Do The Real Thing
When it comes to skill acquisition the fundamental difference between an amateur and an expert is the amount of hours accumulated doing the real thing.
Amateurs wallow away doing simulation exercises while avoiding the real work. They make the fatal mistake of spending long hours learning about the task, rather than actually doing it.
Imagine if you spent hours reading a manual on how to ride a bicycle instead of actually getting on the bike and figuring out how to ride it by watching and mimicking others.
Unsplash+ In collaboration with Brooke Cagle
In medieval times an apprenticeship was the solution to acquiring real life skills by doing, a skilled labourer, often a craftsman, would take on and teach a young person their trade.
In exchange for the transference of skill, the new labourer would work for the Master for an agreed time, until the protege moved on to greener pastures.
In many ways this still exists, that’s where the concept of internships came from, but this is a watered down version of what the apprenticeship really did.
An Intern can find himself trapped doing meaningless tasks unrelated to his craft and left despondent and disillusioned about the future.
That’s why every individual should not leave such an important aspect of skill acquisition to chance. We all have the capacity to design frameworks by seeking out people who can help us to develop certain skills we can use in the real world.
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Learning Languages is a classic example of a skill which requires pragmatic methods to attain the elusive goal of reaching fluency.
There are millions of language learners around the world sitting in language schools, daydreaming about the day when they will shock people with their foreign language skills.
Here are some tips for language learners to avoid the pitfalls when learning a second language:
1.Find A Great Teacher:
I cannot stress the importance of finding someone with enough experience and a cheerful personality. These 2 elements work hand in hand. An ill-tempered person who is unable to enjoy themselves will transfer that negative energy to you.
Language Learning is an emotional activity which requires a low stress environment. A good teacher with a pleasant personality will accelerate your progress.
2.Street Interviews:
This is probably one of the most contentious debates in language learning. They say, if students just watch movies or dramas they will simply absorb the sentence structure and learn to speak fluently. However, this is something I disagree with on many levels.
If I could go back to my 2 years living in South Korea, I would replace all the Dramas I waisted so much time watching, with short street interviews or talk shows.
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The reason is because Drama’s use dramatic effects, such as hyperbole to entertain viewers. People don’t speak that way in real life. If you expose yourself to material like this at an early stage of acquiring the language you will pick up some of these bad habits. Movies and Drama’s can be enjoyed once you reach a high beginner or Intermediate level.
Street interviews or talk shows are a good example of doing the real thing. They use ordinary individuals who are speak naturally and candidly. You can pick up key facial expressions and body language which is essential to sounding and looking like native speakers.
3.Use the Language:
This is my final point, and probably the most important. Language learning requires feedback loops. This means that anything you learn has to be tested in real scenarios in order for you to receive accurate feedback on whether you were successful or unsuccessful.
For example if you have just started learning a new language, seeking native speakers and testing your new phrases is essential for you to progress to the next level.
If you have just learned a Greeting such as 你好 “nǐ hǎo” in Chinese, if you go out and say it to a Chinese person and they look at you in confusion you’ll know instantly whether you used it correctly.
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Only relying on a teacher can be deceiving because they speak slower to accommodate your level, and you have gotten used to them.
Going out into the Ocean of life and swimming with all the Sharks will strengthen you and you will build the necessary resilience to keep going, when things become difficult.
Doing the real thing will also give you the greatest joy when you are successful. These are the small victories you need to catapult your language learning into the next level.
In Conclusion
It is very easy to close yourself off in a small bubble of comfort when learning a language, this can be due to many reasons such as social anxiety or chronic fear of making mistakes.
But I believe that once you step outside this bubble and experience the highs and lows of language learning, it will be very difficult to step back into that safe bubble, you once called home.
Photo by Vadim Bogulov on Unsplash
Doing the real thing is stepping out of that comfort zone even when you are afraid and nervous, because that’s where the true learning begins.
Anything else is just an illusion which is stopping you from reaching your full potential. So whenever you find yourself overwhelmed with self-doubt and fear, Always remember that, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek”
