Does It Take Three Days to Switch into English Mode? Why I Spend ¥400 a Day Warming Up My Brain

Sometimes I feel envious when I watch YouTubers who speak fluent English.

They chat happily with local people on street corners overseas. They even crack jokes. It must feel wonderful to have English come out that naturally.

Yet apparently, even advanced English speakers like them face an unexpected difficulty.

One YouTuber said that even after traveling to the United States or another English-speaking country, they struggle to speak English smoothly for the first three days or so.

Only after using English continuously in the country does their mind finally switch into English mode.

When I heard that, it made a surprising amount of sense.

Yes, I know exactly what that feels like.

Apparently, the Same Thing Happens to Chinese Speakers

Interestingly, a Chinese YouTuber described a similar experience.

This person lives in Japan. After returning to China for a while and then coming back to Japan, they find that Japanese no longer comes out smoothly.

Perhaps the Japanese-language circuitry in their mind falls asleep while they are speaking Chinese.

In other words, this does not seem to be limited to English.

Even people who can use a foreign language quite freely need time to switch back after living in another language for a while.

Even when several languages are stored in the mind, apparently they are not all running at full capacity at the same time.

In computer terms, it may be like an unused application entering sleep mode.

It launches when needed. But the startup is slow.

I Have Not Forgotten English

When I step away from English for a while, I can clearly feel my responses becoming slower when I return to it.

I know the word, but it will not come out. I see a simple sentence, but I need a moment to understand it.

“Was my English always this bad?”

It is a little disheartening.

But after I use English for a while, the feeling gradually returns.

An expression that tripped me up yesterday makes perfect sense today.

The knowledge has not disappeared. The pathway for retrieving it has probably just grown sluggish.

That is the frustrating part.

Even after you study hard enough to acquire a skill, it quickly stops working smoothly when you do not use it.

It is like the engine of a car that has not been driven for a while.

I Speak English for 30 Minutes Every Day

That is why I continue taking an online English conversation lesson every day.

My instructor is Filipino. Each lesson lasts about 30 minutes and costs roughly ¥400 ($2.67).

Cheap.

At that price, taking a lesson every day is not much of a financial burden.

The main reason I practice English every day, however, is not that I expect my ability to improve dramatically. I simply do not want the ability I already have to rust.

If I speak English for even 30 minutes a day, the English-language circuitry in my mind never falls completely asleep.

You could call it leaving my brain idling.

Speaking every day will not suddenly make me as fluent as a native speaker.

But it is much better than spending the first few days rehabilitating my English every time I use it after a long break.

When people think about learning English, they tend to focus on how much they have improved.

But I believe there is also real value in studying simply to keep the ability you already have from declining.

It Is Easier Not to Turn Off the Engine

When you think about it, this is not limited to English.

After stepping away from programming for a while, code you once wrote without thinking does not immediately come to mind.

Play a sport after a long break, and your body will not move the way you want it to.

Even an ability you have already acquired will grow dull if you do not use it. Returning to your previous level then takes time.

In that case, it is easier not to stop completely.

If you use the skill a little every day, you can avoid the struggle of restarting it.

If even a YouTuber who speaks fluent English needs a few days to get up to speed after arriving in an English-speaking country, I can imagine what would happen if I stopped practicing.

So today, once again, I will pay ¥400 and spend 30 minutes talking with a Filipino teacher.

Not to improve my English dramatically.

I keep using English so that I do not forget English.

It is not exactly a glamorous effort.

Lately, however, one thing has been bothering me.

Despite speaking English for 30 minutes every day, I am still nowhere near fluent.

Apparently, my English engine has spent years running on idle without ever going anywhere.