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

[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.

[GLC1968]

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

Veronica

I just spit coffee!

I'm a good shot with most weapons...or at least I was before I got glasses. Now that my vision is corrected (it's been 'off' my whole life and I was compensating), I'm not sure how good I'll be. I hope to test it on archery in the near future.

I don't think zombies can swim, so if you stay near water, you'll have that going for you!

[Veronica]

I do wonder if I might be better at archery. I love Daryl and his bow on the Walking Dead. We haven't seen the latest episode yet. We like to get 2 or 3 episodes and do a marathon. I'm the same way about Justified and Breaking Bad. Tivo is my friend.

I think I just need practice, but it's another time consuming hobby.

Veronica