Pretty much what the title says, but I’m curious to see if other people had the same experience / any “scientific (or bro science)” reason for this occurring.
Essentially, last year I passed the N2. Up until around two months ago, I was studying rigorously for the N1. I was averaging 3-6 hours a day, consistently for 5 months (ish).
Work has become a lot busier, and I’ve started studying for some IT certs (CISSP, CySA etc) so I’ve put Japanese on the back burner.
A few days ago, I arrived in Japan after I took two weeks of leave, and found myself more conversationally consistent / proficient than I was when I was actually studying.
My reading is more smooth, my speaking is more smooth (as in, I don’t translate in my head, it’s a direct translation) etc.
Is there a reason for this? Anyone else have a similar experience where an extended “break” helped you out?
I’m wondering if it’s similar to the gym, where if you run a 6 day split for 6 months, taking a week or two off can be extremely beneficial.
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More than likely you are in a more relaxed frame of mind and judging yourself with a lower bar.
This group can be pretty anti-breaks and obsessed with speed running, but personally I think breaks can be extremely beneficial. It can be really helpful to come back to the same problem with fresh eyes and renewed motivation
Not sure we can get more subjective and anecdotal than this post.
A big thing imo is that a lot of people have a handicap put on them by their anxiety, even though they actually are decently knowledgeable. Anecdotally myself, I can come up with a sentence but really can’t do it if someone puts me on the spot. It is a thing where I have to be comfortable.
What you’ve done here is that the break has dropped your preconceived notions, allowed you to relax, and has revealed what you truly can do.
Your subconscious is really good at working on problems while you’re sleeping, this is why you can sleep on an issue you couldn’t work out while you were awake, but you sleep on it and you have the answer you didn’t even know you were trying to figure out. Though taking a break doesn’t = learning, your brain does this regardless, you just become aware of it because it’s very noticeable after taking a break, but while you’re actively learning you just take it for granted and attribute it to your active efforts
I feel like this post is kind of conflating a few things which makes it difficult to answer definitively. I think one can definitely find that it can sometimes be beneficial to step back from intense studying and drilling and whatever and take a little bit of time to let things sink in.
But that I wouldn’t call that a “long break” — especially if you’re in Japan and being surrounded by Japanese every day. When you say that your reading/speaking is more smooth, I would attribute that to more to you being in Japan, not taking a “break” from studying. Likewise with when you say you’re not “translating in your head”. There’s nothing about studying regularly vs. not doing so that makes you more or less likely to “translate in your head”. That seems like another issue entirely.
So again, I feel like there are multiple ways to answer this question depending on what sort of “break” you’re taking.
Can it be helpful to put Anki/your textbooks/drills/whatever aside for a bit and just use your Japanese — especially if you’re in Japan? Well, sure.
Will “taking a long break” lead to higher proficiency if it just means putting Japanese aside and out of your mind entirely entirely for multiple weeks or months? Of course not.
>I was averaging 3-6 hours a day, consistently for 5 months (ish).
i expect you were long past the point of diminishing returns, and engaged in cramming behavior. (this is based on decades of experience with other subjects, not specifically japanese language learning, where i’ll claim no particular competence.)
i’d bet a cookie you would’ve seen better results if you’d take a more moderate pace. something like “never more than 4 hours a day, taking at day off here and there”
but also what Bowl-Accomplished said. now you’re relaxed and not engaged in the sort of freaking out that causes somebody to spend 6 hours a day studying the same thing.
I purposefully take breaks (1 month off, 3 months on) I always feel like I come back overall stronger
After semester breaks in language school, I felt refreshed, somewhat more agile and relaxed, but also a bit rusty. It seemed to take a week or two to get back to speed. I asked my friends and they said they felt the same way.
In class performance and speaking seemed a bit weak those returning weeks but that is just my sense and not backed by any serious analysis.
My guess is the brain works similarly to muscle training and that letting it rest after a workout is what allows for muscle buildup. My guess is we just don’t know the right studying intervals for max performance yet. So most people either study so much the brain burns out and you are forced to rest it, or they pace themselves enough to not reach that burn out.
It makes sense. Things require time to be properly remembered.
When you try too hard and start learning a lot, there are always some things that can not be remembered so easily for random reassons. You can think of those anki cards that we forget even if they are easy (on paper).
If you study non-stop, those small bits accumulate and eventually you reach a point where your brain is like a guy juggling with more balls than he can actually handle.