{"id":3239,"date":"2015-03-30T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T13:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/?p=3239"},"modified":"2020-10-02T12:28:29","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T16:28:29","slug":"not-improving-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/2015\/03\/30\/not-improving-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Improving? Wrong."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Itchy<\/a><\/p>\n

My stepfather, Stan Hirsch<\/a>, is a professional blues guitarist. His story is so classic it\u2019s almost clich\u00e9: when he was ten years old he mowed lawns and raked leaves to save up money to buy his first guitar, and when he got it, he decided he wanted to be brilliant<\/em> at playing it. He wanted to be able to play anything<\/em> on that instrument. He\u2019s been playing ever since\u2014every day for 56 years. One might think he\u2019s reached his goal; he can indeed play just about anything, and some<\/a> even\u00a0consider him the best blues guitarist in America. Yet still he practices at least four hours a day, every single day, and not just because he loves it. He wants to get better. He wants to be the best he possibly can.<\/p>\n

Whenever I got frustrated with something I was trying to do, feeling like I wasn\u2019t getting any better, he would say \u201cthat\u2019s just how it is.\u201d Learning any kind of skill puts a weird distance between your self-awareness and your abilities. The more you work at something, the less apparent your progress becomes\u2014to yourself, anyway.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s much like when someone you know gets a puppy or kitten or has a child. You\u2019ll probably notice this creature balloon in size every time you see it. \u201cAmazing!\u201d you remark. \u201cLast time I saw you, you were only thiiiiis<\/em> big!\u201d But the owner or parent just shrugs. \u201cReally?\u201d they\u2019ll say. \u201cI didn\u2019t even notice.\u201d The same illusion is at work here. Our close perspective prevents us from seeing what\u2019s changed. The progress is so minute we can no longer see it.<\/p>\n

But every day, that kitten is getting a little bit bigger, and every day, my stepfather is getting a little bit better at guitar.<\/p>\n

So it is with you and your language learning. At the beginning, you\u2019re improving in leaps and bounds\u2014today you can say \u201chello\u201d and \u201cwhat\u2019s your name,\u201d tomorrow you\u2019ll tell time and ask directions! But the more you learn, the less obvious your progress becomes, until you become all but blind to it.<\/p>\n

When that happens, you need an outside perspective to break the spell. Sometimes it\u2019s a break in the pattern (\u201chey, the ticket seller didn\u2019t immediately switch to English that time!\u201d), or it could be a new situation (\u201cI\u2019ve never had to use that word before, but it just came out of my mouth like magic!\u201d). Sometimes it\u2019s just the simple pleasure of ordering a beer and absolutely flabbergasting whoever you\u2019re with (see above comic).<\/p>\n

Whether you practiced 100 vocab words today or just five, whether you talked to 25 people today or just two, whether you gave a rousing speech at a banquet hall or just ordered a couple brews in the local watering hole; you\u2019re always getting better.<\/p>\n

How about you? Are you finding progress difficult to notice, or do you still get a kick out of every little improvement?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

My stepfather, Stan Hirsch, is a professional blues guitarist. His story is so classic it\u2019s almost clich\u00e9: when he was ten years old he mowed lawns and raked leaves to save up money to buy his first guitar, and when he got it, he decided he wanted to be brilliant at playing it. He wanted…<\/p>\n

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