Is Language Learning Fatigue Normal?

We can all suffer from language learning fatigue, it is annoying, but it is totally normal and a very natural part of learning.

It is something we should try and avoid as it will affect our performance, but we shouldn’t get upset if it does happen, as it is just a very normal thing.

Fatigue Is A Natural Part Of Studying

When we study, we will suffer fatigue. For many of us learning a language we may not have actually studied anything since we were at school, which if you are like me, was a long time ago.

Kids are used to sitting all day and learning; this is both due to the fact that they are marched into school at 4 or 5 years old, but also due to the fact that their brains are like sponges. Basically kids are built for studying and as we age, we kind of stop studying and forget what this feels like.

This means that if you go back to it later in life, you are not used to the whole process and it can be extremely draining.

It’s exactly like physically exercise. If you stop that for a long time, and then go back to it, your body can be shocked by it and it will hurt for a while until you get used to it again. This will happen when you study too. You brain isn’t used to working so hard and you will feel fatigued until it can get comfortable with working at this level of intensity again. 

(You can read more about – What Are The Symptoms Of Language Learning Fatigue?)

Fatigue Happens When You Do Anything New

While we may be talking about language fatigue here, you will find that you become fatigued from anything new that you do.

If you look at starting a new job, the first few weeks are exhausting, you will be learning how to do the new job and just generally getting used to the new routine, environment and new colleagues.

Think back to any new job you’ve had and try and remember how you would come home each night absolutely drained …but also think about how that slowly faded away and now you can pretty much do the job with your eyes closed and you are not even tired in the slightest.

This is exactly what will happen in your new languages. It’s all very intense in the beginning and extremely fatiguing, but as you get used to things and get better, this will fade away too.

It just shows it is all a very normal process that we go through when learning anything. It just happens that languages are harder to learn than a new job, so its takes a little longer to get comfortable with things.

(You can read more about – Should You Push Through Language Learning Fatigue?)

You Are Focusing More

When you are learning a language you will be focusing a lot more. You are probably now studying in the evening after work and this is probably a big change to what you had been doing before.

Maybe you just used to watch TV and relax, and now you are spending that time studying. This is a very different dynamic and your brain is going to be strained from this change in lifestyle, so it is only natural that you feel fatigued when learning a language.

You Are Using Your Memory More

Learning a language will also cause you to use your memory more. You are going to be actively recalling a lot more information than you normally would be and you are also going to be trying to commit a lot more things to memory too.

All this is going to add up and it is normal that you are going to feel fatigued after this. 

Your Brain Is Forming New Neural Links  

When you learn a language, your brain is going to be literally changing. You will be trying to link information together and you are going to be increasing your neural pathways to certain bits of information.

You can compare this to how we build muscles. You exercise, which causes the muscles to grow in response to the exercise so that they can handle the workload. This is also what happens in your brain when you study. You use the information and your neural pathways across your brain grow in response to handle it.

Then just like how your muscles get tired from this process, so will your brain after you study. This fatigued feeling is totally normal.   

Fatigue Shows You Are Working

Fatigue is just a sign that you have been working. You have pushed yourself and used up energy doing so.

Your body is reacting to the stimulus you are giving it, which in this case, is studying the language.

It doesn’t matter who you are, or what stage in the language you are at, you will reach fatigue at some point, you can’t study forever, you will get tired from it.

Fatigue Doesn’t Always Mean You Are Working Hard

While fatigue is a sign that you are working hard, it doesn’t always mean you have to reach fatigue to prove you have done enough.

Your brain can quickly get used to the work load you are giving it, so if you are noticing you are getting less fatigued, this doesn’t mean you are doing less …it just means you can handle more than before.

This is like your muscles. When you start working out it will hurt afterwards and this can happen for a while until you get used to it. Some people wrongly think that they need to push and push until they feel this pain, both when working out and when studying.

You really don’t need to push to that point and it can actually be bad to do this. I know if I study to much I will get a headache. I do not need to push myself to this limit every night. If I do, will end up getting burnt out. Once you reach burn out, your studies will suffer and you will achieve nothing.   

You have to understand that you can just handle more before you start getting fatigued, which is fine, it still means you can do a lot, while staying far away from fatigue, so used that to your advantage.

Conclusion

Hopefully now you can see that studying is always going to cause fatigue. Everything that we do while studying, such as focusing, trying to remember and just generally working hard is going to drain of us energy and if we are not used to this, we will start to feel fatigued.

It is totally normal and as we get better at studying, we will find that we are getting less fatigued, as we can just handle more before we reach this point, which is great and means we can work harder and make more progress. 

(You can read more about – How Can I Avoid Language Learning Fatigue?)