Natural gift skill you wish you had, that you have already

[tulip]

I would like to have an aptitude for languages. I do alright in my native tongue, but I have always really, really struggled with learning new ones and I wish I was better at it. I suppose if I were to immerse myself, I might do OK eventually but I've not had the opportunity in my life to date.

Immersion was key for me to become fluent in my second language. But the others come much more easily now. It was a priority for me, so I made it happen years ago and the benefits have been long-lasting and extend beyond the original second language.

[Crankin]

I wish I was fluent in another language, too. I have the aptitude, but unless I'm immersed at this point, it's not going to happen. I can get by in Spanish, for traveling purposes, but verbs make all the learning go out the window when I'm trying to speak under stress. And now, because Spanish is the one language I am just a little familiar with, when I try to learn a little of another, I keep thinking in Spanish. I marvel at those who speak multiple languages. I have one son who is fluent in Italian (he lived there for half a year) and my younger son came back from his first deployment in Spain a few years ago, speaking rapid and fluent Spanish. He now can handle a bit of Farsi and Pashtun and is taking Chinese in college.
Sometimes, I feel utterly talentless.

[shootingstar]

I know I don't have a natural affinity to learn another language. I knew only Chinese until kindergarten. Learning English was an immense shock. But yes, I mastered it within 1 yr. even though I had to go for ESL help for another yr.

Chinese has degraded immensely --I could never offer interpretation in any job. This is a serious matter in the business world particularily anything involving legal, finance and health matters on the job. Myself and siblings have all learned the hard way in our jobs. That is the truest test of linguistic fluency and accuracy --to speak the language accurately in response to unscripted, unpredictable situations with other people, particularily with members of the public...as your client.

But yes, I must still speak it within my family.

French was a struggle to learn. I think I only know certain words, phrases, because I had to study language.....3 different times over 2.5 decades! All mandatory --public-high school, university.

[GLC1968]

French was a struggle to learn. I think I only know certain words, phrases, because I had to study language.....3 different times over 2.5 decades! All mandatory --public-high school, university.

Yeah, me too. 5 years of Spanish, 1 year of Japanese and I can't speak either of them at all. What scares me is that I got A's in all of the classes too...and yet I managed to not retain any of it!

[skhill]

I wish I spoke a second language too. I read Latin and Classical and Koine Greek pretty well, but I never got around to learning a modern language. But really, I wish I had more mechanical ability/ handyman skills. Sometimes it's a struggle to even hammer in a nail straight.

I'm very thankful for my musical skills. I play several instruments tolerably well-- not professional caliber but well enough to play in local amatuer groups. I can sightread and sightsing (which is much more difficult) quite well, and y'all have reminded me that's not an ability that should be taken for granted.

[Veronica]

I wish I spoke a second language too. I read Latin and Classical and Koine Greek pretty well, but I never got around to learning a modern language. .

I majored in Classics with an emphasis in Latin. It's not the most useful degree to have. It's made me popular at work though, as many teachers come to me for grammar and root word needs.

I'm pretty happy with who I am, but I would like to have more skills to take on zombies.

Veronica

[tulip]

For those of you who want to learn a second (or more) language, immersion is really the only way to do it, not only for the language itself but for all of the cultural references, the food, the manners, the art, the architecture, etc. You cannot learn it from a book, and while Rosetta Stone will get you to a certain point very effectively, it won't get you all the way. I find nothing more exciting than learning about another culture by being thrown right in once I get the basics of the language down. I can feel my brain growing when I've done that, and it's pretty invigorating. It's never too late, in my opinion.

---
I think the hardest thing for me is being confident in a new skill that I am learning, and not talking myself out of it at the beginning by telling myself that I suck at it--it's a habit that I learned early on and it's a hard one to break. Any new skill takes ALOT of consistent practice and work, and I often have just thrown in the towel when it gets hard. That's my biggest challenge these days, is to overcome that initial "I suck at this" attitude.

