{"id":3452,"date":"2015-06-29T06:19:02","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T10:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/?p=3452"},"modified":"2020-10-01T14:51:58","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T18:51:58","slug":"ignorant-friends-the-secret-to-your-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/2015\/06\/29\/ignorant-friends-the-secret-to-your-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignorant Friends: the Secret to Your Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Disclaimer: everything that follows is terrible advice<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve followed the Transparent Language blog for any good amount of time, you\u2019ll know there are lots<\/a> and lots<\/a> and lots<\/a> of articles on how to improve your language-learning, how to get over the fear of speaking new languages, and what it takes to get better. But actual self-improvement is only half the battle. As I\u2019m sure some expert somewhere has said at some point, success is 1% work, 99% image.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why whenever I want to get good at something, I do a little bit of work, and then surround myself with people who are terrible at it. If success is recognition from your peers, you just need peers who are dumb as bricks.<\/p>\n

Take exercise. I\u2019m no good at it. I get tired and hungry and can think of a hundred other things I\u2019d prefer to be doing than running or jumping rope\u00a0or doing push-ups. However, I like feeling<\/em> healthy, so whenever I go for a jog or play some tennis or ride my bike, I pick as my partner someone more out of shape than I am. That way, even when running at a below-average pace, I can feel like a champion compared to my poor, wheezing mate.<\/p>\n

Or how about chess? I\u2019ve always wanted to be good at it, but I almost always lose, and losing is not very successful, is it? That\u2019s why I usually play against small children, who are very easy to beat. Since they\u2019re so new to the game, they also generally don\u2019t notice if you cheat, which is an added bonus. Being a champion against those smaller than you is still being a champion.<\/p>\n

And, of course, this applies to language learning. When my friends or family from out of town come to visit me in Berlin, I bask in their admiration when ordering \u201czwei Biere, bitte\u201d or asking \u201cwo sind die Toilette?\u201d Nothing makes you feel like more of a success than winning the esteem of loved ones who don\u2019t know any better. One problem is that I live in Germany, and am constantly surrounded by experts who remind me that I am not the five-star success champion I want to be. If you\u2019re in a similar situation, I recommend you do what I do: only make friends with expats who refuse or are unable to learn the language. As an American this is surprisingly easy. And if you ever meet a local\u2014do NOT engage them in their language. Instead, pull the emergency lever: start talking at them in your<\/em> native language, in which you are an actual, bona fide expert, and which they are likely not. Once more, you\u2019ll feel like a champion!<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: all of the above is terrible advice. You shouldn\u2019t compare yourself to those worse than you but rather those better.\u00a0Strive to be the best you can be, shoot for the stars, etc, etc, etc…you know I\u2019m right.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Disclaimer: everything that follows is terrible advice. If you\u2019ve followed the Transparent Language blog for any good amount of time, you\u2019ll know there are lots and lots and lots of articles on how to improve your language-learning, how to get over the fear of speaking new languages, and what it takes to get better. But…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":4445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[542801],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3452","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archived-posts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3452"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8215,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452\/revisions\/8215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/language-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}