The Fluency Trap
Perfect is the enemy of good.
If you are a gymnast or an acrobat, you need to strive for perfection. But if you are ordering a street taco in Mexico City (or Austin), they will be happy to serve you and take your money even if you make a grammar error. Most of us are closer to being customers of the taco truck, than we are to being Simon Biles.
That said, I just experienced a sort of reverse snobbery while in a Spanish speaking country, regarding my rude insistence on using my extremely-wanting Spanish whenever I interacted with folks there. Reactions ranged from mild amusement to downright bemoaning. Adding insult to injury, they were quick to prove that their English was far better than my Spanish, which it almost always was. So, what’s happening here?
We have left nearly everything to the experts. Those who present themselves as having perfect comprehension and presentation. The experts of fluency. Oh, the fluency of experts.
I have studied several foreign languages: Spanish, German, Italian, French, even Swahili. Yet I am neither fluent, nor even competent in any of them. Nevertheless, I revel in trying to speak those languages whenever I can, to whomever I can. My butchering, bugling word soups mostly confuse or turn off native speakers. It’s not true that the way to move more seamlessly through any foreign country is to speak a few words of the language. Try this and you’re mostly met with disdain and bewilderment. And it will quickly become apparent that their English is almost always better than your XXXX (whatever language you are butchering at that moment).
Yet I persist.
I am always so surprised to see that most people who have studied a language, either in school, or through one of the many excellent programs available these days, are too afraid to try it out. There’s something about how we teach and learn languages which puts what I would call undue emphasis, on fluency. To put it bluntly, we have been convinced by language snobs that unless we can speak a foreign language perfectly, we should not expose our obvious inferiority. This becomes a kind of self sabotage. The perfect is the enemy of ordering a great street taco.
How many other things do we approach like this? The perfect is the enemy of:
Having fun on a pickleball court
Trying your hand at mixing a cocktail
Gardening (except that the plants might disagree)
Holding a newborn baby (no, you will not break it)
Creative endeavour: Every book you write must be a bestseller
Humor: Every joke you tell has to be funny (spoiler alert..they mostly are not)
Admitting that what we do and say is probably more modest than life changing
Saying you are sorry, versus not saying anything at all
Can you think of any other examples?
There are many things of which imperfection is the enemy. Missing a vein in your arm when you give blood, for example. Or landing one of those SpaceX rockets back on to its launch pad. But I think that, for the most part, we have the capacity, with just a little effort and understanding, to do stuff which we might not be very good at. We should try, because it's better than not trying.
So. Go ahead. Gird yourself. Order the Taco Numero Dos. En Español. You won’t regret it.
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