Assumptions

Assumptions

Today in our drawing lesson, the instructor points out the 60% Rule for perspective drawing.  After a clear explanation, he points back to the house, skyscraper drawing of a few lessons ago.  He showed his drawing and explained why the house had not been in perspective.

I had tried and tried to get the house into a realistic perspective. Assuming the expert knew and would be drawing things correctly, I had not even picked up on the fact that his own drawing was clearly as misshapen as my own first drawing.

I had, in fact, done an excellent job of following his instructions. Given my assumption, I did not allow myself to see that his drawing was also out of perspective.

Could it be that some of my over trying in Spanish, is due to equal misreadings of 'experts' who seem to be advancing rapidly and steadily, while I plod along?

I have also been reflecting on the podcasts and YouTube videos by  other language enthusiasts. They express that a feeling of emotional contact with a language greatly facilitates language  learning. This may especially be important after  one has passed the complete beginner stage where every learned word is a 'Eureka' moment, and motivation is naturally high.  I had emotional connections to German,Wolof, French, and Swahili. I did, too, at one time in Spanish, but time and some difficult experiences weakened this connection. My exploration of Mexican art, and my recent language exchanges have begun to recreate my connection.

Thinking of emotional bonding, I drew a lovely lighthearted image that a blogger, Kerstin Cable, mentioned yesterday in her FluentShow podcast: the first stage of vocabulary acquisition is catching the words- like a butterfly catcher. In Melaque, I had as similar image: a man fishing with a net.