Sharer, a member on this website, talked to me about learning languages.  This blog is my response to his comments.

 

Your plan sounds good!  I studied German in college, but do not know it very much at all.  I later taught myself a little Spanish and can read some and speak some.  So, Chinese is my fourth language, but is becoming my best non-English language.

 

One thing I learned in college is that I never study if I don't keep track of how much time I study.  This forces me to do two things!  First, if I record the time, it is easy for me to see when I fail to study.  Second, if I record the time, it is easy to see if I am studying for 15 minutes or two hours!  When I was in college, and I first started recording the time spent studying, I quickly learned I was never studying for more than 10-15 minutes at a time~~~!!!!!  I knew right away that I had to change that if I wanted to stay in college.

 

As for me and learning Chinese, my current goal is to make a little progress each day.  This has worked very well for me.  I do not record the time I spend studying, but I try to use the language some 天天。  This assures me that I'm improving, even if my progress is slow.

 

Here's a challenge for you.  I read a book recently that tells a similar story.  The book was written by a writer of fiction (books of fictional stories).  He said, "If you want to learn to write, make sure you write something each day.  Some people will say, 'But I don't have time or I can't think of anything to write about.'" 

 

This author had a cure for that!  He said, "If you can't think of what to write about, then write 250 words on why you cannot think of anything to write or why you do not have time to write.  If you do this, you will quickly decide you can think of things to write."  In the same way, I recommend you study any foreign language daily.  You want to "eat, drink, and sleep" the language, as we say in English about something we really want to do!  You can take that literally.  You want to think about the language while you eat, while you ride to work, when you are at work, and you want to even dream in that language!  "When you start thinking in a foreign language, then you know you are learning it," many people have told me.  You have to make it part of yourself.

 

What is my challenge to you?  Simple make a mark on your calender each day when you have completed some studying.  If you do not study, leave that day blank (without a mark).  This will force you to at least think about studying English (or another language).  It will challenge you to make real progress.

 

If you want to go even further, record how much time you study.  When I did this, I recorded only 15 minutes or more.  If I studied 25 minutes, I recorded 15 minutes.  If I studied 35 minutes, I recorded 30.  This forces you to do two things.  First, you will be more truthful to yourself.  If you don't study, you will know it and want to change it.  Second, you will find you decide to keep studying longer.  After 25 minutes you will say to yourself, "I need to keep studying for five more minutes so I get credit for 30 minutes.  If you keep studying and don't watch the clock, you may forget the time.  You may look at the clock and say, "Wow, I not only studied 30 minutes, I studied for 35.  If I keep going another ten minutes, I will have studied 45 minutes today!" 

 

These little tricks may not seem like much!  But if you do one of them, you will be surprised how much more you study and how much more progress you make.