You cannot be taught, you can only learn
Here is something I have been thinking a lot about lately.
"Languages cannot be taught, only learnt."
Luca Lampariello, an italian polyglot who speaks more than 10 languages, said that.
I think this is true with almost anything. Replace the word languages with anything you want.
I've said it MANY times before: all a teacher can do is act as a signpost. Point you in the right direction. Clear up confusion over specific issues.
But the journey must be taken alone.
I am on a few language exchange sites right now, where I've been interacting with people who are native Spanish speakers who want to learn either English or Swedish. And already I'm noticing the vast chasm between the attitudes of the learners, especially those learning Swedish. Basically, some people are expecting me to TEACH them the language from scratch. As in, they barely know how to spell "Hej" (hello).
No, that cannot and will not work. You need to learn at your OWN pace. Because it's YOUR brain that needs to make the connections. YOU need to do the work.
I've gone through many learning experiences, learning everything from language to copywriting to martial arts, to juggling four balls, riding a unicycle, or solving a Rubik's cube in about a minute.
No one can TEACH you how to ride a unicycle. What? How could that even possibly work? You get on, you pedal, you fall off, repeat until you stop falling off.
Learning a language? Learn the minimum viable basics. Find a native and have a conversation. Make mistakes, get corrected, repeat until you stop making mistakes.
It's the same no matter what you learn. It's just never been more apparent to me than now, the language learning thing has really illuminated this concept for me.
The trick is that it's YOU who has to do the work.
Two people can follow the exact same curriculum and one will come out drastically ahead of the other.
It all comes down to you.
And furthermore... so does everything else.
It is SO easy to fall into the trap of abdicating responsibility to an outside authority. "I didn't learn Spanish because my teacher sucked!"
No, amigo, you did.
Because there is no such thing as an outside authority. Period.