What’s Wrong with Trying?

Today I had a small chat with an acquaintance, which left me thinking about something I’ve been reading recently. I had a not funnyaha moment when I realized a behavior I read in a book expressed itself in real life. As part of my research, I have been reading extensively about Growth Mindset by Carol Dweck, both the book and different research have been done by Dweck and others. This is not a post about Growth Mindset, as I am not here to debate whether G.M. is legitimate.

In the book, Dweck illustrated the two mindsets with many different inspirational stories and anecdotes, which led to criticism that the book is watered down, boring and repetitive. I personally had a hard time finishing the book because of its structure: all stories ended with lessons about people having the two different mindsets. I thought to myself why someone, who is very highly regarded in her field, with years of experiences working along side with some of the smartest people in the field committed that simple mistake, leading people to disregard her work saying the book can be summarized in 15 pages or less?  Or did she?

The small chat today sparked something in my head, as I didn’t recognized the behavior immediately, and when I did, it suddenly made sense why Dweck went on and on with those anecdotes. Simply because those inspirational stories shed light on the many different dimensions of having a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. Not everyone having a fixed mindset (or growth mindset) behaves in the same, predictable ways. It can’t simply be explained in several paragraphs like some have attempted to do so in the book’s reviews on Goodreads.

So what was the discussion about? We were basically chatting about Finnish language learning experiences of our own , and I was expressing how I found Finnish grammar challenging (I am learning about Noun types in class & at level A1) and how difficult it is to find learning materials compared to when we were learning English language (We are not native English speakers).  When we moved on to some random questions about English standardized tests (TOEFL & IELTS) that we needed to take before coming to Finland, they started telling me about how they took the test (and effortlessly got a certain score) without even studying for it, and how they felt they could have done much better (in a way implying that they could achieve much better scores if they cared to study) still given that they have been using the language for years (more or less a decade).

I have to say that their scores on that test is already an achievement, especially when they didn’t even study for it. One with such language skills is qualified to apply for most Bachelors, Masters, and even Ph.D programs, in which English is the primary language of instruction. Being an English learner & later – a teacher myself, I had worked for more than 3 years (2 years at a public university & more than a year at local English centers) and taught different levels of ESL students, I know that it took hundreds of practicing hours to gain even 1 point on 1 skill in such language tests. The last time I took that test was several years ago when I was still working at the university, and I remembered I spent at least 1 month studying, practicing, taking mock-exams & even asking my coworkers to be speaking examiners. And that was only 1 month because I taught English everyday, and I was already more familiar with the test formats than most. I probably had my hands on almost every English standardized-book-test available back then, thanks to the university library. Would I study for the test if I have to retake it again now? Absolutely yes, there are plenty of skills I need to remaster: note-taking, reading techniques, essay writing skills, etc.

That being said, I actually felt ashamed when admitting that I worked very hard when I needed to take the test. Because for a moment, I got caught in the mindset that saying so would make me appear less smart.  In her book, Dweck discussed how many want to appear / feel smart, and they think effort (or trying) makes them look dumb. Simply put, if you’re good at doing something, you don’t have to try. Dweck also went on and discussed how the not-trying could make themselves feel better when they are able to describe past events in “could have been”, and getting caught trying would rob their chances to imply it would go better. This is not related to the conversation I described above as I don’t want to make any assumptions or implications, and it would be unfair for me to judge the other person without knowing little to nothing. The conversation is there to illustrate my feelings toward the situation.

As someone who firmly believes in the power of personal growth, I wonder what’s so wrong with trying, and why most people are afraid of to admit that they make an attempt to improve themselves (me included – sometimes- apparently). I know there are those who rarely even try at schools and still get good grades, those who possess some abilities that make them better than average, etc…And then there are people who work super hard and still lag behind. Do people question the intelligence of those like Elon Musk, Bill Gates or Thomas Edison, when obviously they are some of the most hardworking people on Earth? Why is that socially acceptable to work hard when your ambition and intelligence are (like Elon, etc) proven, and then not really acceptable when (the rest of us) you get caught trying?

Just a beautiful photo of the last Autumn that I caught on my camera (October, 2016)

In her book, Dweck used the term “a work in progress” as something we should all consider about ourselves when it comes to learning, trying and failing. If you are a work in progress, there is no shame in trying. That, according to Dweck, is one of the growth mindset’s characteristics. And yes, I have to remind myself everyday that I am a work in progress, and there is no such thing as instant success, or at least, for me. (I’m talking about you…Finnish language- you’re my current Everest!)

A final note about the book & the idea of Growth-Fixed mindset, many skim through the book, and then play-down the idea of 2 Mindsets. I don’t think those are qualified to judge the book. The GM book is a bit repetitive and written in a simple structure for a public audience, but one can always challenge oneself by reading other works from Dweck like the Self-Theories, for instance. Self-theories is sort of like the academic version that lays out the research that is behind Mindset. 

