It’s 4:59 AM and your alarm is set to go off in 1 minute. Your brain automatically wakes you from an all-too-short night’s rest in dreadful anticipation. You now have a choice: you can reset your alarm and take that extra half hour to sleep, or you can drag yourself to your study nook and do your language study. This battle plays out on my mattress every single morning. Most of the time I win, and admittedly, every once in a while, I lose. The question I ask myself each morning is the same: how much do you want it? I want it enough to get up 30 minutes earlier than I have to so I can study. I want it enough to lose some sleep, even when I desperately need more. It’s a battle of wills–mind over mattress!
One of the questions people often ask me is how much time do you have to study to become proficient in Mandarin. I am not going to lie, learning a new language takes commitment, dedication, and consistency. It’s very similar to exercise, you have to set aside significant time each day to do it. If you are hoping to make meaningful progress, you should be studying a minimum of 30 minutes each day in your target language, and ideally a full hour. Don’t be duped by programs that claim you can learn a language in 5 minutes a day. You won’t get any further studying language 5 minutes a day than you will exercising for as much time. It’s the law of the harvest: you reap what you sow.
But unlike your exercise routine, your daily language study doesn’t need to happen all in one setting, and you hopefully will not need to shower afterward. My study routine includes 30 minutes of extensive reading in the morning, 10 minutes of vocabulary and grammar drills during my lunch break, and 20 minutes of reading and/or drills in the evening before bed. I also listen to language learning podcasts on my way to and from work and while doing chores at home. All told I can usually cram in a solid hour of focused study, and half hour of passive listening. To be clear, sustained, focused study is absolutely essential to effective language learning. Those commercials for apps where you see people practicing a language while jogging–pure propaganda. You won’t learn any more language while jogging than you will calculus; you need sustained focused study time.
So please send me a comment answering this question: What does your study routine look like? What are you willing to sacrifice in order to have time to study? How do you win the battle of mind over mattress?
Prolingual 