🛑 Maintenance Mode in Language Learning

Insights into my progress in Mandarin

Progress isn’t linear.

Sometimes there are setbacks and other times there are pauses.

It can feel that the only way to make progress when learning a language is to learn as much as you can without any breaks.

Those of us that are focused on learning consistently rarely allow ourselves to solidify what we know. Seeing our vocabulary decks grow can make us feel like we are increasing our knowledge. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean we have a full understanding of what we have learned.

Every time I have stopped actively studying a language and I have found that when I come back to it, I’m able to recognize my abilities.

The fear of not actively studying our TLs can make us feel that we’ll forget everything we’ve been learning. Nevertheless, if you keep in contact with a language through immersion, you can on experiencing and acquiring the language.

Consistency

Occasionally I reflect on my language progress in a digital journal on Google Docs. I’ll be sharing some of what I’ve written in my language journal over the years¹. These are direct quotes, forgive me for any grammar mistakes.

I was three years into learning Mandarin in September 2021 when I wrote this:

It’s been a while. Summer has ended and I’m back in school. Grad school that is. I was consistent for a while but my consistency slowed down once the semester started. However, for the past 2 weeks or so I’ve been reading one of the books I bought a few months ago. It’s been going well now that I understand what is going on through Pleco’s document reader. I’ve been saving new words to a deck and reviewing them. Every time I review and learn new words it’s usually around 50-100 cards because I haven’t been using any limits. While I’m not getting every card right, I’m still happy with my progress. I’m focused on getting more exposure to these words and whatever sticks, sticks.

At this point I wasn’t focused on learning but on increasing my exposure to new words I read with the help of Pleco. The increased exposure helped me notice new words when I immersed. I find that being aware of what you may encounter increases the process of acquisition.

A few weeks later in October, 2.5 months after having my first in-person speaking experience in Mandarin, I reflected on my speaking progress:

So I haven’t really been focused on practising speaking. This isn’t anything new but for some reason, I’ve been recording myself speaking these past few days. What I’ve noticed is that it seems I’m more comfortable speaking? I can tell that I am using sentences I’ve never said before or that I am more comfortable filling in the ‘gap’ or ‘space’ I create when I have to pause. In the past, I would fear not having the words to say something and wouldn’t know how to make my speaking flow. Now, I can use Mandarin in that space. I feel like there’s less stress. It’s just weird because there’s been such a gap between speaking so one would expect that I’d be ‘rusty’. I’ll take it.

In January of this year, I wrote this:

I was so busy with grad school in 2022 that I barely studied and didn’t have time to write about my language progress. Even though I didn’t do much, I took my first 2 italki lessons and surprisingly was able to understand my teacher. My speaking was okay but needs more practice since I rarely speak.

It was nice that even without consistent practice in 2022, I had maintained my levels/skills. In late 2022 (Nov-Dec), I became more consistent with my studies. It’s now Jan and I have a more specific plan for my studies for this year.

What Maintenance Mode Looks Like For Me

Currently, my Mandarin has been in maintenance mode since focusing on French.

For me as an input, deciphering focused learner, I get a lot of enjoyment from challenging myself. Maintenance Mode, for me at least, involves using what I know to read, watch or listen to media. It does not involve looking up every other word or creating new vocab decks to study (which is what I usually do). If you typically learn with textbooks, you’d put them aside when in maintenance mode or review past chapters.

One of my first times experiencing maintenance mode was 2.5 years into learning Mandarin.

I believe this is the first time in the 2.5 years I have been learning Mandarin that I haven’t been ‘actively’ learning the language. It started with the 30 days I spent recording myself speaking Mandarin. After that I started playing video games in Mandarin completely (text & audio) or just audio. So all of this has been passive learning. I haven’t done much with The Little Prince (I’m still on chapter 5 and decided that there’s no real rush)². […] I have read about 2 graphic novels in Mandarin plus two picture books. I probably looked up no more than 20 words while reading those graphic novels. Because of this, it really feels like I haven’t been learning at all. I’ve just been using the knowledge I have to speak, read and listen.

It’s strange to explain because I don’t understand everything yet I feel comfortable. I don’t feel like I have to force myself to do anything. I only feel that way when I tell myself to watch a video or TV show because I need to get ‘practice’ minutes in.

My next entry was 2 months later (Sep 2020):

For the past few months I have been watching dramas/tv shows less and less in Mandarin. I’m not sure what changed but I think it may have to do with the fact that I am understanding more of what I hear. And thus, it is becoming more similar to watching TV in English […] I don’t watch TV in English so I no longer enjoy watching dramas in Mandarin.

Current Maintenance Mode

There are many dramas I enjoy and even recommend but watching them is something I need to make myself do. Over the past few days, I watched 4-6 episodes of a drama. After every episode, I wanted to stop and do something else. Not because I wasn’t enjoying it but because watching feels like I waste of time³. I don’t have the same feelings when I read a book. I prefer to take a break in reading before I start a new chapter but I also have no problem stopping in the middle of a chapter. With dramas (and other visual media), I feel the need to sit through a whole episode.

So what does maintenance mode look like for me?

• Figuring out a way to make watching dramas work for me⁴

• Reading extensively

• Playing video games

• Listening to podcasts

What’s your experience keeping a language in maintenance mode?

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Are you learning Mandarin? You may be interested in other Mandarin related posts.

1. All quotes from my language journal are direct quotes. Forgive me for any grammar mistakes.

2. I was intensively reading The Little Prince at this point.

3. A topic for another post.

4. I’m thinking of watching 1 drama episode a day for a month. Most dramas are around 30 episodes so I’d be able to finish a drama in that time.