Why You Keep Quitting Mandarin (And How to Stick With It)
I've quit learning Mandarin three times over the last ten years: once after a semester abroad in 2013, once after four years living in Shanghai, and once after building a Chinese-teaching TikTok account to 30,000 followers. Each time, the trigger was the same. The reason I had to study disappeared, so the motivation to keep studying disappeared with it.
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The first time: a semester abroad in 2013
I spent part of a semester abroad program in New Zealand, Australia, and China, including time in Beijing and Xi'an. I earned two semesters of college Chinese credit on that trip, fell in love with the language and the culture, and studied harder than almost anyone else in the group.
Then I got home. Within a few months, I'd stopped. The questions that killed it: will I actually use this? Am I ever going back to China? Once the trip that gave me a reason to study was over, the reason for studying went with it.
The second time: four years in Shanghai
In 2015, I moved to Shanghai to teach, with my wife. Chinese was everywhere again: ordering breakfast, talking to shop owners, studying with Chinese coworkers. But teaching is demanding, and expat life pulls you into an English-speaking bubble faster than you'd expect. Even living in China, I found ways to avoid practicing.
After four years, we moved back to the US. Same questions came back: will I use this? Will I ever live in China again? I quit a second time.
The third time: 30,000 TikTok followers
Less than six months later, I started a TikTok account teaching Chinese handwriting. It grew to about 30,000 followers. I genuinely enjoyed it, for about a year and a half. Then I hit a ceiling, didn't want to put more work into improving my own Chinese, and had a young family pulling my attention elsewhere. I quit a third time.
Why do people quit learning Mandarin?
Looking back at all three, the pattern is the same. I wasn't quitting because Mandarin was too hard. I was quitting because the external reason that got me started, a trip, a job, an audience, eventually ran out, and I never built anything to replace it. Motivation tied to a circumstance disappears the moment the circumstance does.
What's actually different this time
I restarted in 2025, my fourth attempt. I'm currently around HSK 5, roughly a B1 level, after 10+ years of a start-and-stop relationship with this language. This time I built small daily habits that don't depend on where I live or what account I'm running: flashcards, podcasts I actually enjoy, journaling, and daily speaking practice.
None of that requires me to be in China. None of it requires an audience. I have three young kids, a wife, and a full-time job, more constraints than any of my previous three attempts, and I'm still showing up.
A few common questions
Is it normal to quit and restart learning a language?
Yes. Chinese learning is a series of hills and valleys, not a straight line. Some stretches you're motivated and nothing can stop you. Other stretches you don't want to look at a single character. Both are normal.
What actually keeps people consistent long-term?
Daily habits that don't depend on circumstance. A structured lesson you can do in a few minutes a day works when you're busy in a way that "I'll study more once things calm down" never does.
If you're on attempt one, three, or four of learning Mandarin, the thing that gets you through isn't waiting for more motivation. It's building something small enough to do daily, no matter what's happening around you.
Prefer a five-minute daily habit on your phone? Try the Red Bamboo Chinese app → It's built for exactly the kind of small, consistent practice that actually sticks.
