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Steve's Youtube Videos - General Language Learning, Language Learning Burnout

Language Learning Burnout

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here again.

It's a bit of an overcast, rainy Saturday afternoon here in Vancouver. My wife is practicing the piano, as usual, in the background. Today I want to talk about a subject that comes up every now and again, the subject of burnout. You know, what do you do when you're burned out; you don't want to study anymore?

It came up, actually, on a forum at LingQ.

Someone had said how long does it take to learn a language? In this case, it was how long does it take to learn Chinese? Someone was talking in terms of years and someone else said well, it depends how many hours you put in a day. Then I said, in my experience when I learned Chinese I was putting in seven-eight hours a day. But someone said well, if you put in too many hours you get burned out.

So I thought about this and I've never experienced burnout.

When I was studying Chinese I was doing it seven-eight hours, but it was my job. I was paid to learn Chinese. I was employed by the Canadian government. I was a government language student. They paid my salary. I was expected to study the language. Of course I'm going to put in eight hours a day. Languages that I've learned since then I've been learning, essentially, on my own on my own time, so I'm happy to get in an hour or so a day, but I don't get burned out.

I guess when I was studying Chinese for the government I had a certain period of time in which I wanted to achieve this British Foreign Service Exam, but in the other languages that I've been studying I'm not under any pressure.

I do as much as I want. If I had more time, I think I could put in three, four, five hours a day in Czech, for example, because, and I think this is the key, I'm not studying the language so much as I'm gaining this experience and interacting with the language and doing interesting things in the language in the knowledge that, as a result, my skills in the language will improve.

I think if I had to spend my time trying to study and restudy, learn and relearn, memorize grammar rules or tables, answer questions or do any of this study-type work, I wouldn't be able to put much time into it, I would just stop doing it.

So, in that sense, perhaps I would be burned out.

When I look at my Czech now, for example, I happened to go over to Vancouver Island and in Victoria there's a store, an online store and it's called CzechBooks.com, I think it is.

It's a wonderful place to buy all kinds of stuff. I've bought things via the Internet, but I thought I'm in Victoria; I may as well go and see what's there because there's nothing like actually looking at books. So I bought a bunch of CDs, DVDs and books and this book here , a short history of Czechoslovakia from 1867 to 1939.

Now, as I'm starting into it there are words I don't know, but it's very, very interesting.

Here you have the Austro-Hungarian Empire. You have the German-speaking group who, basically, if you want the colonial power much like England was in Ireland sort of thing, had expanded eastward and dominated the Austrian Empire and, eventually, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. So they had the privileges, the German language was given a preeminence and so forth and so on and, gradually, the Czechs through the 19th century start to achieve some recognition of themselves as an independent state.

Then you have the First Word War and now the shoe is on the other foot.

The Czechs want to set up their own state, what rights are the German-speaking minority, the ones who have been lording it over the Czechs, denying them their language rights and trying to impose German sort of as part of the whole German-speaking Austria. So you have this whole issue of how that evolves and, of course, these are things I didn't really focus on. It's true that the German-speaking minority in Czechoslovakia got the short end of the stick and that might have contributed to events leading up to the Second World War. Then again, they had, basically, tried to suppress the Czechs more or less for quite a long time. So it's very interesting.

I'm also listening to other things that are of interest.

I'm listening to daily news discussions in Czech, so I'm kind of familiar with issues like corruption and so forth that are hot in the Czech Republic. So that's all interesting and everything I'm reading. I'm following the international news; I'm following the economic crisis in Europe via the Czech media. So it's interesting.

When I get tired of doing that, I did find a very good book again over there called .

It's simpler material where I can get more of the sort of everyday language, which I heard, but I need to listen to it more and more in order to be able to use it. It has the odd grammar explanation which I don't mind looking at, especially as I've become more and more curious about certain things. So as long as you vary it and do things that are interesting, I don't see how you can get burned out.

When I was studying Chinese, I mean there's so much there.

