How much is too much? How much is enough?

If you’re trying to learn a language, these are really good questions, and the answers (my answers, anyway) might surprise you.

They are not “my” answers, in the sense that I’m not the only one who says this, but I did, however, come up with them independently, as both an experienced language teacher and a semi-enthusiastic (on my best days) language learner.  That said, here’s my answer, and my habits: expose yourself to the new language every day as much as you can (or can stand, hahaha), but do mindful and meaningful practice just 15 – 25 minutes a day.  

By “mindful”, I mean you are paying attention to what you are doing.  Not just Google translating stuff, but really doing it, no bullshit.  What if you cheat?  Who cares?  It’s like cheating in a game of solitaire – you’re only cheating yourself.  If you don’t care, no one else will either, but you’re not going to make much progress.  

By “meaningful” I mean that it relates to what you’re doing in your class or lessons or whatever.  Also, read everything you read and write aloud (that doesn’t mean “loudly”).  Say the words aloud.  This is practice forming the words in your mouth, with your tongue and throat, etc.  You are helping to form or maintain good habits.  This is especially important if you are in a place where you don’t get much exposure to the target language (for example, my working on my Spanish in Tbilisi, Georgia).

Now, here are the caveats (you didn’t think it would be THAT easy, did you?). For one thing, it has to be 15 – 25 minutes a day, EVERY day.  No holidays, no vacations, no days off for good behavior.  

I feel a need to add here that, if you miss (skip) a day, then the next day 30 – 50 minutes is good right?  No.  Not right.  After 15 – 20 minutes your brain gets tired.  If you miss a day, you’ve MISSED A DAY.  That’s not a big deal occasionally, but there it is.  There’s no getting it back.  The universe simply doesn’t work like that.  It’s sort of like, “If I sleep for 16 hours today, then I don’t have to sleep at all tomorrow, right?”  No.  And if you’re that stupid, well, learning a language is nowhere near the top of the list of your problems.  And in addition, no practice all week and then several hours at the weekend is likewise useless.  It’s a waste of time and effort.  And money, if you are paying for lessons.  

So, yeah, on the one hand, EVERY day??  Every DAY??? Damn, man!  

But on the other hand, it’s just 15 minutes. Just 15 minutes, man, so just suck it up.  It’s every day, sure, but the effort isn’t really that great.  

Do what you want.  I’m not your dad.  At best, I’m your tutor, and I don’t care about your self-improvement any more than you do, so no need to apologize to me if you can’t find the time or can’t be asked to do the work.  I’m just saying, this will get you to where you want to be, and faster than you think it will.  That’s all.

Thanks for reading.