Have you tried to learn to speak the Irish language, but stopped because it’s too hard?
“There must be something wrong”, you tell yourself. “There must be just something wrong with me. And this stuff I’m trying to learn from”.
This is a reminder for you that if it’s difficult, then you’re doing it right, not wrong.
The Science of Learning
The book Grit by Angela Duckworth has been well-worth the read for me.
She covers the psychological studies behind the idea of grit: basically, sticking with something for a long enough time. Don’t just quit on a bad day.
She goes on to examine study how people get really good at something. Here’s the trick: you practice regularly at something you can’t yet do given your current skill set. You pick out a specific area you want to improve in. And you get as much feedback as you can from a teacher or mentor.
Angela even has a rule in her household:
Every member must be doing learning difficult, like getting better at running, dancing, or playing an instrument.
This is in line with the book The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge. A foundation for Peter is personal mastery. You don’t just get a little better at things in your life: you make a discipline of becoming a relative expert in those areas.
A discipline is a practice: it’s something you do regularly.
Back to Speaking the Irish Language
Write out a concrete vision for yourself. Where do you want to get to?
And why? For many people, you want to learn to speak the Irish language to make a deeper personal connection with their Irish heritage.
Take our Bitesize Irish Gaelic course (take our free trial, or sign up as a member) to help learn to speak the language. We’ve broken the lessons into Bitesize pieces.
You’ll still feel like it’s hard, and that’s when to remember to stick at it. All our members can contact our Language Assistant service over email through the lessons. We also hold monthly calls so you can you can get real-time feedback on your efforts.
Do it regularly, and stick at it!