IWTYAL 155: How long should I study with same material?

Clay asks: “For how long should I use the same material?”

In this episode:

• One of the most destructive language habits is jumping from one material to the next
• Usually, my advice is to stick with ONE thing, simply to guard against the “butterfly” problem
• “Don't let the great be the enemy of the good”

When I'm studying, I usually have a few different strands to my learning:

1. Speaking on a regular basis
2. Flashcard review of vocabulary
3. Study time

In my study time, I tend to do one thing over and over, until I get bored.

• I wonder why you're asking this question?
• You should know deep down if the activity you're doing is productive or not
• If you feel it's productive, keep going!
• You will certainly lose motivation to do it sooner or later… wait till that time! (For me it's usually 3 weeks)
• If you feel it's not productive, stop immediately and try something else
• Try to avoid FOMO – providing you're speaking, learning vocabulary, and doing other holistic activities, you won't be missing out on anything!

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• “Sprints” – My 3-week approach to studying language material

Start speaking today

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Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.