History, literature, modern history, ancient history, how do you get burned out? I think the key thing is that you have a goal beyond just learning the language. If your goal is just to learn the language, just to nail down these declension tables or whatever it might be, yeah, I can see where you'd get burned out because after a whole those things won't penetrate, whereas if you allow yourself to just learn things and learn about things by interacting with the language and reading and listening.

If you have an opportunity, like I also bought some DVD movies, but I can't understand them yet without the subtitles.

I can understand some of the dialogue, but basically can't understand the dialogue so I've put them aside. That's a bit of a goal now. Maybe two months from now I'll be able to understand more of the movies. So if you keep it varied like that. As I say, with Chinese there were so many different things I could do with the language I didn't get burned out, but I guess at the core of it all you have to be interested and so you have to do things that are interesting in order to maintain your interest.

To me, burnout is not a problem.

If you want to spend less time at it, you spend less time. I'm not under any obligation to do anything with Czech; I'm doing it out of interest. I guess if someone is at university and they have to pass some exams and they're sitting there trying to jam or ram certain declension tables or rules into their head, yeah, they can get burned out. I still think those people would be better off if they spent their time doing interesting things with the language and, eventually, these things they're trying to ram into their brain will fall into place.

So there you have it.

Burnout for me is not an issue, as long as you're doing things that are interesting. When you are less interested or not interested you stop doing them, no burnout.


Language Learning Burnout

Hi there, Steve Kaufmann here again.

It's a bit of an overcast, rainy Saturday afternoon here in Vancouver. کمی بعد از ظهر شنبه بارانی و هوای بارانی اینجا در ونکوور است. My wife is practicing the piano, as usual, in the background. Today I want to talk about a subject that comes up every now and again, the subject of burnout. Oggi voglio parlare di un argomento che ogni tanto esce fuori, il tema del burnout. You know, what do you do when you're burned out; you don't want to study anymore? Sai, cosa fai quando sei esausto; non vuoi più studiare?

It came up, actually, on a forum at LingQ. È venuto fuori, in realtà, su un forum su LingQ.

Someone had said how long does it take to learn a language? Qualcuno aveva detto quanto tempo ci vuole per imparare una lingua? In this case, it was how long does it take to learn Chinese? In questo caso, quanto tempo ci vuole per imparare il cinese? Someone was talking in terms of years and someone else said well, it depends how many hours you put in a day. Qualcuno parlava in termini di anni e qualcun altro diceva bene, dipende da quante ore ci dedichi al giorno. Then I said, in my experience when I learned Chinese I was putting in seven-eight hours a day. Poi ho detto che, nella mia esperienza, quando ho imparato il cinese, ci mettevo sette-otto ore al giorno. But someone said well, if you put in too many hours you get burned out. Ma qualcuno ha detto bene, se ci dedichi troppe ore ti esaurisci.

So I thought about this and I've never experienced burnout. Quindi ho pensato a questo e non ho mai sperimentato il burnout.

When I was studying Chinese I was doing it seven-eight hours, but it was my job. Quando studiavo cinese lo facevo sette-otto ore, ma era il mio lavoro. I was paid to learn Chinese. Sono stato pagato per imparare il cinese. I was employed by the Canadian government. Sono stato impiegato dal governo canadese. I was a government language student. Ero uno studente di lingue del governo. They paid my salary. Mi hanno pagato lo stipendio. I was expected to study the language. Dovevo studiare la lingua. Of course I'm going to put in eight hours a day. Ovviamente dedicherò otto ore al giorno. Languages that I've learned since then I've been learning, essentially, on my own on my own time, so I'm happy to get in an hour or so a day, but I don't get burned out. Le lingue che ho imparato da allora le sto imparando, essenzialmente, da solo nel mio tempo libero, quindi sono felice di arrivare tra un'ora o giù di lì al giorno, ma non mi esaurisco.

