Ever have one of those days...

[WoAiJolinTsai]

where you sit down to practice listening or speaking... and you just can't put anything together? Yesterday my tutor was talking to me and I just couldn't concentrate no matter how hard I tried.. it was almost as if I had gone back 3 months in time to when I barely knew any Chinese. I couldn't even understand the basic stuff. So frustrating...

[roddy]

Days? I've been known to have one of those months. . .

I think, especially at early stages, it's easy to get into information overload and your brain just kind of jams. Bit of a rest for consolidation can help. Doesn't have to be a complete break from the language, but concentrating on eg, reading instead of speaking for a while . . .

[mr.stinky]

i think i have the same problem....comes from knowing just enough to be dangerous.

you get to the point where you've been studying so much vocab, that you can have

5 or 6 meanings for a particular sylable. chinese being heavily context oriented, with

shorter sentences or limited context, you're left wondering what of the many meanings

of the words are and how they fit together.

[Shadowdh]

Every dang day of my life I'm afraid...

[FireEater]

Hi,

All work and no play, we are told, makes Jack a dull boy, and there could be a neurological basis for this old saw.

Our brains are not hard disks, thank heaven, and what we drill into our minds, as drill we must on a regular basis, must settle and consolidate. Apparently some of the processes involved in this take place in that part of our brain called the Hippocampus, and in order that they run, we have to bring down many goal oriented cerebral processes.

I used to believe in studying til you drop dead, or very nearly. While doing this does make you feel very dutiful, it is NOT an optimal way to learn.

So a possible cause for 'those days' may well be a nudge from the Hippocampus.

Be that as it may. It is even so a fascinating excuse for taking the day off:roll:

Tataa!

[amazingdido]

hey guys,

when we are learning a new language, things like this often happen. When I was studying English or French Or Italian, sometimes it was somewhat hard for me. When this happened,I usually stopped and took a rest, listening to the music in your studying language is a good way to relax yourself and you can also keep your mind on the language. Anyway, learning a new language is something taking more fun to us rather than sadness or frustration.I just enjoy learning languages because it is a funny thing, not the work I must do or the homework I must finish:D Take a rest when you are tired and go on when you are energetic, it must work,trust me:mrgreen: