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People commonly get burned out when studying foreign languages, therefore it would be good to know strategies for avoiding burnout in the first place. What are known preemptive practices, mental habits, and other techniques to help with preventing burnout from ever becoming an issue when learning a language?

AML
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  • How does this question differ from How to overcome language learning fatigue when learning Standard Chinese?? – Tsundoku Jul 19 '18 at 14:42
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    It's not Chinese-specific, for one. This new question is more general, so maybe some will answer it. "Burnout" is subtly different from "motivation", which could have either short-term or long-term implications ("burnout" is more long-term stress-oriented). Finally, this new question also asks about taking steps to avoid burnout in the first place, not just dealing with it once it occurs. – AML Jul 19 '18 at 15:11
  • I'm new to this Stack Community, but in all the others, they don't allow questions that are primarily opinion based and don't generate a definitive answer. Is that different here? – Jay A. Little Jul 19 '18 at 15:18
  • The other question is definitely about burnout, even though it doesn't use that word. (The burnout is so strong that it led to aversion for the language.) However, if you want to focus on avoiding burnout, I would remove the part about steps to take when experiencing it. – Tsundoku Jul 19 '18 at 15:19
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    @JayA.Little We avoid opinion-based questions here. In what way is this question "opinion-based"? Aren't there any objective sources about this topic? – Tsundoku Jul 19 '18 at 15:20
  • @ChristopheStrobbe ok I made that change. – AML Jul 19 '18 at 15:20
  • @ChristopheStrobbe "What are some good practices..." That just threw the opinion-based flag in my mind. But hey, if someone can gather a list of objective sources that is so complete it doesn't need multiple other answers offering equally acceptable additional sources, fine by me. Thanks for answering my side Q. – Jay A. Little Jul 19 '18 at 15:33
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    @JayA.Little You can read more about opinion-based questions on this site here: https://languagelearning.meta.stackexchange.com/q/54/85 How I see it, we've kind of settled on allowing questions that request widely used/proven techniques, since well-defined techniques can be objectively described. If this kind of question was not allowed, we'd likely only be able to accept questions about history and cognitive science, topics both of which already have SE sites. – Hatchet Jul 19 '18 at 21:16
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    @AML Point of clarification: I think there is a difference between absolute burnout and losing motivation. One is a point of cognitive exhaustion (possibly not preventable with a given workload), while the other is a matter of incentive (definitely something that can be helped in a language learning-specific context). Could you specify to which you refer in this question? – Hatchet Jul 19 '18 at 21:27
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    @Hatchet I associate burnout with your first option. – AML Jul 19 '18 at 23:31

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