By now most people know the best way to study Chinese (or any language) is to study everyday. Cramming for languages may help you pass tests, but it doesn’t lead to long-term understanding and ability. Mastering Chinese takes constant exposure–studying Chinese for a few minutes is just one way to do it. But getting oneself to study everyday, even for a few minutes, is a lot harder than it sounds. I’ve come up with a simple way to make it more manageable.
Most people try and tell themselves:
I will study Chinese today.
It’s better to say:
I will study Chinese for 5 minutes today.
An even more effective way to get you studying would be to say:
I will study Chinese flashcards for 5 minutes today.
But the best way I’ve found is to say:
I will study Chinese flashcards for 5 minutes today while waiting in line for coffee.
In the last example, I’ve decided on the location, the duration, and the activity, it’s very specific. The more specific you get, the easier it is to fit into your daily schedule. Some keys to remember: Short tasks are effective, and variety is the spice of life. It doesn’t matter how short a task is. Small wins combined lead to great accomplishments. And mixing up your study patterns will keep you fresh and inspired.
I totally agree with you that it’s better to make specific goals. But this is also a problem of mine because my motivation comes and goes really easily, and sometimes I don’t have enough self-dicipline to make my self study. I do use Chinese everyday because I’m living in China and talk with my bf. But I should make more effort in order to also study everyday.
Today I will continue reading a story in Graded Chinese Reader.
@Sara:
It’s true, motivation does come and go. That’s why it’s important to make studying Chinese as easy as possible. And it’s definitely hard to make progress if you aren’t studying new things. A little bit goes a long way.
This is good advice. I’ve seen this same method applied elsewhere, the most common is probably not to say “I will get fit”, but rather “I will walk for 30 minutes a day”, for instance.
I like the addition of adding the location, if you have a set routine that leaves you in the same place everyday for a certain amount of time such as commuting on a train or bus then this is perfect.
For painful study like flashcards this is a good method. I like finding ways of automating my study. For example the TV box set I’m watching is in Chinese, with a choice of Chinese or no subtitles, and My iPad is set to Chinese. I can’t get a day off!
@Graham: Thanks for commenting! My favorite way of automating study is similar to yours. I created post-its of everyday items and stuck them on the objects they represented. I don’t know of a better way to learn all those everyday objects.
@David: When it comes to motivation, the methods are the same. Once you’ve created a routine, it becomes something you’ll do even when you aren’t feeling extremely motivated. Does this post qualify as a ChineseHack??
haha, certainly does class as a Chinese Hack
Motivation is something that’s hard to maintain, so integrating the learning process into your routine is a great idea.
[...] to say that some structure isn’t necessary to maintain motivation, as Steve from Lingomi discusses, but rather that you shouldn’t impose these rules and restrictions all the time, when they [...]