#61 What if I want to give up learning a language…? 如果我想放弃了……

大家好，欢迎回来MaoMi Chinese！你们有没有过这样的时候？学一门语言很久了，但是觉得自己一直没有什么进步，不知道自己还应不应该坚持下去。那么，今天我们一起来聊聊“坚持”这个事情吧！

听到“坚持”两个字的时候，你首先想起什么呢？你有什么样的感觉呢？是觉得轻松、快乐，还是有压力呢？我想，大多数人都认为，坚持不是一件特别容易的事情，坚持学一门语言更是不容易。但是，其实坚持也可以是轻松的，快乐的。

学习一门语言是一个很漫长的过程，可能有很长一段时间里，我们会发现自己完全没有进步，有时候甚至还觉得自己退步了。这是为什么呢？有可能是方法错了。以前，我在学英语的时候，我每天都花很多时间背单词，但是我没有完全理解它们的语境。虽然我认识的词语多了，但是我说英语和写英语文章时的错误更多了。如果你也有同样的问题，你可以试一试换方法。比如，除了学单词，还要学句子，更重要的是，要学习句子的语境，要知道什么时候用这个句子。最好的方法，就是多听，多说，这也是最轻松的方法，因为在听和说的时候，我们自然地学会了怎么用这些句子和词语。你可以听一些中文的播客，看一些中文的电视剧和电影，一边看，一边跟着说。

如果有时候你想放弃，这也是正常的，不要难过，不要对自己生气，你可以休息几天，等心情好了再重新开始，这样你才会更享受学习语言。你也可以多给自己积极的反馈。比如，你可以去找说中文的朋友聊天，或者找中文老师聊天，聊天的时候用新学的词语和表达，如果你的朋友或者老师听懂了，你就用对了。就算他们没听懂，也没有关系，下一次你就知道什么才是对的。你也可以用中文去做一些让你高兴的事情，比如，去认识一些新的朋友，去看一部电影，去听一些音乐。如果学习语言变成让你快乐的事情，坚持也就不难了。你也可以每天用中文写一句话，或者用手机录一句话，几个月以后你就会发现自己已经有了很大的进步。

我的朋友曾经和我说过一个笑话：努力不一定成功，但是不努力，就一定很轻松。我觉得这句话很好笑，但是我也不太赞同。我认为，我们的人生不可能永远都是轻松的，但是这样的人生才是有趣的。我们努力和坚持的时候，不知道会不会成功，所以我们的人生才不无聊。如果我们什么东西都知道了，那就没有意思了。

有时候，我们常常期待奇迹发生，但是，其实奇迹就是我们坚持的每一分每一秒。对我来说，MaoMi Chinese从2021年1月开始，坚持到现在，也是一个奇迹。虽然有时候我也很想放弃，因为我在英国的学校当老师，每一天都非常累，但是我也因为MaoMi Chinese认识了很多学习中文的朋友，也有很多人给我鼓励。我也觉得现在的MaoMi Chinese比一年以前的MaoMi Chinese更好了。可以陪大家一起学中文，对我来说就是一个奇迹。希望你也会享受学中文的每一分每一秒！

Hello everyone, welcome back to MaoMi Chinese! Have you ever had a time like this? You have been learning a language for a long time, but feel that you have not made any progress, and don't know if you should be persistent and carry on or not. So, let's talk about "being persistent" today!

When you hear the word "persistence", what is the first thing that comes to your mind? How do you feel? Do you feel relaxed, happy, or stressed? I think most people think that persistence is not a particularly easy thing, and persistence in learning a language is even more difficult. But in fact, the process of being persistent can also be easy and happy.

Learning a language is a long process, and there may be a long period of time when we find ourselves making no progress at all, and sometimes even feel that we are regressing. Why? Perhaps the method is wrong. Before, when I was learning English, I spent a lot of time reciting words every day, but I didn't fully understand their context. Although I knew more words, I made more mistakes when speaking and writing English. If you have the same problem, you can try a different method. For example, in addition to learning words, we also need to learn sentences. More importantly, we need to learn the context of sentences and know when to use them. The best way is to listen more and talk more, which is also the easiest way because when listening and speaking, we naturally learn how to use these sentences and words. You can listen to some Chinese podcasts, watch some Chinese TV series and movies, and follow along while watching.

It's normal if you want to give up sometimes, don't be sad, don't get angry with yourself. You can take a few days off and start again when you're in a better mood, so you'll enjoy learning the language more. You can also give yourself more positive feedback. For example, you can chat with a friend who speaks Chinese, or chat with a Chinese teacher. When chatting with them, you can use the newly learned words and expressions. If your friend or teacher understands what you say, then it means that you use them correctly. It doesn't matter if they don't understand, next time you'll know what's right. You can also use Chinese to do things that make you happy, for example, to meet some new friends, to go to a movie, to listen to some music. If learning a language becomes something that makes you happy, it won't be difficult to persevere. You can also write a sentence in Chinese every day, or record a sentence with your mobile phone, and after a few months, you will find that you have made great progress.

My friend once told me a joke: hard work does not always lead to success, but if you don't work hard, your life can be so much easier. I think this is funny, but I don't agree with it either. I don't think our lives will always be easy, but that's what makes life interesting. When we work hard and persevere, we don't know whether we will succeed or not, so our life is not boring. If we knew everything, it wouldn't be interesting.

Sometimes, we often expect miracles to happen, but in fact, miracles are every minute and every second we insist on. For me, it is a miracle that I started MaoMi Chinese in January 2021 and carry on working on it till now. Although I sometimes want to give up, because I am very tired every day working as a teacher in a British school. However, I have also met many friends who learn Chinese because of MaoMi Chinese, and many people have encouraged me. I also think MaoMi Chinese is better now than it was a year ago. Being able to accompany you to learn Chinese is a miracle for me. Hope you will enjoy every minute and second of learning Chinese too!