4 TALENT MYTHS THAT ARE HARMFUL TO YOUR RUSSIAN

I was at my friend’s when her daughter Lisa told me:

“My English grades are poor because I’m just not talented at languages!”

I felt sad. She’s just 10 and has already given learning languages up as a lost cause. If only she knew what she’s gonna miss out on…

But no wonder, if even teachers think like that. I used to think in these terms too.

Sometimes learners of Russian feel they are not talented (enough).

It’s harmful because it makes people unhappy about themselves and their progress and they often quit.

Let me tell you 4 real life stories (including my story of learning English) and debunk the 4 dangerous talent myths. You’ll see that talent is irrelevant for success (and what is).

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THE TRUTH ABOUT FUN AND EASY LEARNING

People often want to learn Russian the fun and easy way. This is the promise that many language learning apps and language schools give.

It sounds attractive: most people prefer enjoying over suffering.

But the problem is… this promise is misleading and, if you’re ambitious, you may not get the results you want.

Let’s see why (and how to change that).

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HOW TO START SPEAKING RUSSIAN WITHOUT FEAR

Is fear of making mistakes keeping you silent?

You can’t say much in Russian yet and at the same time you are dying to approach native speakers, speak and connect. But your fear stops you. What if they think you’re weird?

Sometimes you don’t even allow yourself to open your mouth. Or you restrain from speaking much because your Russian is not flawless.

And you know what? That’s so human. Many Russian learners feel the same.

In fact, as a recovering perfectionist, I know that feeling too. That’s the reason I didn’t blog for such a long time. I was comparing myself to great bloggers and thinking that my writing was “not good enough”.

If you don’t fight with it, perfectionism can silence you, prevent you from learning and growing your skills.

The following is what I’ve learned while working on my perfectionism. I hope it will help you too.

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