I really went all in on Afrikaans the past two weeks, 400 pages in just two weeks. Not to brag or anything, but now I am so sick of that language. I was pushing myself a little bit, but I was just feeling amazing about the progress I was making.
Now I am kinda like exhausted of Afrikaans, and want to take a break. So I’m curious, what’s the best way to leave that language without it becoming semi-permanent. I just want to give it enough time to be able to return later and enjoy it again. My goal was 45,000 known words. And I’m a third there. The grammar has landed, I understand it perfectly, although I have no clue how to use it well.
I’ve been here before with my French, but my breaks outnumber in time the amount of time I spent on the language. So I’m curious, what do you do when you study a language too hard, and how do you recover it from the best?
Don’t worry about it. Let it rest (completely). The joy will come back.
I do the same thing, but with Italian and french. I read and listen massively, to a point where I don’t want to hear a single syllable more. I switch language, and with time the other lover seems more attractive again.
Personally, it’s not an issue for me. If I want to take a break, I take a break. That’s it. I’ll return to it later. No worries.
If it’s a perspective thing for you and you’re worried about the break becoming permanent, perhaps consider it like a “holiday.” You can just agree with yourself to go on a holiday from Afrikaans for, say, two weeks and then after that you’ll return. Just set the date of return. Maybe that might help.
The hard thing is knowing if you are only mildly tired or truly exhausted. That is, mildly tired and you can push through it and will recover or are truly exhausted and require a break. It’s not easy to know the difference and might require some trial and error on your part.
If you have already learned 45,000 words, then you have been studying the language long enough that quite a lot of it is already in your long-term memory, and you won’t lose it. It will just get rusty if the break is longer and can be activated again quickly.
So if you want to take a break, do it!