Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

http://theboard.byu.edu/index.php?area=viewall&id=55790

Anyone on this forum care to answer the question?

I'm actually pretty good at lying, but I don't feel like that's a talent worth pursuing.

And I used to do pretty well at collection and identification of insects, but my wife has put the nix on that.

I think drawing for me. Every art class I take results in at least one really really well done drawing, and occasionally my doodles turn out really well. Yet I'm still not planning to take any drawing classes or anything, even though I have many times wished I could draw better.

I also might be good at manipulating people - at least, I know how to choose certain words that keep my sentences true but sway the listener my way.

I'm really good at baking, especially fancy artisan-type breads, but I can't eat gluten now so I don't bake things with wheat anymore. I actually never really liked bread very much, so I would usually just bake it and give it away. I'm trying to learn to bake gluten-free, but it's so much harder and my gluten-free breads aren't anywhere near as good as the wheat breads I can make.

I've also been told (by my employers when I worked in a public library in high school) that I'm really good at making phone calls, but I absolutely HATE talking on the phone (other than to my parents) and try to avoid it whenever possible.

I also have been told that I have a wonderful voice. I remember working for a particular alarm company in the valley, doing customer/tech support, and being hit on by several middle aged women, at least a few times a week. I once had a man tell me at that job, "I was madder than hell when I called about this problem, but dammit if your voice doesn't just calm a man down!" (sorry for the profanities. His words, not mine.) That made my day. But I never, never, never want to work in a call center again.

I also had a talent for wrestling, which I did competitively in high school, but for various reasons can no longer pursue.

I like to think I have an aptitude for languages. Actually, I have an aptitude for learning in general. Except I prefer not to learn in a classroom setting. Instead, I would rather Google whatever I was learning about, and pick the website that explains it in the most depth, so that I actually understand what is happening in a situation.

But I really am good at languages.

Also, Katya, thank you for your answer (after you retired, no less) about Chinese and Russian. Or at least the link to the old question. I'm really glad that I picked Chinese. It's really interesting to me.

I'm pretty good at lying, too. Can't say I've been wholly uninterested in that all my life, but for the most part (once I grew up a bit, especially) I haven't pursued it seriously.

I have a bit of an aptitude for accents (and, I presume, languages) but I haven't done a thing with it besides occasionally pretending to be a character on Doctor Who (or Jane Austen movies, whatever). I am pretty good at memorizing birthdays/every word everyone's ever said, but I don't do that on purpose (kind of like perfect pitch...how do you seriously pursue that?).

Many of the things I have a natural aptitude for I have pursued with some seriousness, though I'm uninterested in, say, making a career of writing backwards.

I seem to be really good at crafty stuff. Basically I keep finding things I want and deciding I don't want to pay what people charge for it, so I make it myself. I sew costumes, make my daughter's hairbows, woodburn pretty cool stuff, etc. And people keep telling me I need to start selling things or making money off of that somehow. But I think mass producing any of it would drive me batty. If I need to make money on the side, I prefer math tutoring, since that it what I majored in.

Okay. One more. I actually have an aptitude for roofing houses. No, really. But I didn't enjoy it at all, so I'll be limiting that talent to helping out neighbors and family, when they need it.

TheAnswerIs42 wrote:I seem to be really good at crafty stuff. Basically I keep finding things I want and deciding I don't want to pay what people charge for it, so I make it myself. I sew costumes, make my daughter's hairbows, woodburn pretty cool stuff, etc. And people keep telling me I need to start selling things or making money off of that somehow. But I think mass producing any of it would drive me batty. If I need to make money on the side, I prefer math tutoring, since that it what I majored in.

Etsy?

Etsy?

Still meh. I make things for friends, and lots of things for myself, but somehow selling things just seems strange to me. Tutoring is great. No costs involved, other than the books I have accumulated - no prep before they come - my kids can play off to the side, and I have the flexibility to let the student work on the next problem alone while I change a diaper if nessesary. And just like that- bam, $20 an hour. More than I can make off of crafts, and less work.

Of course, by costs, I am not counting the college degree and years of work experience I had to get first.

But if any of you ever need craft help, let me know. One time, I even made my son a dump truck costume for Halloween- I "papier mache"d a diaper box, so the cab was in front of him (with working headlights), and the dump part was behind him. I know it sounds lame, but it was awesome.

C is for wrote:I have a bit of an aptitude for accents (and, I presume, languages) . . .

Because of the aptitude for accents? Or for other reasons?

Katya wrote:

C is for wrote:I have a bit of an aptitude for accents (and, I presume, languages) . . .

Because of the aptitude for accents? Or for other reasons?

I've picked up a lot of foreign words just randomly (though many of them not terribly useful) and when I took a language in high school I was very good at it, but didn't want to continue, nor learn another one. So, not just because I'm good at accents, though I imagine that plays some part, however small.

C is for wrote:

Katya wrote:

C is for wrote:I have a bit of an aptitude for accents (and, I presume, languages) . . .

Because of the aptitude for accents? Or for other reasons?

I've picked up a lot of foreign words just randomly (though many of them not terribly useful) and when I took a language in high school I was very good at it, but didn't want to continue, nor learn another one. So, not just because I'm good at accents, though I imagine that plays some part, however small.

I'm just baffled by anyone who wouldn't want to study languages . . .

sqrt(-1) wrote:Also, Katya, thank you for your answer (after you retired, no less) about Chinese and Russian. Or at least the link to the old question. I'm really glad that I picked Chinese. It's really interesting to me.

You're welcome!

I am personally TERRIBLE at languages. Absolutly, positively, the subject that is most difficult for me to pick up. I'm not sure why. I took Latin for years because it was easier for me- I didn't have to speak it, so the "thinking on the fly" part was gone. Latin you can just stare at until it make sense.

I guess I baffle Katya. Huh.

TheAnswerIs42 wrote:I am personally TERRIBLE at languages. Absolutly, positively, the subject that is most difficult for me to pick up. I'm not sure why. I took Latin for years because it was easier for me- I didn't have to speak it, so the "thinking on the fly" part was gone. Latin you can just stare at until it make sense.

I guess I baffle Katya. Huh.

No, I get it if you don't have a natural aptitude for them (and I've known other people who studied Latin for those same reasons), I just don't get not wanting to study them if you have a knack for it. What could be more fun?

I had my screen open to reply and left for a couple hours and Katya had clarified.

What I was going to say was: It's people like me that are actually good at languages but don't do anything about it that baffle her.

So, yep. We're all on the same page.

And, really, I'm such a naturally lazy person I need a good incentive to do anything. I have never had a really good reason for learning new languages (though I have at various times resolved to pick up some-language-or-other and not followed through), so I haven't. Sad life.

I think anyone who has even the slightest inclination or aptitude should learn additional languages. Learning to speak Spanish was one of the best things I ever did. Now I'm working on French. If and when I speak French fairly fluently, then it will be on to Italian/Portuguese. (I figure sticking in the same family of languages will make it far easier.)

Marduk wrote:I think anyone who has even the slightest inclination or aptitude should learn additional languages. Learning to speak Spanish was one of the best things I ever did. Now I'm working on French. If and when I speak French fairly fluently, then it will be on to Italian/Portuguese. (I figure sticking in the same family of languages will make it far easier.)

See, I've preferred to hop around language sub-families. I figure that it would be boring (not to mention confusing!) to study languages that were too closely related. Plus, studying languages in 4 different I-E subfamilies has been useful at work, because my Russian knowledge means that I can also work with Ukrainian and Belorussian materials, my German has helped with Dutch, my French has helped with Italian and Spanish, etc.