Tuesday's Tip for Language Learning #10: Take Time Off to Marinate
From Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star Time Off: Marinating the Mind Acquisition of a language does not occur in one setting, one course, or one year. It goes without saying, then, that language study will not be continuous, at least in the sense of every day without break. Of course, there will be breaks. Though many students, especially those in intensive courses, worry that they will lose some of what they have gained while they are away from their studies, that is usually not the case. You see, language proficiency progress comes from both conscious learning and unconscious learning—and something I call the marination factor, which is related to the unconscious factor. As with cooking, “marination” requires taking some time out and walking away from active work. Just as meat does not remain the same while marinating, neither does your brain. It is busy sorting and categorizing the information you have been stuffing into it during you active conscious