Motivation to study Chinese has dropped

My main objective is to simply be encouraging. Thats all. I guess a shorter way to express the main point I was trying to make is;

Yeah, I know how it can feel when motivation drops, but it doesn't always feel like a chore, and I tend to do better with a routine I believe in and diligence.

Sorry, the numbers aren't that important. Studying Chinese generally isn't a chore for me, just writing I don't really like practicing that much but I do like learning new words and communicating with people. I try not to put too much effort, if you enjoy it then it shouldn't feel TOO much like effort, that's what I think anyway.

I find I can easily spend 6+ hours studying on a Saturday, then I'll do a few hours on a Sunday but then literally nothing from Mon-Fri (if one looks back at my commenting history on Chinesepod you would note a very strong bias towards weekend posting!). It is a frustrating way to study because it feels like 2 steps forward each weekend, but then a step back (sometimes 2, sometimes 3) during the week. I think I need to better spread my study effort.

Actually, now, I am not working, my family is in the states, I have some coworkers, but not many friends, and as far as the chores? When you live alone, there really isn't much to do in terms of chores. As soon as the teaching resumes, I obviously won't have time to do 4-6 hours of review (let alone the time spent practicing speaking or reviewing Chinesepod lessons etc.) I will obviously have to scale it back.

It doen't feel like a drain on me because, right now, I do have lots of time. To me, studying Chinese is not a chore (yeah, sometimes it does feel like a chore), so it doesn't feel like work. I do it for leisure, and maybe in place where other people may watch TV or something.

Please don't get hung up on the number that I put, that was not the main point I was trying to make. The point was, regardless of the time spent, I think the feeling is similar. The idea I was trying to get across was 'I know how it feels to continuously put effort into learning Chinese everyday.' The intent was to describe in a simple way some of the things that I encounter in the studying, and how sometimes, they may make me feel less motivation to study.

Thats all I am trying to say.

Sincerely,

George (you know, the one from Amesbury Mass.)

Yeah, maybe when I was in highschool and didn't do homework I could probably find that time, I somehow found time to play guitar for that long... But yeah these days I don't think I could find that much time, let alone the focus to do it for that long...

Agreed. Who has 4-6 hours a day? I try to do half an hour listening to podcasts and half an hour practicing characters each day. I'm fairly happy with the progress I'm making at this rate and I get to enjoy my life too!

"4-6 hours a day".

Wow. How could anyone find that sort of time? Doesn't life get in the way? You know - work, family, friends, chores, ... sleep? I don't think I could possibly find more than 90 minutes on a good day. Allowing for busy periods, I would probably be able to average about an hour a day at most. And I have it very easy compared to most people.

soon, I won't have time to maintain this pace either. My teaching will begin soon, and I will have to slow it down.

Yep, I have found that my motivation is back. Sadly I don't have 4-6 hours a day to review vocabulary. But it's not really the methodology that maintains motivation, it is just a part of learning that your motivation will naturally go up and down. In terms of being in Baoding, I would think that if you talk to younger people then it would be easier to use standard Chinese and therefore you wouldn't feel so discouraged.

Hey guy,

I was thinking about this thread and I am curious how you are doing. Do you feel better now? I can relate to the type of thing you went through. For all of you who have been studying for a while, although I don't know for sure, I can imagine that you know how hard learning this language can be, and how discouraging the plateaus can be. For me, the hardest was the beginning. It has since gotten easier, but still a challenge. I can do OK with putonghua, but I do have limitations, and in the wild, the listener will not necessarily tell me if I make a mistake or if they don't understand, so I end up reinforcing mistakes. (everything going forward, I will be talking as if these are universial, but I understand that these all may not apply to all people, so regardless of how I word these, I am speaking strictly of my own opinion, that may or may not apply to other people. I just think that describing these things in this way has more of an impact)

If you have been at this for a while, then you know how it feels...

spending 4 - 6 hours per day everyday reviewing vocabulary... reviewing flashcards, adding flashcards, learning new vocabulary, relearning vocabulary that you thought you learned yesterday, relearning vocabulary that you were able to use three months ago, but since forgot. Relearning that a word is really a fourth tone, even though you have been pronouncing it as a first turn for the past few weeks (even though, when you first studied it, you knew it was a first tone, it just somehow evolved to a fourth. Don't ask me how this happens... it happens to me all the time) .

Trying to explain something to someone in Chinese, but they cant understand you, so you use a second method to explain, and they still don't understand, so you try a third method, then the listener just nods their head and says '嗯' but you don't know if they really understand, or if they are just trying to be nice. Then you head out to the street and find someone who can only speak in local language.. depending on your location, it can be a huge problem. In Baoding, the local language is similar to putonghua, but not exact. Just means its is harder. Chinesepod can't help me improve my local dialogue unless they do a series on Baodingese ha ha. If you are like me, you have several Chinese learning textbooks sitting on the shelf that haven't been used that much, and like three of them that you use all the time. I have several half filled notebooks, and used so much pencil lead.

