{"id":207,"date":"2013-11-14T12:46:18","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T12:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/french.kwiziq.com\/blog\/?p=207"},"modified":"2019-09-05T19:52:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T18:52:58","slug":"french-learning-superpowers-finding-your-blindspots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/french.kwiziq.com\/blog\/french-learning-superpowers-finding-your-blindspots\/","title":{"rendered":"French learning superpowers – language blindspots"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this article, I’m going to show you how you can take learning French to a whole new level by explaining learning blind spots: how they can cripple your progress and how to find and eliminate them.<\/p>\n

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What you don’t know you don’t know can be a source of embarassment. Kristen Wiig in the 2011 comedy smash hit “Bridesmaids<\/a>“.<\/p><\/div>\n

Donald Rumsfeld famously said, \u201cThere are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns \u2013 there are things we do not know we don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In 2002, his statement received criticism as tortuous use of the English language, but in fact Rumsfeld was paraphrasing from decades old insights into knowledge and learning. We tend to live our lives as if there are only two domains of knowledge: what we know<\/strong> and what we don’t know, <\/strong>and we go about assuming we know what we don’t know<\/strong>: I know I don’t know how to fly a plane, for example. The insight that Rumsfeld was alluding to, however, is we have knowledge blind spots<\/strong> and our blind spots come from another area: that which we don’t know that we don’t know<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Things in this domain are usually called unknown-unknowns<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In language learning, learning French<\/strong> for example, this domain is vital to your progress because in fact, includes things that we think we know but don’t. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Confused? Phew! Me too! Let’s use a few examples to make this simple.<\/p>\n

Let’s assume that you’re a beginner (if you’re not, you can extend these examples to your own level easily, or indeed any other topic that you might be learning beyond the French language).<\/p>\n

Something you know (known-known)<\/strong><\/p>\n