Let’s say you have a piggy bank to store your savings or pocket money. Once you fill half of the piggy bank, you will be considered well-off. Once you submerge the piggy bank, you’ll be considered rich.
This same concept can be applied to the study of languages. Each ‘study period’ you are inadvertently filling in the piggy-bank with coins, and over time, through the accumulation of many small study periods, you’ll eventually fill up the piggy bank.
What I’m saying here is that every single minute you devote into your Chinese learning will pan out results, no matter how infinitesimal they are. Actually, let me make a correction. Each second of learning will produce results. Each time you study a Hanzi, you are filling a penny in your piggy bank. Each time you get the grasp of a sentence, you are filling a dime into your piggy bank.
This means, don’t worry about the ‘length’ of your studies as each study session has its hidden value. Instead, focus on getting the ‘frequency’ of your study up, to increase the number of pennies that are flowing into the bank. Take spare-moments to fill up that bank. When you’re waiting in line for a bus, you can stare at the model in the billboard. However, you’re wasting your time. Instead, take out your SRS and start doing reps. Or pull out your ipod and start the listening. Use these moments, these moments that are invaluable and would otherwise be squandered to fill up your piggy-bank.One Hanzi done whilst waiting for the bus? Wow, you’ll get 365 done in a year without any ‘specified study times’.
One day, one day, you’ll eventually hit the day where you’re piggy bank becomes full. And that is the day when you become fluent. The day of recogning. Before then, just remember:
Every second, every piece of effort devoted will eventually accumulate into something big.