treading water," which is a pretty useless activity unless it is saving your life, to "making progress even if you can't see it yet."  

 

After all, you didn't say you were getting worse.

 

And by the way, the process has little to do with exactly how much time you spend on an activity.