I can totally relate to this! It's so nice when we reach a level where we don't need to be disciplined or actively study (e.g. sitting at a desk doing a language activity with high concentration) to incorporate language into our lives. When it becomes effortless and natural!
It's been a year since I stopped actively studying Korean (aka doing activities in a very intentional way), yet I spend more time with the language than ever before, especially reading and listening to podcasts. While I learn a lot through this, and sometimes need to concentrate depending on the difficulty, it still feels more like enjoying a book or podcast in Korean than actively studying the language, right? And I must say, it's so comfortable! Not to mention English or German — I work and live in Germany — I never considered my daily encounters with these languages to be language learning. They're just... here.
However, about a month ago, I started being more intentional about Korean again (starting learning Japanese 5 months ago motivated me to do so) and I must say it has been quite refreshing. Not everything has become intentional; I still have many daily activities, such as reading, that I just "do like that" in Korean. But, it has been really nice to re-introduce targeted study activities, such as listening to an advanced podcast and transcribing 10 minutes of it (I find this very useful for fine-tuning my ear, compared to just listening to a podcast and focusing only on comprehension).
Like you, I was glad to see that Jo and Tanya are starting this new challenge tomorrow. Knowing that other learners will also be spending time learning languages more intentionally for a week is an additional motivation. It's a perfect way for me to intensify what I started to do again with Korean last month.
I would love to hear some updates from you on either Jo's or Tanya's comments section, or here on Substack Notes. Good luck! :)
It's really motivating to know that other people are doing this challenge too! It's been a few days now and I know I won't be hitting the 40 hours, but the challenge alone has got me doing more things in my target languages. I may have to use the weekend to get most of my hours in, but that's okay!
How is the challenge going for you so far? I'd love to know how you're studying Japanese if you still are!
I was really looking forward to it, but felt very tired on Sunday evening just before it started. I suppose it's probably due to the countless business trips I've had over the last three weeks. When I finally relaxed on Sunday, the fatigue hit me all at once. Since health and sleep always take priority, I decided not to do the challenge, but to focus on sleeping and resting after work instead. It's been the right decision, and I'm slowly starting to feel better.
As for Japanese: yes I'm still studying it and enjoying it very much! I was starting to write more about in that comment and then realised it would be too long, so I decided to make it on of the topic for one of my next post on substack to be able to answer a bit more in details.
The first day went well then for the rest of the weekdays, my only immersion was from work. Luckily, I get to speak and teach French in a school but it wasn't the studying I thought I would do haha. I just had no time to language learn after work.
Health and sleep have been taking priority for me too so I'm glad you were able to give yourself that! Looking forward to your next post!
Such a reminder of the difference between maintaining. When we are time poor, just using and maintaining the other language(s) can feel like study but it’s really not, eh?
I can totally relate to this! It's so nice when we reach a level where we don't need to be disciplined or actively study (e.g. sitting at a desk doing a language activity with high concentration) to incorporate language into our lives. When it becomes effortless and natural!
It's been a year since I stopped actively studying Korean (aka doing activities in a very intentional way), yet I spend more time with the language than ever before, especially reading and listening to podcasts. While I learn a lot through this, and sometimes need to concentrate depending on the difficulty, it still feels more like enjoying a book or podcast in Korean than actively studying the language, right? And I must say, it's so comfortable! Not to mention English or German — I work and live in Germany — I never considered my daily encounters with these languages to be language learning. They're just... here.
However, about a month ago, I started being more intentional about Korean again (starting learning Japanese 5 months ago motivated me to do so) and I must say it has been quite refreshing. Not everything has become intentional; I still have many daily activities, such as reading, that I just "do like that" in Korean. But, it has been really nice to re-introduce targeted study activities, such as listening to an advanced podcast and transcribing 10 minutes of it (I find this very useful for fine-tuning my ear, compared to just listening to a podcast and focusing only on comprehension).
Like you, I was glad to see that Jo and Tanya are starting this new challenge tomorrow. Knowing that other learners will also be spending time learning languages more intentionally for a week is an additional motivation. It's a perfect way for me to intensify what I started to do again with Korean last month.
I would love to hear some updates from you on either Jo's or Tanya's comments section, or here on Substack Notes. Good luck! :)
It's really motivating to know that other people are doing this challenge too! It's been a few days now and I know I won't be hitting the 40 hours, but the challenge alone has got me doing more things in my target languages. I may have to use the weekend to get most of my hours in, but that's okay!
How is the challenge going for you so far? I'd love to know how you're studying Japanese if you still are!
I hope the challenge is going well for you!
I was really looking forward to it, but felt very tired on Sunday evening just before it started. I suppose it's probably due to the countless business trips I've had over the last three weeks. When I finally relaxed on Sunday, the fatigue hit me all at once. Since health and sleep always take priority, I decided not to do the challenge, but to focus on sleeping and resting after work instead. It's been the right decision, and I'm slowly starting to feel better.
As for Japanese: yes I'm still studying it and enjoying it very much! I was starting to write more about in that comment and then realised it would be too long, so I decided to make it on of the topic for one of my next post on substack to be able to answer a bit more in details.
The first day went well then for the rest of the weekdays, my only immersion was from work. Luckily, I get to speak and teach French in a school but it wasn't the studying I thought I would do haha. I just had no time to language learn after work.
Health and sleep have been taking priority for me too so I'm glad you were able to give yourself that! Looking forward to your next post!
I did not know there is a film about The Three-Body Problem. I read the book but I don't like Sci-Fi.
Did you like the book despite not enjoying Sci-Fi?
Nope:)
Such a reminder of the difference between maintaining. When we are time poor, just using and maintaining the other language(s) can feel like study but it’s really not, eh?
It's good to remind ourselves that we can't be "productive" all the time and progress can still happen in maintenance mode😊