[GLC1968]

I think the hardest thing for me is being confident in a new skill that I am learning, and not talking myself out of it at the beginning by telling myself that I suck at it--it's a habit that I learned early on and it's a hard one to break. Any new skill takes ALOT of consistent practice and work, and I often have just thrown in the towel when it gets hard. That's my biggest challenge these days, is to overcome that initial "I suck at this" attitude.

Ha. This is exactly why I've never done any foreign country immersion! I have convinced myself that I'd get there, not be able to communicate and hate it. And for a closet introvert (how's that for a description?), it's a terrifying thing to even imagine. It's easier to just say that I suck at languages.

FWIW, I think I'd be pretty good at taking on the zombies. That's kind of a hard skill to market though.

[Veronica]

FWIW, I think I'd be pretty good at taking on the zombies. That's kind of a hard skill to market though.

We went skeet shooting last year. I had never even held a gun before. I pretty much sucked at it. I think my weapon of choice would probably be a baseball bat. And I wish I had martial arts training or that I could zigzag like a football player.

I really like your "closet introvert" description.

Veronica

[emily_in_nc]

I took three years of French in high school, one year of Latin, then repeated French 1 in college (needed a "crip course" one semester).

Living in Belize, even though it's an English-speaking country on paper, there is a ton of Spanish spoken. My DH took German, so some good we both are!

We did a bunch of "Spanish 1" using the Pimsleur audio courses, similar to Rosetta Stone. We learned enough to get by on a 16-day trip to Mexico this December. We could check into a hotel, deal with money, buy bus tickets, order food in a restaurant, and have very, very basic conversations with vendors, etc. But certainly, once they started talking among themselves, we could only get a word here or there. I think if we lived in Mexico for a year, we'd become a bit more competent. But it's certainly more difficult learning a language in your 50s! That said, my grandparents and parents were excellent in languages, so I do pick them up fairly easily. And GLC, I remember more of that high school French than I ever could have predicted. Once I started studying Spanish, a lot of the French started coming back...I could remember the French words more easily than the new, foreign-feeling Spanish ones. Interesting how the brain works...a lot of stuff is tucked back in there that we don't even realize is still there, until it has a catalyst to bring it back to the forefront!

[malkin]

TE vs. Zombies!
I can hardly wait!

re: language learning
+1 for immersion; really you need lots and lots of comprehensible input.

re: "I suck at this"
I just wrote a paper reframing this attitude into what I call "Imperfect Mastery."

[Veronica]

TE vs. Zombies!
I can hardly wait!


re: "I suck at this"
I just wrote a paper reframing this attitude into what I call "Imperfect Mastery."

No, really I sucked at skeet. I couldn't even hit one on the ground.

Veronica

[Koronin]

I took 2 years of Spanish in high school and 1 year of French in college and can't speak either one. My husband spent time in Spain (Air Force, he was there for about a year during Desert Shield/Storm) and learned Spanish. At this point he can't speak it, but can understand fairly well. He also has tried to learn some German, and actually it's the same thing he can understand it ok but cannot speak it.

Veronica, sorry about your issues with skeet shooting. I've never tried it before. I have shot both a hand gun and shot gun at ranges, but not skeet. My preferred weapon is a bow and arrows. I'm a lot more comfortable and confident with those.

[salsabike]

I like this question, shootingstar.

My brain loves, loves, loves foreign languages. I've had 13 years of French, starting in 1st grade, three of Spanish, two of Japanese. The French comes back quickly and fairly fluently when I'm in a French-speaking place. The Spanish and Japanese worked for politesse, but not much conversation. But my head just loves the stuff, and if I could do anything I wanted, I would just go back to school and learn languages until my head was stuffed full.

And I wish I could draw. I'm horrible at it. I still draw exactly the way I did when I was a little kid, and my drawing stank then. It stinketh still.

[skhill]

The talk of learning languages has reminded me of my Grandma. She once said she was too stupid to learn a second language. The thing is, she was a native speaker of two and didn't realize it: English and ASL. Her mother was deaf, and really ASL was Grandma's first language. We don't always see the abilities we do have...