Our past-time is a monumentally time-consuming one. Whether due to the demands of life or burnout, I suspect almost all of us have taken some time off from language study. Since this is something that most language learners will deal with, I think its worth discussing.
In my experience, after you acquire a decent base of knowledge, taking a break isn't that detrimental. As long as the break isn't months and months long of course. After a break, I find myself returning to study with renewed vigor. Reading novels at the glacial pace of a 3rd grader and missing a third of what your hear in movies and TV shows gets tiresome. I don't think I could do it for hours and hours per week without taking a break here and there. And while some things are going to be forgotten, I think they come back pretty quickly. It actually seems like a break helps things filter into long-term memory. I'm interested to see if others' experience match mine in that regard.
What do you guys think?
What is your experience with taking breaks from language study?
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- White Belt
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- Blue Belt
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Re: What is your experience with taking breaks from language study?
Depends what you mean by "break". I have been going non-stop for two years, but at varying degrees of intensity. By keeping an L2 audiobook in my car and by checking the news in L2 every morning, I get at least a little L2 in every day even if it does not involve studying.
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- Green Belt
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Re: What is your experience with taking breaks from language study?
The brain is like a muscle. You work at it, get it sore, then take a break for a bit. When you come back it's stronger.
I think breaks are extremely helpful and even needed at times. 1-2 weeks should be fine after a long study streak spanning months. You'll usually find that the language seems more ingrained in your head and you understand more. What I did with French was go on a huge binge for a few months, worked on other languages for a month or so due to frustration, came back to French and my jaw dropped at how much I understood. I've noticed more recently in German that after struggling through a book, I'd take a few days break then come back to a new book and not struggle as much.
I think breaks are extremely helpful and even needed at times. 1-2 weeks should be fine after a long study streak spanning months. You'll usually find that the language seems more ingrained in your head and you understand more. What I did with French was go on a huge binge for a few months, worked on other languages for a month or so due to frustration, came back to French and my jaw dropped at how much I understood. I've noticed more recently in German that after struggling through a book, I'd take a few days break then come back to a new book and not struggle as much.
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- Orange Belt
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Re: What is your experience with taking breaks from language study?
I'm in favor of breaks, especially if burnout threatens. Although, I've never been able to step away from Spanish completely, there have been times when I wasn't actively studying. During these times, I was still watching and listening to things (probably a minimal amount of reading, too) and after returning, I actually felt that I was able to speak more fluidly and with a better, although slight, intuition for correct grammar.
I should add that I had been studying fairly intensively, for at least a year, before I decided to take a about a month long 'break'. Under the right circumstances, I'm willing to believe breaks from language study can actually be efficient.
I should add that I had been studying fairly intensively, for at least a year, before I decided to take a about a month long 'break'. Under the right circumstances, I'm willing to believe breaks from language study can actually be efficient.
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"Wax on, wax off" - Mr. Myagi
- smallwhite
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Re: What is your experience with taking breaks from language study?
My experience is that there are breaks that are beneficial and breaks that are too long.
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- blaurebell
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Re: What is your experience with taking breaks from language study?
It really depends at which level your knowledge is when you take a break. I once took a break of 5 years from Spanish and lost all my active abilities although I was speaking without much problems at B2 before. It took me only a couple of months to get back to my previous level of speaking and it definitely came back rather quickly. With Russian I took a break of a year and my level was pretty much only A1 when I dropped it. I lost all my vocabulary, but retained the grammar knowledge.
Basically, if you understand a language at a good level it won't just disappear, you just need to reactivate it. Active abilities are the first to go, listening comprehension second, my reading comprehension never disappeared with Spanish, even after not reading any Spanish for 3 years I could just pick up a book and start reading again.
That said, I try to take breaks differently now: I tend to drop all courses and instead just go on with native material. If I just watch, listen and read things I enjoy I actually continue to learn without really putting in much effort. It won't help my active abilities, but they are usually not a priority for me anyway.
Basically, if you understand a language at a good level it won't just disappear, you just need to reactivate it. Active abilities are the first to go, listening comprehension second, my reading comprehension never disappeared with Spanish, even after not reading any Spanish for 3 years I could just pick up a book and start reading again.
That said, I try to take breaks differently now: I tend to drop all courses and instead just go on with native material. If I just watch, listen and read things I enjoy I actually continue to learn without really putting in much effort. It won't help my active abilities, but they are usually not a priority for me anyway.
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