how long b4 u start to lose it

[xuechengfeng]

I haven't learned a drop of Chinese since the beginning of March. I've glanced at characters a few times to try to remember them. How long before I begin to lose it? I didn't have the opportunity to take a Chinese class this course, and I've been really busy. I will resume promptly in the beginning of June.

So early March to early June -- 3 months, how bad will I get?

[in_lab]

Three months is bad, but not too bad. Just don't try to learn some other language during those months, or else there goes the Chinese! (At least that's how my mind works.)

[sui.generis]

So early March to early June -- 3 months' date=' how bad will I get? [/quote']

Well, I start to lose everything after about 30 minutes , but hopefully you're not that bad. If you're at a low level, Just buy Rosetta stone and use it once a day, and you'll be fine. If you're at a higher level, listen to newscasts coming off cctv's website. It really doesn't take much, just a little something every day.

[gougou]

I found that characters get lost quite fast. While most of them will be coming back rather fast once you get to studying again, try to avoid it altogether and look at a few characters every day. If you have flashcards, all the better: take a pack of them with you and look at them whenever a few minutes of spare time pop up, just seeing them regularly will greatly increase retention. Once through with one pack, continue to the next; that way, you will be sure to see all the words you learned before regularly.

[roddy]

I think 3 months shouldn't be too much of a problem, especially if you can find the time to refresh your memory now and then over those three months.

One suggestion I would make is to spend some time revising everything, from the bottom up, when you come back to studying Chinese. There's a danger that in those three months you will get sloppy in some areas (particularly pronunciation) and if you don't correct that you might form some bad habits.

Roddy

[Desmond]

I find that I really lose it if I start learning another language. Any german I knew was maintained fairly well until I started learning other languages. My german quickly faded to oblivion! Basically all the german words became masked over with equivalents in other languages, so when I tried to think of a certain word in german, the equivalents in other languages would pop up instead

[nipponman]

Since I began college in August, I haven't learned a drop either, but everything is still there roughly 6 months later. So, it could be years before I begin to forget (not that I'll wait that long)