Yeah, I get it. Learning Chinese is difficult. It isn't so much that any of it is super complex, but the sheer volume of content. 1000's of characters.... Pronounciation of words, which tone goes with which character, then you have those characters with more than one tone or meaning... Then you have those cases where an idea will be expressed in a way that is completely different than it would be in English... So frustrating at times. I get it, and I get it when motivation can drop. This is why I want to know how you are doing now.

The key for me is discipline, but I have to be using a methodology that I believe in otherwise I will not maintain the discipline. Others above have given some really good suggestions, such as, studying in such a way that it doesn't feel like a chore. For me, it doesn't normally feel like a chore. I enjoy studying Chinese. I particularly enjoy studying Characters and writing. Speaking is a challange for me, but it is also improving slowly over time.

yes, I know. I hope you will excuse me, as I am typing as I am thinking. I think sometimes, that is the best way. Sometimes, this way is the most sincere way to express myself, but not always. Anyhow, hope the motivation to study has returned... And as I said before... I get it. I know how it can feel sometimes.

Peace.

George from Amesbury Massachusetts

Since I discovered chineseteachers.com a year ago my spoken Chinese has improved a lot and I feel much more comfortable. When I have studied a CP lesson and feel like having a chat I just book a lesson. I can stop the lesson at any moment -. and I just pay for the time (minutes) it took.

Thanks! I haven't come to a plateau just yet, but when I come to it I will take your advice. I've already changed as many things as I can to Chinese, so I'm slowly getting there!

In terms of my spoken Chinese, I'll try to find a more natural way to practice it, see if I can just casually get myself into situations where I have to use it etc. If I can't get practice, I'll just wait until I get to China, I'm sure I'll improve quicker than I will here.

Yeah I feel very self conscious when I speak to native speakers, but if they can't speak English then I don't feel so bad. You just need to get used to people saying good things about your Chinese I suppose and just accept it as part of the culture. I'm not sure if I said it before but I feel as though there is added pressure if I get lots of compliments. Your last point is very true, the journey to fluency is the part you'll remember the most so it should be enjoyed.

re: Darkstar - I can agree with much of the discussion regards to learning here. I go through ups and downs. At times, I definitely hit the wall. I talk a lot to myself/review many of the CP lessons over and over, since I don't have many mandarin speaking friends, except for distant family in China or NY, and a few in town - including my teacher who is very generous with her time. I don't want to use others for practice, (sometimes it's inevitable). It's kinds of annoying I would think. At times I get very self conscious when I attempt to speak Chinese to native speakers, it's rather intimidating. Many people have said my mandarin is amazing for the length of time studied. I disagree as I tend to be rather shy about it. I'm resigned to the fact that I started this process fairly late in life, so I'll press onwards to achieve as much fluency as I can, not expecting miracles. Unlike most, I am an aural learner rather than visual, hence speaking and acquiring tonal accuracy is much easier than reading for me. Therefore I have to now put more emphasis on reading/writing in the next few years to balance out the conversational practice. To put things in perspective, language learning should be fun not a contest with yourself or with others. Best of luck to all!

言 and not 信? Very interesting for a tattoo... I guess I was expecting a 'faith, hope and love' cliche, but this one must be something else. Sorry about the diversion, y'alls

Thanks, I'll try to keep it up!

It does get better. The rewards do not necessarily come at first, they come later, and they keep coming! For example, last weekend, someone taught me something about Chinese tea in Chinese, and when I returned home, I did some research, and I found I understood them completely. Don't give up.

Thanks! I guess I need to remember that I have come a long way since the start. I know you aren't trying to be insensitive, it's exactly what I need, just to ignore the fact that I think I'm not getting better and just carry on as usual. Good analogy by the way, I have noticed that other people are usually better at telling you have improved than you noticing yourself.

Yeah I tend to do that, it's a great way to find out new language and stuff for me. However I am a bit reluctant to do voice chats but I should just ignore my doubts and do it.

If you have a QQ account, you can probably find some opportunity to do language exchange with people.

That's one thing that annoys me about language learning and even instrument learning, is that fact you “have your days" as in somedays you'll be confident and performing well and the next will be the complete opposite. I guess I just need to remember that and realise that it's not always going to be good.

I do agree finding a good friend to talk Chinese with is good, but I am always weary of "using" people for a particular purpose. I am sure I can find someone who I can help and they can help me anyway.

Thanks!

A holiday could be a good idea, however I am studying at the moment so I can't do anything anytime soon. I have a few opportunities to apply for scholarships to go to China, I guess that would help - thanks.

I used to get motivated by speaking to Chinese people I come across, but now I just get embarrassed haha. I guess I have just have high expectations of myself.

I once used a website that was exactly what you described. There were several levels and you were given a text with a quiz at the end. I've searched and searched through my bookmarks, but I can't find it! However, I'm almost positive I originally found the link to the website on chinese-forums.com. If you haven't already, I recommend you check out their reading and resources forums. There's so much good information there and I think you might be able to find what you're looking for.