I guess when I was studying Chinese for the government I had a certain period of time in which I wanted to achieve this British Foreign Service Exam, but in the other languages that I've been studying I'm not under any pressure. Immagino che quando studiavo cinese per il governo ho avuto un certo periodo di tempo in cui volevo sostenere questo esame per il servizio estero britannico, ma nelle altre lingue che ho studiato non sono sotto pressione.

I do as much as I want. Faccio quanto voglio. If I had more time, I think I could put in three, four, five hours a day in Czech, for example, because, and I think this is the key, I'm not studying the language so much as I'm gaining this experience and interacting with the language and doing interesting things in the language in the knowledge that, as a result, my skills in the language will improve. Se avessi più tempo, penso che potrei dedicare tre, quattro, cinque ore al giorno in ceco, per esempio, perché, e penso che questa sia la chiave, non sto studiando la lingua tanto quanto sto guadagnando questa esperienza e interagire con la lingua e fare cose interessanti nella lingua sapendo che, di conseguenza, le mie abilità nella lingua miglioreranno. 如果我有更多的时间,我想我可以每天花3、4、5个小时用捷克语,因为,而且我认为这是关键,所以我对语言的学习并不多这种经验,与语言的互动以及在语言中做有趣的事情的结果是,我的语言技能将得到提高。

I think if I had to spend my time trying to study and restudy, learn and relearn, memorize grammar rules or tables, answer questions or do any of this study-type work, I wouldn't be able to put much time into it, I would just stop doing it. Penso che se dovessi passare il mio tempo cercando di studiare e ristudiare, imparare e riapprendere, memorizzare regole o tabelle grammaticali, rispondere a domande o fare uno di questi lavori tipo studio, non sarei in grado di dedicarci molto tempo, Vorrei semplicemente smettere di farlo.

So, in that sense, perhaps I would be burned out. Quindi, in questo senso, forse sarei esaurito.

When I look at my Czech now, for example, I happened to go over to Vancouver Island and in Victoria there's a store, an online store and it's called CzechBooks.com, I think it is. Quando guardo il mio ceco ora, per esempio, mi è capitato di andare sull'isola di Vancouver e a Victoria c'è un negozio, un negozio online e si chiama CzechBooks.com, penso di sì. 例如,当我现在看捷克语时,我碰巧去了温哥华岛,在维多利亚州,有一家商店,一家在线商店,它的名字叫CzechBooks.com。

It's a wonderful place to buy all kinds of stuff. È un posto meraviglioso per comprare ogni genere di roba. I've bought things via the Internet, but I thought I'm in Victoria; I may as well go and see what's there because there's nothing like actually looking at books. Ho comprato cose via Internet, ma pensavo di essere a Victoria; Potrei anche andare a vedere cosa c'è perché non c'è niente come guardare i libri. So I bought a bunch of CDs, DVDs and books and this book here __________, a short history of Czechoslovakia from 1867 to 1939. Così ho comprato un sacco di CD, DVD e libri e questo libro qui, una breve storia della Cecoslovacchia dal 1867 al 1939.

Now, as I'm starting into it there are words I don't know, but it's very, very interesting. Ora, all'inizio, ci sono parole che non conosco, ma è molto, molto interessante.

Here you have the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ecco l'impero austro-ungarico. You have the German-speaking group who, basically, if you want the colonial power much like England was in Ireland sort of thing, had expanded eastward and dominated the Austrian Empire and, eventually, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Hai il gruppo di lingua tedesca che, fondamentalmente, se vuoi che il potere coloniale proprio come l'Inghilterra era in Irlanda, si era espanso verso est e dominava l'Impero austriaco e, infine, l'Impero austro-ungarico. So they had the privileges, the German language was given a preeminence and so forth and so on and, gradually, the Czechs through the 19th century start to achieve some recognition of themselves as an independent state. Quindi avevano i privilegi, la lingua tedesca riceveva una preminenza e così via e così via e, gradualmente, i cechi nel corso del 19° secolo iniziarono a ottenere un certo riconoscimento di se stessi come stato indipendente.

