|
 |
Language Learning and Grit | ||
Tags: Personality | Motivation | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5227 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 9 of 34 21 November 2014 at 9:33pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Grit seems to imply working when you don't enjoy it. Surely there are some individuals who go into ecstasy during every moment of learning and don't need grit, but I'm not one, nor do I imagine most are. Sometimes looking at the amount of Anki reviews I have to do in a day makes me want to just roll up in a ball, but I push up my shirt sleeves and get to it, because in the long run I'll be happy with what I accomplish. But it's the same with anything--music practice is often dull, sports training awful, etc. One is forever tempted to forgo long term plans in pursuit of short term pleasures, and a mark of civilization, some argue, is the ability to keep one's eye on the long term.
Of course, in the long term we're all dead, so it's a fine balance. I enjoy languages so much that I really don't need much grit. When I finish a deck of reviews in Anki, I allow myself to learn a few new words. Those new words hang in front of me like prime rib in front of a tiger. My problem is rather being constantly tempted to switch to learning another language, when I need to concentrate on one or two. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5429 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 10 of 34 21 November 2014 at 9:38pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I agree with all the posters, and particularly iguanamon, that perseverance/grit is important. In my
mind, this is a given for achieving proficiency in just about any field of activity. If you take up the violin today with the goal of playing in a string quartet one day, you better have a lot of grit. When it comes to language learning, we remark that the vast majority of people give up very quickly. We tend to look at this in terms of lack of motivation or lack of persistence / perseverance / grit. All this is true but the other side of the coin is actual usefulness and the sense of satisfaction / enjoyment / accomplishment that one can experience when learning a language. I believe that language learning is really challenging for many people, especially in North America, because most learners have little opportunity to use a foreign language and very little true need for one. This is why living in the country of the language or living in a multi-lingual environment such as Europe and much of the world makes such a huge difference. Learning a language requires work but it doesn't have to be a booring, endless slog. It can be fun, stimulating, exhilarating and satisfying on a personal and professional level. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7204 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 11 of 34 21 November 2014 at 10:02pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I think grit is also accompanied by a certain kind humility. The gritty individual is aware of their limitations and
just thinks more work is necessary. In this context, I would submit that someone who moves a language to the "speaks" column of their personal profile doesn't necessarily speak any better than someone who does not. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4532 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 12 of 34 21 November 2014 at 10:16pm | IP Logged | ||
|
The TED talk was interesting. So the author of the paper defines grit as passion and perseverance for a goal over the long term, which is apparently independent of IQ or talent.
Put that way I can't see how grit could not be essential for language learning. Edited by patrickwilken on 21 November 2014 at 10:17pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6596 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 13 of 34 21 November 2014 at 11:27pm | IP Logged | ||
|
In my opinion, learning requires you either to persevere through the less fun parts, or to know how to make them more fun. I do think that what matters more is what you do when you don't feel like studying. Edited by Serpent on 21 November 2014 at 11:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5765 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 14 of 34 22 November 2014 at 2:14am | IP Logged | ||
|
I don't have grit. I do have the ability to return to a goal after neglecting it for a while.
It seems Ducksworth is talking about outstanding achievements, not about general long-term achievements. Maybe grit is necessary for outstanding achievement. But when you're dealing with goals that the majority of people should be able to achieve, creativity can do the trick just as well, and so can being in an environment in which it's harder to give up than to persevere. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| cpnlsn88 Triglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5036 days ago 63 posts - 112 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, Latin | Message 15 of 34 22 November 2014 at 2:43am | IP Logged | ||
|
Many people achieve many things. Some things require quite a lot of work with little to
show for it but are likely to be very impressive if persevered at. Part of the 'grit' element in language learning is to keep on at the same thing for long enough to produce some results and maintain the same, partly to persist past frustration at lack of progress, frustration at the vastness of a language to learn it well. So partly it is the sheer length of the enterprise, the ability to stay enthused and the ability to withstand disappoint and stay on track. On the other hand one can be too masochistic. So one may use anki and hate it. If you're not enjoying what you're doing there are different ways of doing things so maybe combining fun with perseverance and grit is the key to success. The way that language learning works is probably a combination of efficacy and enjoyment. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6581 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 16 of 34 22 November 2014 at 8:40am | IP Logged | ||
I have this, too, which might be why I underestimate grit. I go through passionate periods where I spend hours a day on my languages, and dispassionate periods where I don't study at all. For me, what I do when it's not fun is "stop". At the same time, I've noticed that my dispassionate periods have grown fewer and shorter in recent years. In the beginning of my polyglot carreer, I'd go for a year or more of neglect. Now it's a few months, and I haven't had any such period at all this year. I think passion grows through competence. I'm a fan of the book "So Good They Can't Ignore You" by Some Dude. The main point of that book is that few people have jobs they love because they were passionate about it since they were young and then worked hard to get it. Rather, passion grows through several factors, one of which is competence. The better you are at your job, the more likely you are to enjoy it. I suspect the same goes for language learning. I've reached a stage where I'm pretty good at learning languages. I know what I'm doing, I know why, and I know I'm progressing even when it looks I'm not, because of earlier experience. This competence fuels my passion and makes it easy for me to spend an hour a day, seven days a week on Anki reps. It makes it fun, because there's a purpose and there's long-term progress. Compare this to a beginner, who has no experience that tells her that the Anki reps are actually helping. All she sees is the short-term perspective, where she cannot see any progress. She's not confident in the methods she is using, because she doesn't know whether or not they are effective. She also feels unconfident when coming to a place like HTLAL and seeing a myriad of penta- and octoglots strutting around. Maybe grit is more necessary in the beginning. The more experience you have, the more your competence can fuel your passion, and your passion can in turn fuel your grit to get through the rough patches. Maybe grit is an important way to get started. I'm not sure if it was for me, maybe I did use a lot of grit in those early days, maybe not. But I can see how it's one way to get past the first few bumps in the road. Edited by Ari on 22 November 2014 at 8:44am 3 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
