Has anyone booked three hours of online lessons....

[Flickserve]

... in a row back to back?

I had a fit of enthusiasm and am wondering whether I have been too ambitious.

[lingua]

Three hours straight? No. But I've done two hours straight. I have also done two a couple of hours apart. I would advise the latter because it can be tiring to talk in a foreign language for so long. In any case, you'll find out soon enough if it works for you or not.

[languist]

More or less, yes! Maybe not three hours straight though. Two hours of one language, 30 min break, one hour of another + 8 hours of being on the other side lol.

The great positive for me was using the knowledge I gained from one lesson while struggling to communicate a thought/story, immediately during the next lesson to communicate it in a way that was fluid and natural. It helped me feel a lot more confident to see the teacher/native speaker follow everything I said so easily, so I was able to build on things really quickly.

Negative: very tiring. Demotivating if you seem to do really well then suddenly can't communicate/understand anything.

[jeff_lindqvist]

... in a row back to back?

I had a fit of enthusiasm and am wondering whether I have been too ambitious.

November, 2018:
Has anyone tried “binging” on iTalki or Verbling or a similar site? How did that work for you?

[Fenderman]

As others have mentioned....not 3 hours nonstop but I've done it in a day with breaks in-between otherwise my mind is too fried and it's about diminishing returns.

[golyplot]

I haven't done it myself, but I suspect that your mind would get exhausted after a while and give up.

[Flickserve]

The teacher replied unavailable.

Phew!

I will have to arrange another time and be less ambitious.

[jrmwash]

This is a little different, but when I was studying Spanish in Guatemala I would do four-hour sessions one-on-one with the teacher. There was a 20-minute break about halfway through. But it was face-to-face, so perhaps a bit easier. But we were speaking Spanish the whole time, even on break. An excellent way to build fluidity.

[Jean-Luc]

I did it face to face when learning Italian. A little bit brainwashing...

But Italian is a Romance language like my native language. There was a mix of grammar, conversation and some cross cultural knowledge in French and under pressure of a business trip to Italy. Great immersion and real progress but tiring...
I prefer online lessons each week (45 minutes each) with work before and after to get the best of the course.

Consistency is more important than intensiveness IMO.

[NoManches]

I've done it before... usually with community tutors on iTalki. These aren't really "lessons", just opportunities to speak with native speakers for a relatively cheap price. The fact that you are paying means you get to speak in your target language the entire time, and they will make corrections for you or answer questions you may have. I only remember doing this when I was just at the intermediate level ...and I also remember that my brain was fried afterwards

I think there are some benefits to long sessions, BUT, I think you are better off spacing your lessons throughout the week.

I typically do 2 hours of conversation practice once a week on the same day (not back to back, usually morning and afternoon). What I'm noticing is that during the week I can get a little rusty. When I finally have a day off and can do my 2 hours of Skype classes, the first one starts off slow because I need to warm up a bit (not always the case, but it's pretty common) This week I will experiment by having a few 30 minute Spanish lessons during the middle of the week. I don't have time for a full hour, and think 30 minutes in the morning 2 or even 3 times a week will keep me from getting rusty. I did read that iTalki will bring back or introduce 45 minute classes. If this happens I would opt for 45 minute classes over 30 minute classes (but again, I probably won't have time for 1 hour classes mid week).

Being intensive is fine, but learning a language is something that takes a really long time. You have to be consistent and persistent. If I had to pick between 3 hours of back to back classes during one sitting or 3 hours spread throughout the week, I'd personally choose the individual classes spaced apart