Regressing skills when you do not continuously read Chinese

[Jan Finster]

I was quite busy with other things and did not read any Chinese in the last 4-6 weeks. Whenever this happens, I really struggle with characters I have previously "known" and it takes several weeks to get back to my old level. Have you also experienced this? I wonder if there is a level of Chinese after which this does not happen any longer (?) I guess it could still happen to natives with rare characters... (?)

[黄有光]

I don't know, I haven't gotten there yet. But what you say definitely solidifies some of my fears about what might happen after I move on to Dutch this coming January. I really, really need to make sure that I make the time to continue reading literature in Chinese when that time comes. I just hope that I'll have enough vocabulary to be able to do that comfortably when the time comes.

[phoneticsem]

it is the case with everyone i think. Bring out the Anki Decks/notes/vocabulary lists and revise.. Might help

[yaokong]

I have noticed this in the past, my solution is to read every day, just 10 minutes if I'm busy. Even like this I occasionally forget a character, I just spend more time with that character when I notice it: such as checking out the common words where it occurs, and forming a few sentences with it. A character that I spend those extra 3-5 minutes on will be that much harder to forget.

 

How do you deal with it?

[MoonIvy]

This can happen to anyone at any stage, it'll definitely get less and less as you advance more, which will take years. Think about your own native language? You probably don't read in that language everyday but you haven't regressed...maybe some words you might have forgotten but it comes back quickly if you 

 

I'm not sure what you're busy with, but some things you can try are:

- incorporate Chinese in your day to day life, such as changing your phone/pc into Chinese

- do things you normally do digitally in Chinese, such as reading the news, browsing social media, watching youtube videos

- listen to something as background sound while you're busy doing things

 

Do you read on your phone or some other portable handheld device? I find this really helps with quick downtime reading.