Learning Finnish: Books for beginner levels

One of my goals this year is being able to use the language more frequently and naturally when it comes to daily or casual situations. I have been actively learning the language for more than a year now, and my Finnish language seems to have improved over time. For instance, at school, my Finnish teacher speaks almost entirely in simple and standard Finnish, and I can understand most of that. I can also introduce myself and talk about some simple topics in Finnish (in simple tense), and my vocabulary is about a few hundred words (beginning of A2 level). I’m finally at the stage where I can read and understand simple Finnish texts about common topics, and pick up different words here and there in others’ conversations or on the streets. That being said, my goal is quite out of reach (for this year) but in sight.

Taking courses is one of the most effective ways to learn a new language, but at the same time it is not enough. It is also essential for language learners to self-study at home, and immerse themselves in the new language as often as possible. There are many activities language learners can do to learn the language in a fun way. Personally, I like reading. But it’s quite difficult to find suitable reading materials for learners at the (very) beginning level, even when you’re living in the country where the language is used. As a language teacher myself, I understand that it is very important to build a certain amount of vocabulary at the early stage of learning, because learners with low vocabularies do not enjoy reading at all – since they hardly understand anything.

Now, being in the “upper beginner” level allowed me to have more reading options. I tried reading one of the children comic books (Muumin) the other day, I was able to understand about 70%. Mikä fillis? Hyvää fiilis! That was the first time I can read and understand something that’s not directly taken from textbooks. I can’t wait to the day I can read more advanced books in Finnish, but for now, I’m happy with the following options:

1. Finnish for Beginners 1 (and 2) by Maija-Hellikki Aaltio

I found this vintage book at my university’s library. This textbook was first published in 1963, and the version that I have now is published in 1989. It is, I believe, no longer used at schools/ language centers since it is quite outdated, even though the language still remains quite similar. For instance, the money was used in the examples in the book was “markkaa” and “penniä”. The currency in Finland nowadays is the Euro. Another example is almost all illustrations in the book were comically drawn, which was very interesting actually, but it just shows how old this book is. Obviously, there was no mention of smartphones, laptops or other modern electrical devices, etc. Probably because of that, it is really fun and fascinating to read all the texts in the book. There are 40 lessons in the book, and the lessons are presented in both Finnish and English. Each lesson is divided into three parts: text (dialogue or narrative) followed with some structural notes (grammar) and essential words. According to the Introduction, the purpose of this book is to teach spoken Finnish with some focus about colloquial usage in Helsinki area.

I really enjoy reading the texts (dialogues) in this book, and I suppose it would be easier for those who self-study Finnish because it comes with English translation. I don’t really look at the grammatical features of the book since I follow the learning pace in Suomen Mestari’s textbooks, but I suppose it won’t be very much different.

2. Hyvin Menee 1

The version of Hyvin Menee that I got from the library is published in 2007, however, it is fairly modern and updated compared to the above-mentioned. The book is completely in Finnish, and it’s also for students at beginning levels. The book comes with 24 chapters including main texts (or dialogues), some grammatical features and HUOM! (notice), and exercises. Compared to Suomen Mestari 1, the main textbook we use at school, this book doesn’t contain as many practices, and there is also no listening exercise.

3. Suomen Mestari 1.

This seems to be the most popular textbook to learn Finnish language as many universities use it as the main course book. The first book has only 9 chapters including main texts, grammatical aspects and a lot of exercises. There are also listening practices that language learners can either listen to them during class or at home. I really enjoy learning the grammatical features from Suomen Mestari because they are presented in a very clear and coherent way, make it easier to remember. At the end of the book, one can find answers to the chapter’s exercises. I’m about to start learning chapter 7 soon, but I already read through all of the texts that available in this book. Even though I can’t understand 100%, but it’s fun.

Many times language learners are recommended to start reading with children books (lastenkirjat), but to be honest, the vocabulary that we learn from the textbook at school do not prepare us for the nature of the language in children books. Grammatically speaking, after more than a year learning Finnish, we haven’t been taught the past tense yet, we are still learning the simple (and future tense). Vocabulary-wise, we only cover basic topics such as: greetings, food, travel, etc and learning simple(r) grammatical features such as local cases, verb types, etc. So yeah, I am looking forward to reading children book soon…one day. Until then, I’m happy with these textbooks, and… the ads that sometimes come to my door.

Finnish language is widely known as one of the most difficult languages to learn, but I know many people who are successful learning the language, so I guess there is no such thing as impossible. I might be slow, but at least I’ve made some progress!!