学英语到底要多久？为啥“我”学了这么长时间还是无用功？

学英语要多久？

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“how much time does it take to learn English”

“学英语到底要花多长时间”？

This question bugs people either because they've already invested a lot of time into it or they are not sure if they should start.

这个问题困扰着人们，要么是因为他们已经在其中花费了很多时间，要么就是还不确定他们要不要开始。

So in order to answer this questions, I need to address two issues:

所以，为了回答这个问题我需要强调两点：

1. how do you define fluency for yourself?

你自己要怎么给自己定义流利度？

2. how much time are you really spending on English?

你真正花在英语上的时间到底有多少

It's a human tendency to analyze and strategize before we do everything,hoping that every minute we put into something will count，Although it certainly makes sense,

人类天性是会在做某事前评估一下，找找策略，以期望我们投入的每一分钟都值得，这当然是可以理解的。

we often get too caught up in thinking too much,so much so that we haven't actually put in as much time as we thought，Because the reality is even though we are avoiding it,we are still thinking about that thing，and end up creating an illusion that we put in a lot of time.

我们经常就是想太多而太纠结，以至于我们实际就没有投入我们想的那么多时间，因为实际上我们即使是在回避，但脑子里却还在想那件事，结果就是造成一种“我们已经投入了很多时间进去的假象”

For most people, learning a new language is simply a new year resolution:it gets brought up every once in a while,but they still end up regretting not putting in the action for the whole year.

对大多数人，学一门新语言就是一个新年目标，每隔一段时间都会提起要学英语这件事情，然而最后他们还是会后悔这整年都投入足够的行动。

But in their mind, they think they put in a year's work into learning English or two year’s work,And then they ask “how much longer does it take?”

在他们的印象里，他们还是觉得自己已经“花了一年或者两年来学英语”，然后他们就开始发问“到底还要花多久？”

when in reality, if you break down exactly how much effort they spent, it doesn’t amount to a lot.When people say that they don’t have enough time, what they really mean is that they don’t prioritize learning English enough.

而你如果把它们拆分算算它们到底要花了多久时间学习，实际情况却是并不是那么乐观的。当人们说他们没有足够的时间，他们言下之意是他们没有把学英语重视起来列为首要事务而已。

They’ve got other things to do, other things that are more important than English, which is  understandable, we all have a life, we probably all have something else better to do.

他们有可能有其他事情要做，其他事情比英语更重要的事情，这本身可以理解，我们都有生活，我们可能都有其他更值得做的事。

And it’s precisely because of this mindset that we start to get really calculative about our time.

而就正因为这个想法，我们开始对每一次学习的时间精打细算。

For instance, if we don’t see immediate results right after we study English, we would single-handedly decide that that time was well not spent.Over time we want to spend less and less time, and yet we get more and more impatient.

比如，如果我们学英语以后没有立竿见影，我们就会自己单方面就判定这个时间白浪费了。随着时间变化，我们愿意花时间越来越少，却还越来越没有耐心。

And for those of us who are actually patient and disciplined enough to pull it off for a while, it’s tempting to ask, “how much time does it take?”

另外，即使是我们中那些又有足够耐心，又足够自律地能坚持一段时间的人，也会忍不住开始问：“还要花多久？”

This is why you must have a clear vision，this is why you must have a long-term goal.

这就是为什么你要有一个清晰的展望，这就是为什么你必须要有一个长期的目标。

Too many times I’ve seen people，dive into learning English without knowing their end goals, it’s not only ineffective, but incredibly demotivating.It’s pretty very likely for you to get angry, get frustrated, get lost and bitter.But you won’t completely give up yet, every once in a while you’ll gonna think to yourself:“ this year I’m gonna make a difference.”“This year I’m gonna learn English, but I don’t want to waste any effort.”

我见过很多次很多人都不知道自己的终极目标就一头扎进学英语里。这不仅没有效率，使人变得非常消极。很有可能还会演变成生气、失望、迷茫又恨。但是你又不会完全放弃，每隔一段时间你就有开始打算盘了，今年我一定要取得一点成就。“今年我要学英语，但是我又不想浪费任何一点努力。”

There’s always gonna be back-and-forth monologue.The problem with asking “how much time does it take to learn English” is that you’re not looking at the end results.You’re simply looking at the start, the beginning of the process.

你的脑海里总是有这样来来回回的独白。问自己“学英语要花多久”的问题就在于你没有着眼于最终结果，你就看见了个开头，整个过程的开端。

How fluent do you want to be?