Then you have the First Word War and now the shoe is on the other foot. Dann hast du den Ersten Wortkrieg und jetzt ist der Schuh auf dem anderen Fuß. Poi c'è la Prima Guerra Mondiale e ora la scarpa è sull'altro piede. 然后,您将遇到“第一次世界大战”,而现在这只鞋在另一只脚上。

The Czechs want to set up their own state, what rights are the German-speaking minority, the ones who have been lording it over the Czechs, denying them their language rights and trying to impose German sort of as part of the whole German-speaking Austria. I cechi vogliono creare il proprio stato, quali diritti sono la minoranza di lingua tedesca, coloro che hanno dominato sui cechi, negando loro i loro diritti linguistici e cercando di imporre il tedesco come parte dell'intero gruppo di lingua tedesca Austria. 捷克人想建立自己的国家,讲德语的少数群体享有什么权利,一直在占领捷克人的国家,剥夺他们的语言权利,并试图强加德语作为整个讲德语的一部分奥地利。 So you have this whole issue of how that evolves and, of course, these are things I didn't really focus on. Quindi hai tutta questa questione su come si evolve e, ovviamente, queste sono cose su cui non mi sono concentrato davvero. It's true that the German-speaking minority in Czechoslovakia got the short end of the stick and that might have contributed to events leading up to the Second World War. È vero che la minoranza di lingua tedesca in Cecoslovacchia ha avuto l'estremità corta del bastone e ciò potrebbe aver contribuito agli eventi che hanno portato alla seconda guerra mondiale. 的确,捷克斯洛伐克的讲德语的少数派只占优势,这可能导致了第二次世界大战之前的事件。 Then again, they had, basically, tried to suppress the Czechs more or less for quite a long time. Poi di nuovo, in pratica, avevano cercato di sopprimere i cechi più o meno per un periodo piuttosto lungo. So it's very interesting. Quindi è molto interessante.

I'm also listening to other things that are of interest. Sto anche ascoltando altre cose che sono di interesse.

I'm listening to daily news discussions in Czech, so I'm kind of familiar with issues like corruption and so forth that are hot in the Czech Republic. Ascolto le discussioni quotidiane sulle notizie in ceco, quindi ho una certa familiarità con questioni come la corruzione e così via che sono calde nella Repubblica ceca. So that's all interesting and everything I'm reading. Quindi è tutto interessante e tutto quello che sto leggendo. I'm following the international news; I'm following the economic crisis in Europe via the Czech media. Sto seguendo le notizie internazionali; Sto seguendo la crisi economica in Europa attraverso i media cechi. So it's interesting. Quindi è interessante.

When I get tired of doing that, I did find a very good book again over there called __________. Quando mi stanco di farlo, ho trovato di nuovo un libro molto buono chiamato .

It's simpler material where I can get more of the sort of everyday language, which I heard, but I need to listen to it more and more in order to be able to use it. È materiale più semplice in cui posso ottenere più del tipo di linguaggio quotidiano, che ho sentito, ma ho bisogno di ascoltarlo sempre di più per poterlo usare. It has the odd grammar explanation which I don't mind looking at, especially as I've become more and more curious about certain things. Ha la strana spiegazione grammaticale che non mi dispiace guardare, soprattutto perché sono diventato sempre più curioso di certe cose. So as long as you vary it and do things that are interesting, I don't see how you can get burned out. Quindi, fintanto che lo modifichi e fai cose interessanti, non vedo come puoi esaurirti. 因此,只要您改变它并做一些有趣的事情,我就看不到您怎么会筋疲力尽。

When I was studying Chinese, I mean there's so much there. Quando studiavo cinese, voglio dire che c'è così tanto lì.