看一下: http://www.amazon.cn/%E5%87%BA%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%A5%E5%90%8E/dp/B003ES4IJE

A series of small books aimed at language learners. There are different difficulty levels.

And at the end of every book there is a series of questions.

Intermediate by the fact that I don't have to look up every second word. I would like to find reading stuff that involves questions showing understand of the text etc so I'm not just reading it and forgetting everything I've learnt.

Thanks, I'll try out 贴吧 and see what I can find.

What do you mean by intermediate? If you're looking for reading materials that would suit ChinesePod intermediate learners, I'm not sure what's out there. I have heard people recommend Chinese Breeze readers. If you're just looking for easier native materials, I would recommend 韩寒 (anything besides 三重门 which seems a bit more difficult to me）。The first novel I read was his 1988. I thought it was pretty entertaining and not too difficult.

Harry Potter is okay too. There's a lot of new vocab in the series, but the good thing is that they are used over and over and since it's translated, you can often guess what they are trying to say, especially if you are familiar with the material. I find translated stuff much easier for that reason. Because I'm familiar with English phrasing, it's easier to guess the meaning of unknown words. There's also less 成语. Again, they seem to repeat the same vocab over and over.

One more thing I would recommend is baidu's 贴吧. Try searching for anything you're interested in. They have a forum for almost anything. While you're not going to find the highest quality of writing on there, it's much easier to understand than something you'd read in a newspaper or novel. You'll also learn a lot of recent slang and "internet slang."

Again, I think the most important thing is that you stay interested and keep doing something. Good luck!

Yeah I did watch some 非诚勿扰, it is quite entertaining, maybe I should get back into that, find a way to make studying less like a chore. You know of any good intermediate level reading material?

Humiliation is a good way to remember your mistakes actually haha... It's more impacting on you as a person and then you take it in and know for next time, that's of course if you don't learn from your mistakes.

You're welcome. I really feel that if you think you are getting worse you are probably getting better. I notice that my pronunciation always gets bad when I am about to improve because I have learned a lot of vocabularly but I haven't been able to assimilate the rhythm properly and my tones go all wonky. It sorts out in the end. But yes, it results in quite a bit of humiliation until I get it all sorted in my head.

It funny you mention the whole fact that when you feel like you are getting worse you are actually improving. I have had people say I'm getting better, but because I'm so critical of myself maybe I blind myself with expectations so much that I can't actually see I've improved.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I guess at the moment because I'm not in China it's hard to make it relevant to my day-to-day life. Previously I had motivation because I would be preparing myself before a trip before China just by learning all the day to day things but now I need something else, hopefully I had find something.

Thanks!

You hit the nail on the head. I remember the time I used to hit the gym regularly. No matter how hard I tried, I didn't seem to be making much progress, because everybody else was just so much bigger! But of course, once I stopped going, I realised that the progress I had made was real. It just "little" in comparison to the others, who had been gymming for longer.

To darkstar, don't get discouraged, because language progress is very incremental, and it will take years to accumulate. Patience is key. If you are like me, you could lose interest for a while, but if learning Chinese is truly in your blood, you will come back to it. I've been learning for perhaps 20 years, in an on-off way, and the "off" periods can sometimes last 2-3 years. But I've always come back to the task, and right now I'm more motivated than ever.

The source of that motivation is work, where I have to interact with Chinese CEOs, CFOs, and Chairmans of companies in China. In other words, once you make Chinese truly relevant to your day-to-day life, motivation will jump 10x.

Good list of suggestions, I think a change in routine would be the best for me in this situation - thanks.

Hey Jenny,

I think you have a valid point, I guess I need an overall goal for trying to improve, before I had one but I think I already achieved it. I have considered working in China, but that would still be a few years away anyway.

On a slightly different topic, do you know of any reading material that would suit a Intermediate to Upper-intermediate level?

Thank you!

太好了!

我刚刚关注你了，你也关注我吧

I'm on Weibo, and only post in (very bad) Chinese. My account name is 孔海伦, feel free to add me.

Here's one person I like to follow on Twitter although he Tweets in traditional, not simplified.

http://twitter.com/#!/isaac

Learned much vocabulary from reading his Tweets.

Another good suggestion, I do have a renren account but the only things I see is just what my friends post which is a different thing I guess. I have considered signing up to Weibo, could help.

Thanks!

Hi zhenlijiang,

I like the idea about following people tweeting in Mandarin. Do you have any suggestions about who to follow? I don't know how twitter works but think I might take up your idea.

Yeah I totally agree with you in terms of that picking random lessons can be more informative than one might have previously thought, but when I do that I find that sometimes the vocabulary is harder to remember because it's kind of unrelated to other lessons I am studying.

In terms of reading stuff, I think I'll give that a shot. I don't usually read cause I assume it's too complicated for me and I'll have to search up too many words and forget them straight away, but I'll try it anyway and see how I go.

Thanks for the advice!