Take These Breaks to Become a Better Language Learner
And how to start learning again
Taking a break can be the best thing you do for your language.
Yes, even more than studying it for hours on end. School made us think we needed to study every night completing exercises. Work made us think we should think about it both as we work and as we rest at home. The reality is much more complicated.
Without proper rest, nothing you study can ever truly stick in your memory. And that rest can take many forms.
Take a false break
This is my favorite way of taking a break by far.
“False” breaks aren’t real pauses in your studies. They are nothing more than stepping away from active study to dive more into some passive activities.
Instead of stressing out because you haven’t done the exercise you set out to do, you relax while watching a show in the language or listening to a podcast. Instead of practicing reading, you chat in your native language with a friend asking them to reply in your target language. Instead of sitting down at a desk, you lay on the couch reading a book without a dictionary.
If you’re a beginner, these activities may seem impossible for you. They’re not. The goal isn’t to learn more. It’s to immerse yourself in the language.
When you immerse yourself in the language without any worry for your next Spaced-Repetition flashcard or exercise, you learn to stop seeing the language as “foreign.” You stop thinking in terms of “grammatically correct” or “accurate vocabulary,” you think in terms of “seeming to make sense.”
False breaks help your brain become more accustomed to the language without any effort. Passive exposure is the most energy-efficient way to learn a language.
Learn to live with the language. Not “live to learn the language.”
Take a real break
I’ve been giving my newsletter subscribers small bi-weekly challenges since the beginner of the year. Each time I tell my experience with the challenge as I do it along with everybody. I love it.
It also means I haven’t given myself any real break since the beginning of the year. I’ve pushed myself again and again so that even if I miss a few days, I don’t fall off the wagon. This has gone against what I’ve done to become a polyglot. Taking actual, real, breaks.
I’ve been learning languages for over a decade but have taken loads of complete breaks from language learning. As long as you come back to the language, there’s nothing wrong with that.
All you need is to come back to it one day.
That’s why a few weeks ago I took a complete break from my languages. Even when I played Genshin Impact in Korean, I didn’t look up any word. I actively skipped reading as much as possible.
To become fluent in a language — whatever that means for you — you need to take real breaks.
Strangely enough, real breaks remind you how much you love the language. After a while, you begin missing the excitement of discovering new words, new grammar patterns, new cultural aspects.
Taking a break isn’t procrastinating on a goal. It’s healthy.
False breaks are like using your phone while you’re charging it. It works but it slows down the charge. Sometimes you need real breaks to get back on track faster with more energy.
How to get back to it
The scariest thing about real breaks is how to get back to learning.
Taking a real break makes you feel as if you’d never be able to build your routine back up. It feels as if you’ll forget everything. You won’t.
These breaks help you notice which tasks you’ll miss most. They help you discern what tools you prefer. And, most importantly, they help you recharge and gain even more energy than before.
There are a few ways to get back into learning but here are a few of my favorites for when you’ll be ready to start again:
- Sneak in 5-minute study sessions every two days for a few weeks
- Switch back to using the language with your language-exchange partner, look up words you want to say, and write them down
- Switch from extensive reading to intensive reading once every few days
- Start catching up on your SRS flashcard deck by dividing the reviews into multiple days
- Learn one grammar pattern and create a short sentence where you use it. Get some feedback on a platform like Journaly
- Begin a new video game in the language and look up what seem to be important words (or start a game you’ve played before but play it in the target language)
- Write by hand sentences from your favorite TV show as you watch it
Be careful not to dive straight back into your previous habits. These are the ones that made you take a break in the first place. They aren’t fit for you anymore. You’ll need to find a new system that works for you.
Never, ever, dive back into learning with a long study session. If you set yourself for a 5-hour study session next Saturday, all you’ll do will be to put pressure on yourself and ruin your return to learning.
Would you start running again with a marathon if you stopped running for a year? Yeah, that’s what I guessed.
Final thoughts
Taking a break is looked down upon in today’s world. People want to say they’re always doing something. They fear not doing so would mean they’re lazy. It’s not.
Not taking breaks is crazy.
“Productivity means accomplishing what we intend to. […] If we intend to have a relaxing day and manage to do absolutely nothing, we’re again perfectly productive.” — Chris Bailey, Hyperfocus
Take a break. Breeze and live a little. Give some space to your language and some room for your mind to recharge its batteries.
Getting back on the wagon may seem hard but it’s only if you put high expectations for yourself.
You’re learning a language. Most people never last a month. Don’t give yourself the goal of “becoming fluent by” a certain date. Give yourself the goal of never giving up.
Only then will you be able to use breaks to their fullest potential.
I enjoyed my week of relaxation and I don’t feel a bit of shame in it. I know it was the best choice I could have made for me and my health.
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