History, literature, modern history, ancient history, how do you get burned out? Storia, letteratura, storia moderna, storia antica, come ci si esaurisce? I think the key thing is that you have a goal beyond just learning the language. Penso che la cosa fondamentale sia che tu abbia un obiettivo che va oltre il semplice apprendimento della lingua. If your goal is just to learn the language, just to nail down these declension tables or whatever it might be, yeah, I can see where you'd get burned out because after a whole those things won't penetrate, whereas if you allow yourself to just learn things and learn about things by interacting with the language and reading and listening. Se il tuo obiettivo è solo imparare la lingua, solo per inchiodare queste tabelle di declinazione o qualunque cosa possa essere, sì, posso vedere dove ti esauriresti perché dopo tutto quelle cose non penetreranno, mentre se permetti te stesso per imparare cose e imparare cose interagendo con la lingua e leggendo e ascoltando.

If you have an opportunity, like I also bought some DVD movies, but I can't understand them yet without the subtitles. Se hai un'opportunità, come se avessi anche comprato dei film in DVD, ma non riesco ancora a capirli senza i sottotitoli.

I can understand some of the dialogue, but basically can't understand the dialogue so I've put them aside. Posso capire alcuni dei dialoghi, ma fondamentalmente non riesco a capire i dialoghi, quindi li ho messi da parte. That's a bit of a goal now. Questo è un po' un obiettivo ora. Maybe two months from now I'll be able to understand more of the movies. Forse tra due mesi sarò in grado di capire di più dei film. So if you keep it varied like that. Also, wenn Sie es so abwechslungsreich halten. Quindi se lo mantieni vario in questo modo. As I say, with Chinese there were so many different things I could do with the language I didn't get burned out, but I guess at the core of it all you have to be interested and so you have to do things that are interesting in order to maintain your interest. Come ho detto, con il cinese c'erano così tante cose diverse che potevo fare con la lingua che non mi ero esaurito, ma credo che al centro di tutto tu debba essere interessato e quindi devi fare cose interessanti al fine di mantenere il tuo interesse.

To me, burnout is not a problem. Per me il burnout non è un problema.

If you want to spend less time at it, you spend less time. Se vuoi dedicarci meno tempo, spendi meno tempo. I'm not under any obligation to do anything with Czech; I'm doing it out of interest. Non ho alcun obbligo di fare nulla con Czech; Lo sto facendo per interesse. I guess if someone is at university and they have to pass some exams and they're sitting there trying to jam or ram certain declension tables or rules into their head, yeah, they can get burned out. Immagino che se qualcuno è all'università e deve superare degli esami e se ne sta seduto lì a cercare di inceppare o sbattergli in testa certe tabelle di declinazione o regole, sì, possono bruciarsi. 我想如果有人在上大学,他们必须通过一些考试,并且他们坐在那里试图将某些变形表或规则塞进或撞入他们的脑袋,是的,他们可能会精疲力尽。 I still think those people would be better off if they spent their time doing interesting things with the language and, eventually, these things they're trying to ram into their brain will fall into place. Ich denke immer noch, dass diese Leute besser dran wären, wenn sie ihre Zeit damit verbringen würden, interessante Dinge mit der Sprache zu tun, und schließlich werden diese Dinge, die sie versuchen, in ihr Gehirn zu rammen, an ihren Platz fallen. Continuo a pensare che quelle persone starebbero meglio se passassero il loro tempo a fare cose interessanti con la lingua e, alla fine, queste cose che stanno cercando di ficcare nel loro cervello andranno a posto. 我仍然认为,如果这些人花时间用语言来做一些有趣的事情,他们会变得更好,最终,他们试图深入大脑的这些事情将会落到实处。

So there you have it. Così il gioco è fatto.

Burnout for me is not an issue, as long as you're doing things that are interesting. Il burnout per me non è un problema, purché tu faccia cose interessanti. When you are less interested or not interested you stop doing them, no burnout. Quando sei meno interessato o non sei interessato smetti di farli, niente burnout. あなたがあまり興味がないか興味がないとき、あなたはそれらをやめます、燃え尽き症候群はありません。