When I left my apartment in Korea on January 21st, I reckoned I’d keep studying in the guesthouses where I’d stay for the remaining week and the 3 weeks in Taiwan before coming back to France.
I was wrong.
Between having a lot of work, trying to visit as much as possible before the “end of it all,” and not feeling well for some time, I ended up stopping all learning.
I had an itch to study but couldn’t find time nor energy to do it.
Once I arrived in France, though, I got to see my dear collection of textbooks of languages. I stood—in awe as I do every time I get back home—and grab a Chinese textbook: Volume 2 of The New Practical Chinese Reader (NPCR).
I opened it and marveled at the Mandarin characters and explanations of things I knew yet didn’t. I turned to another, then another, and so on for half an hour.
The itch was only growing stronger. And so, I began studying Chinese again.
Getting back in the groove after a break can be hard. We think we’ve forgotten it all. We remember the hard times that may have been the cause of said break. We don’t know where to start again.
Is it even a start?
Do you even wanna?
I’ve seen way too many people get back into a language because they feel they should. After all, if you don’t continue, what was all that time you spent for?
I’ve made the same mistake time and time again and got lucky. I’ve now spent some time studying over 20 languages.1 It’s just not possible for me to study them all again so I had to make a choice to put them all away, likely to fade in my memory as time passes.
Instead, the ones I turn back to are the ones I truly want to master.
Getting back in the groove with a language you don’t love is highly likely to end up in frustration and giving up. This will be a true waste of your time. Not the time you had spent before.
Where do you even start?
Depending on the length of your break, what you’ll have forgotten will change drastically. My breaks with Chinese tend to be quite long, often over 6 months. I still hear bits of Chinese in songs but a lot fades away. And so, I end up with the same question each time.
Do I start from the beginning or do I move onward as if I never took a break?
Obviously, the latter isn’t really possible because I’ll have forgotten words and patterns. Still, I often don’t feel like going back to basics because it also feels like time wasted not challenging myself.
Breaks can help recharge your batteries but if you come back to stuff all-too-easy, you’ll get bored and that itch to get better at it will fade away.
Language learning needs challenge.
Whether it’s tackling a hard lesson, a book, a TV show, a song, or even getting out there to speak to natives, you need to some excitement.
Find what feels a bit hard but not overwhelming and give it a go. It might just surprise you by being easier than you thought.
What did I end up doing with my Mandarin? A bit of both. I started the NPCR textbook and chose to read out loud as much as possible to tackle my fear of pronouncing tones the wrong way. NPCR indicates the tone without giving the pinyin (ie. pronunciation with the Roman alphabet). At the same time, I’m writing down every sentence that includes a word I don’t know, a pattern I want to master faster, or a word I know but want to remember the proper tones.
NPCR is using Simplified Characters but I’m also turning every sentence I write into Traditional Characters for some added challenge and fun.
Oh, and—because why the hell not—I began copying on the workbook a few lines of characters with my right hand even though I’m left-handed. That allows me to spend more time with these characters and serves as a good way to wind down from an intense session.
Taking notes serves as a clear marker I’m actually studying again.
How intense do you even need to be?
I’ve gone back and forth on this. There’s been times I got back into Korean by spending over an hour each day. Others, like this time, where any study is good enough.
I often even set a high limit of 30 minutes to avoid future sessions to compare with a long one and make me feel as if I’m “not trying hard enough.”
What you want to do is enough. Do tons if you want (and can). Do a little if you want (or can’t do more).
What matters is getting back into it. In any shape or form.
Just start again.
Well, as long as “the little you do” isn’t Duolingo though. Duolingo on its own is a real waste of time.2
What’s your favorite way to get back into a language you took a break in? Do you think about it systematically or is it completely random?
Cheers for reading.
Mathias
Even though many didn’t last a quarter and a few didn’t even last a month.
Hell, I even consider it a waste of time when it’s not the only thing considering how many awesome other tools and ways there are to ease back into a language. After all, it’s the most dangerous app for untrained learners. 😈