I recently saw a video clip of a post-season interview with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks basketball player. The clip starts with someone asking whether Antetokounmpo viewed the season as a failure. His response was so profound. Honestly- I’ve watched the clip at least 10 times. As a response, Antetokounmpo says “there is no failure in sports” but rather “steps to success.” He talks about having good days and bad days and working towards a goal.
I think we can extend the sentiment and say,
There is no failure in language learning.
You will have good days and bad days when learning a language. Perhaps you have forgotten words you know, keep making the same mistakes, or have trouble communicating your ideas. I’ve had plenty of times where I couldn’t remember a seemingly basic word, used the wrong verb conjugation for the 100th time or just didn’t get my thoughts across in Greek.
On the other hand, maybe you had just the right words at the right moment or had an amazing conversation in Greek with a native speaker. I mean, I ended up having a fascinating personal tour of a museum just because I knew some Greek.
Both the good days and bad days help you move towards success. What lessons can you take from your bad days and good days?
In the clip, Antetokounmpo also talks about coming back next season and building good habits. It is possible to do the same with language learning. Examine those bad language learning moments to discern what you can learn from them and how you can use that experience to build good learning habits and move towards success. While you’re at it, take time to examine the good moments too! They can be huge steps forward.
Check out the video clip. What do you think? Leave a comment below.
PS – If you are interesting in learning more about Antetokounmpo’s life and how he made it to the NBA, check out the movie Rise on Disney+. As an added bonus, you can watch the movie with both audio and subtitles in Greek.
Modern Greek Learning Journey 
2 responses to “There is No Failure in Language Learning”
If I’m not making mistakes, I’m not learning. Just yesterday during a live tutoring session I said μέλισσα when I meant to say μάλιστα. I’m still laughing! I will probably never make that mistake again because it was a funny memorable mistake.
The life story of The Greek Freak is inspiring. What he has achieved in his life, coming from poverty in Athens Greece, with parents who immigrated from Nigeria is epic. So far in his basketball career, he is up there with the best athletes who have ever played in the NBA. He’s on track to be a first ballot hall of famer and is in the conversation for the greatest of all time.
I called him by his nickname The Greek Freak because a couple of years ago I was involved indirectly with the design of his Nike shoe. My brother-in-law who works at Nike, was involved in designing the shoe. They wanted to put the word φρικιό (freak) on the bottom of the shoe. My brother-in-law asked me if that was the correct word to use, since he knows that I am learning Greek. I quickly asked several of my native Greek speaking friends. Their answer was a resounding “No!”. The word φρικιό only has a negative connotation in Greek. In English the word freak has morphed into having a positive meaning, as in someone who is exceptionally good at something. Nike did not put that word on the shoe. There is a whole line of Greek Freak Nike shoes, and they have his brothers’ names and his parent’s names on various shoes.
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Interesting story about the shoes!
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