When I lose enthusiam...

Ask specific questions about your target languages. Beginner questions welcome!

When I lose enthusiam ..., I ...

Toughen Up (keep going)
6
18%
Lighten Up (go easy)
22
65%
Give Up (quit)
6
18%
 
Total votes: 34

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luke
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When I lose enthusiam...

Postby luke » Fri May 27, 2022 5:51 pm

Have you ever had the experience that some part of your studies isn't as attractive as it once was?

What do you do?

Written answers/experiences can be very helpful.
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Re: When I lose enthusiam...

Postby tractor » Fri May 27, 2022 6:14 pm

Depends. I either toughen up or lighten up, but I normally don't quit. Sometimes I take a long break though.
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Re: When I lose enthusiam...

Postby tiia » Fri May 27, 2022 6:22 pm

It depends, but I'm not a fan of forcing myself to do something I don't like. As long as language learning is mainly a hobby, there is absolutely no sense in stressing too much about it. So I might lighten things up or switch the activity to one I like more.
Or take a break, if I have to.
But in general the more advanced languages are so well integrated in my life, I could hardly take a complete break from then.
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Re: When I lose enthusiam...

Postby BeaP » Fri May 27, 2022 6:53 pm

It's very hard to reflect upon one's own feelings, but I'll try. When I feel fed up with an activity, it's usually because it doesn't improve my skills visibly any more. For example I've watched a million hours of Spanish TV, but now I can't watch a single episode, because everything annoys and irritates me. I'd obviously still get some improvement out of watching series, but this improvement is so slow and small, that I lose my motivation. I've reached a stage when I can only watch those Spanish TV series that I'd watch in Hungarian as well, so the ones that are so good that they interest me even without the language learning aspect.

Something similar happened with reading. In retrospect I see the mystery novels I've read as a pile of junk but if I want to be totally honest I almost enjoyed them at that time. Now that my Spanish reading skill is C2, I can only read literature, again things that I'd read in my native language.

Activities that improve my weak points (speaking and writing) are quite enjoyable, I just need to get into the habit of doing them. They're much harder to do, they require more energy, but I enjoy them anyway. Overall I think that improvement is the key for me: until I see/feel it, I don't lose my enthusiasm. If I don't see it, I become irritated and frustrated, and might blame it on the activity or a burn-out. If I lose interest, I need to ask myself: Do I still profit enough from this activity or has it become part of my comfort zone? Am I still learning the language while doing this or is it just a pastime?
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Re: When I lose enthusiam...

Postby jmar257 » Fri May 27, 2022 7:03 pm

Totally depends for me. If I confine my answers to hobbies/projects I still do (i.e., ignoring giving up, because I obviously haven't done that re: language learning): one of the biggest things that one can learn (and it seems to always be a work in progress) is learning when you need to apply more pressure vs. lighten up. Sometimes when you're losing enthusiasm it can be helpful to buckle down and that used to be my default. However Covid made me realize that sometimes the opposite can be true--I was very burnt out with working out, and the gyms shut down. Once I was able to get back to it (and I was somewhat active in the meantime) my enthusiasm was as high as it had been in years, and I learned that sometimes it's best to step back and let your battery recharge a bit. Now, when to know which is needed when? I'm still trying to figure that out...
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Re: When I lose enthusiam...

Postby Lisa » Fri May 27, 2022 7:52 pm

Any of the above?
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Re: When I lose enthusiam...

Postby rdearman » Fri May 27, 2022 8:56 pm

When the going gets tough, the tough go fishing.
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Re: When I lose enthusiam...

Postby Le Baron » Fri May 27, 2022 10:04 pm

I always back off. You can't assess what's up if you just plough ahead. Going at something for months (years?) on end which also has levels of frustration and sometimes plateaus where nothing happens, takes more more energy than we imagine. Nothing achieved without effort, yes, but also nothing achieved if you're ground down or burnt out. There's a reason people take holidays from work.
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Re: When I lose enthusiam...

Postby lusan » Sat May 28, 2022 12:05 am

That's a fact of life.
The duality thing: ying-yang.
All strains must contain a relaxation.

When the enthusiasm goes,
I feel that I need to relax,
take a break otherwise
I burn out.

Better to ease before too late.

Of course, it depends of our learning objectives.
Maybe a low level that is a serious thing.

I am not sure that it happens after reaching Middle+ or Advance levels.
Well, that's is my experience with English, French, and Italian.
I'd wish to say the same for Polish but I don't believe that I did
a good service to that language.

So the sooner one reaches the Middle+ level, the better.
Everything seems to be downhill afterward. Just using the language becomes reviewing
and learning. Enthusiasm doesn't play a big roll anymore.
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Re: When I lose enthusiam...

Postby Iversen » Sat May 28, 2022 8:37 am

In a bird's eye view I don't lose enthusiasm - if I decide to carry through with something then I do so. And that's why I tend to go to extremes with my hobbies, including language learning. I have been - or is - as extreme with some of my other hobbies, like for instance travelling (127 countries until corona struck) or zoology (my recent species collecting spree or visiting some 650 zoos and aquariums) or collecting/composing music and painting, but I may also decide rather abruptly to stop doing something. I did that in 1981 with language learning when I had taken my French (and comparative literature) exam from the university and realized that my job prospects were rather dim because the 1968 generation had occupied all the fat jobs at the university level. I resumed my language studies around 2006 when I hit upon HTLAL and have been hooked since then. Or when I stopped playing and composing music because it had been an uphill struggle (read: closed door) to get the jerks I was playing with at the time to play any of my compositions. I briefly returned to both composing and painting within the last couple of years, but they are both back on the shelf for the moment. And my digital music collection is basically complete - one advantage of preferring classical 'score' music: you don't have to care about new music! Travelling - well my mother's health and the world situation has delayed my return to that hobby, but there is still a lot of places I would like to visit.

On the micro level I may realize a certain source is rubbish, and then I stop using it, and for the moment my Irish has been shelved because I prefer spending my time on the Slavic languages which actually are alive and well with sizeable native populations that don't hate speaking them. But since using a specific source rarely has the character of a project it is problematic to speak about 'losing enthusiasm' - I just take a decision based on facts and stop using that source. 'Disillusion' with a potential source might be a more precise description - like when I got hold of the only Ukrainian 'grammar' in a Danish public library and discovered that it was more like a mediocre textbook with exercises and all that stuff than a proper systematic grammar.
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