Ignorance was bliss

I have long considered that there are four levels of competence.

At the bottom is unconscious incompetence. This could be described as "ignorance is bliss". When you are at this level of competence, you can walk around with a stupid smile on your face and feel good.

The next level up from the bottom is conscious incompetence. At this level of competence you can be painfully aware of your level of incompetence. It can be a very uncomfortable place to be and the natural response is to strive to get to the next level of competence.

The next level of competence is conscious competence. With conscious effort of some level, you are able to master what you are attempting. That conscious effort might require terrific focus or it might just require being attentive and alert. But you have reached competence.

The highest level of competence is unconscious competence, and this level of competence is rarely reached. To be unconsciously competent means you are in the zone, what you are attempting is natural and reflexive. In fact the word attempting would be incorrect. You do not attempt, you just do.

So I needed to illustrate the four levels of competence to convey where I am in my studies. Last Monday I walked into the language school with my blissful ignorant smile on my face; the lowest level of competence. After my first day of class, the bliss had disappeared and I had been ripped into stage two competence: conscious incompetence. Now after a week of school, with three more weeks in front of me, I think I can see stage three in the distance. I have a few hundred vocabulary words, and I often even use them correctly. I have about forty verbs but I can only conjugate in the present tense. I can say "went", "was" and "did", so I can tell a little bit about what I did. And I can use the verb "go" ("ir" in Spanish) with another verb to speak in the future tense. Example would be in English, "I am going to eat", or in Spanish, "voy a comer". But of course it takes a long time for me to roll this around in my head.

Before I started class, whenever I would communicate in Spanish, it was clear I did not speak Spanish, but I knew enough vocabulary and verbs that were terribly conjugated and all parties would struggle through the discussion and everyone had fun. Now I say enough correctly that the other party will babble a stream of Spanish in response, assuming comprehension, and my response is often the universally understood, "Duh!"

But I am holding on to the fact that competent competence is in sight. I think that is a light at the end of the tunnel and not an oncoming locomotive. And I am only one week into a four week session.