Proper translation for 忘れやすく動きに時間がかかる

Question

I am trying to translate the following.

頭で覚えたことは、忘れやすく動きに時間がかかるという特徴があります。

The part that confuses me is

忘れやすく動きに時間がかかる

If 動き means "activity" then 動きに時間がかかる means roughly "it takes time for activity".

Next, 忘れやすく is an adverb that is from an adjective 忘れやすい. So 忘れやすく must modify the verb かかる rather than the noun 動き.

If 忘れやすい is used instead of 忘れやすく, it modifies the noun 動き.

It is hard to translate

頭で覚えたことは、忘れやすく動きに時間がかかるという特徴があります。

properly. My attempt is as follow.

The characteristic of remembering by thinking is that the activity takes time with easily to forget manner.

Could you help me to translate it properly?

Answer 1

「頭{あたま}で覚{おぼ}えたことは、忘{わす}れやすく動{うご}きに時間{じかん}がかかるという特徴{とくちょう}があります。」

＝

「頭で覚えたことは、忘れやすく、動きに時間がかかるという特徴があります。」

The basic structure of this sentence is:

頭で覚えたこと has two characteristics. #1 is 忘れやすい and #2, 動きに時間がかかる.

Judging from your comments and final translation, you did not grasp this structure correctly.

Next, 忘れやすく is an adverb that is from an adjective 忘れやすい. So 忘れやすく must modify the verb かかる rather than the noun 動き.

No and no, I am afraid. This misunderstanding cost you all the way, it seems. 「忘れやすく」 is not an adverb; It is an adjective. More specifically, it is the 連用形{れんようけい} (continuative form) of the adjective 「忘れやすい」.

Thus, I used a comma above after 「忘れやすく」, hoping it might help you see the sentence structure better. 「忘れやすく」 here, does not modify either 「かかる」 or 「動き」. It is pretty "independent" in meaning in this sentence. It is one of the two characteristics that I speak of and it is in the 連用形 because the writer must go on to talk about the other characteristic.

One TL attempt by me would be:

"The things you learn in your head have (two) characteristics -- 1) they are easy to forget and 2) it takes much time for you to put them to work (in the real world).

You may call this speculation, but I think it is saying that it would be "better" to learn things with your body rather than with your brain.