How often to practice?

[zjones]

First of all, hello! I'm zjones but you can call me Zelda or Z if you like.

I'm interested in seeing how often others practice their TL. I'm an independent learner and usually have no issues with coming up with my own schedules, but with something as difficult as language-learning, I'm a little clueless. I love hearing how others study and what their schedule is like.

I'm currently ~A1 in French, and I have a lot of free time on my hands. I've been practicing ~1-2 hours of French per day with free resources while waiting for my Assimil French course to arrive. I'm also studying algebra, brushing up on skills that I need to score well on the SAT. Tuesdays are my off days for algebra, since Tuesday is the busiest day of my week. I'm fine with taking a break from algebra each week (it's not that hard), but I'm not sure if I want to extend that to my French. Part of me thinks I should take a one-day break each week to stave off burn out, but the other part thinks that taking a break will just slow me down and that I should be immersing myself in French every single day.

I know these are both legitimate methods, but I'd love to hear personal opinions. (By the way, if there are any other pertinent threads please point me in the right direction. I searched the site multiple times in multiple ways, but was unable to find anything. Maybe I wasn't using the right search terms.)

Thanks in advance.

[NoManches]

When I was at your level I tried to practice Spanish every single day. If I skipped a day, I felt like it made my Spanish rusty (yes, even after skipping one day). At the very least I would try to study a little French every single day. If you have a very busy day that is dedicated to other studies, I would recommend that you do a little reading or listening that day just to squeeze some practice in.

When you look at the technology we have available, it is really hard to make excuses to not study a language. I definitely understand where you're coming from and understand your concern about getting burnt out. I don't think there was ever a time when I got burnt out because I try to always make language learning fun. If you are only an A1 I would recommend spending some time watching cartoons or kid shows in your target language.

Good luck!

[tarvos]

The more the better

[Xenops]

I can relate to the prospect of burn out: it’s happened to me in the past, and it will happen again. Sometimes I do take a day or more off for a breather. Sure, if you can have the momentum to continue going and not stop, that is the ideal: but the approach that will help you continue the marathon, whether it be breaks or whatnot, is the approach that matters.

[zjones]

When I was at your level I tried to practice Spanish every single day. If I skipped a day, I felt like it made my Spanish rusty (yes, even after skipping one day).

I too have noticed my French getting rusty when I don't practice for a day. I experimented with not doing any French yesterday, and I didn't like the way it felt. Taking a break thrust me out of the immersive learning environment I had cultivated. I'll try to practice every day from now on, unless something comes up. Thanks for all your advice!

[zjones]

I can relate to the prospect of burn out: it’s happened to me in the past, and it will happen again. Sometimes I do take a day or more off for a breather. Sure, if you can have the momentum to continue going and not stop, that is the ideal: but the approach that will help you continue the marathon, whether it be breaks or whatnot, is the approach that matters.

Thanks for this great advice!

What are your goals for this language, if any? If you want to be X level by Y date, then it matters how much time you put in, and how you use the time. If you're a bit looser about objectives, then it's less important.

What you're doing (1-2 hours/day) is already good, so it's more or less a question about what you know yourself to be like: are you a person that can keep up momentum regardless of how busy you feel, or do you need to have breaks now and then to make sure you feel good about things? Personally, I am very impacted by stress, by deadlines, by tight schedules, etc. so for me it works best if I take breaks now and then. But I don't schedule them, I try to be aware of how I'm feeling, and when it feels like a break would be a good idea, I give myself permission to take a day or two off of studying.

Right now, my goals are pretty simple: I'd like to be at a solid A2 before the end of the year. Because I'm new to structuring my language learning, I have no idea what it will take to get there. I'm waiting on my Assimil course to arrive so I can plan a little better. Thanks for mentioning unscheduled breaks. That idea sounds like it would gel pretty well with my life, which is fairly routined but is occasionally disrupted by events like anxiety and illness.

[PeterMollenburg]

I'm not sure what exactly constitutes practice. The longer I've been involved with French, the more I've incorporated it into my daily routine, but at the same time have slightly dropped in the amount of formal study. Still, I think over time my tolerance for extended periods of study has grown. Lately I've been doing stretches of 4 hour blocks of formal study at my desk per day (a mixture of intensive and extensive reading, grammar study, watching of a series and vocabulary work), with very little in the way of breaks if any. Perhaps arguably unhealthy, but it's just what I've been doing lately.

Away from the desk i'm listening to podcasts on commutes, reading odd tid bits of news or bits of other stuff i'm interested in and speaking French very frequently with my daughter whom I'm raising bilingual. French now incorporated into the family, means it's becoming omnipresent. I watch, read, listen to, study French as much as I can possibly squeeze into my day on the way to hopefully sitting an advanced exam later this year.

I don't expect to study (any language) this hard indefinitely as it's taking away from other things in my life, but I do expect French to remain present in my every day life for perhaps the rest of my days on this planet, and that's less likely to be in a formal studying capacity as I advance and grow in the language.

[garyb]

My experience is similar to the other posters'. At the beginner level I find it important to get into a consistent daily routine and do, for example, one Assimil lesson every morning. Otherwise it's easy to lose momentum and forget what I'm learning. Once I've got the basics, it's a lot more free-form and missing a day or two isn't a big deal. Like PeterMollenburg I find that the better I know a language the longer I can study it for in a day. As a beginner, especially in a more opaque language, it's hard to manage more than about an hour per day because there's so much new information to take in. Once I have a good grasp of the basics and much of the language I'm encountering is already familiar (I like to keep in mind the rough estimate that 80% of usage is made of 20% of the language), I can put in much more time if I want to.

These days I rarely spend more than an hour per day on languages, and most of that is receptive work like listening and reading, but that's just because I have other priorities now and I'm happy to take it slowly. A few years ago I was much more serious about languages and would often do several hours if I could, and speak whenever possible. I learnt faster for sure, but I did get burnt out at times. I think the burnout wasn't from my study itself, but from my attitude towards it: putting pressure on myself, feeling frustrated at not having the level I wanted, and most of all trying to get native speakers to help me and feeling a need to prove myself to them. I've gotten past that stage now, and as I say my priorities are different, so I'm less motivated but the motivation I do have is healthier and I'm not likely to burn out.

[Tristano]

Until B1, I would study 30 minutes per day skipping the weekends (or doing only recreational work in the weekend, like reading short stories at your level).

From there, I would still study max 30 minutes per day skipping the weekends but adding a lot of native resources and tutoring in the mix.

Unless you need to pass a B2 certification in 3 months I don't see the point of a shock cycle where you study multiple hours per day.

--

But I do have my bias on this, as I mostly hate formal studies and I avoid grammar books and drills like the {insert a terrible disease here}.

[rdearman]

Until B1, I would study 30 minutes per day skipping the weekends (or doing only recreational work in the weekend, like reading short stories at your level).

From there, I would still study max 30 minutes per day skipping the weekends but adding a lot of native resources and tutoring in the mix.

Unless you need to pass a B2 certification in 3 months I don't see the point of a shock cycle where you study multiple hours per day.

--

But I do have my bias on this, as I mostly hate formal studies and I avoid grammar books and drills like the {insert a terrible disease here}.

But I do have my bias on this, as I mostly hate formal studies and I avoid grammar books and drills like the {mononucleosis}.

This is a fun game.