你想有多流利？

Because the answer is different for everyone.

每个人的答案都是不同的。

I can tell you exactly how much time I spent on English, but it doesn’t mean that you want to be as fluent as me, or you might put in more time than I did. So, in that sense,  I empathize with people.

我可以告诉你我在英语上到底花了多少时间，但是你有可能也不想追求像我这样的流利度，也或者你想比我花的时间还多。

So, in that sense,  I empathize with people. Because how do you start something，when you don’t know what exactly it is that you want?On the other hand, if we do know what we want, we often fall into the fallacy thinking that  we are spending a lot of time on English when we’re really not.

所以这种情况下，我能感受到你们的心境。因为，你自己都不知道自己到底要什么，怎么开始做这件事情呢？另一方面，如果我们知道自己想要什么，我们又会陷入一种“自己花了很多时间在英语上的误解，但实际上我们并没有花那么多时间“的思考误区。

When people say, I’ve spent a year, or two years on English already, what exactly does he or she mean?Does that mean that they’ve been going to classes for a year? Are they going to classes every single day? Or they go to one class every week, and then they’ve complained about not being fluent for a year.

当人们说，我已经花了一年、两年在英语上了，Ta实际表达的是什么呢？是不是意味着他们去上了一年课程？他们是每天都去上课吗？还是一周就去一次课，然后就抱怨自己一年了还不流利。

Let’s do the math together.If you go to classes every single day from Monday to Friday every single week, throughout the year you’d have 260 hours of study. But the reality is when people say they’ve studied English for a year, they probably aren’t going to classes every single day.And even that, it’s not enough.Especially if want to start speaking and communicating. Fluently, or somewhat fluently.

我们一起来算一算，如果你每天，每周从周一到周五你都去上课，那么一年下来就是260个小时的学习时间。但是现实是，当人们说他们学了一年英语，他们可能不是每天都去上课。即使是那样，也是不够的。尤其是你想开始说话、交流。而且是流利地，或者相对流利地。

And it’s not just about the amount of time or intensity.It’s more about the frequency.If you have 7 hours to spend,it’s better to spend one hour on English everyday for the week, than to spend 7 hours on English, on day one, and then not study for the rest of the week.With frequency comes a sense of progress, with frequency comes a sense of achievement, and therefore we create “momentum”, which keeps you going,

它其实不仅仅和时间总数，强度相关，它更和频率相关。如果你有7小时可支配，那么最好是每周每天都花上一小时，而不是第一天花上7小时，然后这周其余的时间就不学习了。有了频率，你就会感受到进步，有了频率你就会有成就感，这样我们就会产生“自然推动力”，让我们继续走下去，

even when you’re feeling lazy, even when people think that you’re suffering.You actually start to enjoy the process,you actually forget that time is passing.This is perhaps the best, and the only way to “hack” time：which is to actually start finding things  that you enjoy about learning English,

即使是你想要犯懒，即使是人们觉得你在受折磨。因为其实你已经开始享受这个过程了，并且忘记时间在流逝。这可能是最好的也是唯一的办法来“攻克”时间，就是真的开始寻找你学英语过程中使你感兴趣的东西。

Because if you think about it,you don’t realize how much time has passed when you’re good at something, when you’re actually enjoying it, and making progress.

因为你想想看，当你很擅长一件事情的时候你意识不到时间过了多久，你很享受它，在取得成就。

So next time you ask yourself, “how much time does it take? ”change the question to: “how much time am I really spending on English?”

所以下次你问自己，这要花多长时间？换一种问法，我在英语上真正花了多少时间？

Actually take out a piece of paper, and put down the time you’re spending on English, then you’ll see the problem, then you’ll see just how long the road still is ahead of you.Remember, we often overestimated what we can do in one day, and underestimated what we can do in a longer period of time.

实实在在地拿出一张纸，写下你在英语上花的时间，然后你就能看见问题，你会看见，前方还有多远的路。记住，我们总是会高估我们在一天之内能做的事情，却低估在长时间内能成就的事情。

I want you to think of learning English as a marathon, not as a sprint,So start thinking long term, start thinking putting in the action, start thinking strategies, and forget about time.

我希望你们们能把学英语当作一场马拉松，而不是短跑冲刺，开始学着长期思考，开始行动起来，开始想策略， 不要纠结于时间。