I just started learning Slovene and I’m starting to remember why I love languages so much.
But while I’m working my way through a book, listening to CDs, and speaking with an awesome language partner, I keep thinking how I want to be perfect at this. Even though most people will understand me if I’m pretty far off being perfect, given the context of what I’m saying. Why do I care so much?
The whole of most western education systems, for the last 100 years at least, has been centered around right and wrong. Black and white. You put up your hand to answer a question and you’re either praised for following the formula or immediately corrected. Sure, universities give you more freedom of expression, but you still write the same exam as everyone else, and eventually get a standardized grade relative to your peers.
Sir Ken Robinson puts it best saying that we’re now being taught to be afraid of being wrong. How on earth can we progress, personally or otherwise, if we’re afraid of making a mistake? Can we reverse the damage?
(If you’re now somehow inspired to learn Slovene, you can start here and here. And an interesting post on learning a language in 3 months.)