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I feel like this is motivational when you use it on yourself and misleading when you use it with other people. If I call myself a pianist or a Japanese speaker,

I feel like this is motivational when you use it on yourself and misleading when you use it with other people. If I call myself a pianist or a Japanese speaker, people will get the wrong idea of my skill level and be surprised and disappointed to discover I am a beginner.

toxik 4y ago
Then that is not your title, it is amateur or novice pianist.
- wbazant 4y ago
  Still a pianist, no?
  - cutemonster 4y ago
    If you say you're a pianist, and others ask you to play, and turns out you can't play a single song properly -- chances are, some of them will now look at you as a bit of a poor judgement fool. If one is fine with that, then yes, call oneself a pianist I guess? Personally I'd say I was "learning to play the piano". Or what about someone says: "I'm a Software Engineer" ... but then can't write the first characters in a FizzBuzz solution and wonders "what's a for loop?"
nohaydeprobleme 4y ago
With other people, you can give an accurate picture by describing specific accomplishments you've achieved. For example, with the piano, you might be able to say that you can consistently play a certain song from memory with occasional mistakes, while having trouble learning new pieces quickly (if you might have difficulty sight-reading). For a language, you might be able to say that you can have a half-hour conversation without using English/your native language without too much difficulty, but you can't speak about technical or philosophical topics, and you might still be working on understanding how to use certain grammatical tenses. Then, there's less reason for doubt from other people or yourself, as your skill level is communicated more objectively and less subjectively. The framing also gives you a nice clear path for what to work on next (for example, learning how to talk about a specific topic and understand a new grammar tense).

toxik 4y ago

Then that is not your title, it is amateur or novice pianist.

wbazant 4y ago
Still a pianist, no?
- cutemonster 4y ago
  If you say you're a pianist, and others ask you to play, and turns out you can't play a single song properly -- chances are, some of them will now look at you as a bit of a poor judgement fool. If one is fine with that, then yes, call oneself a pianist I guess? Personally I'd say I was "learning to play the piano". Or what about someone says: "I'm a Software Engineer" ... but then can't write the first characters in a FizzBuzz solution and wonders "what's a for loop?"

nohaydeprobleme 4y ago

With other people, you can give an accurate picture by describing specific accomplishments you've achieved. For example, with the piano, you might be able to say that you can consistently play a certain song from memory with occasional mistakes, while having trouble learning new pieces quickly (if you might have difficulty sight-reading). For a language, you might be able to say that you can have a half-hour conversation without using English/your native language without too much difficulty, but you can't speak about technical or philosophical topics, and you might still be working on understanding how to use certain grammatical tenses. Then, there's less reason for doubt from other people or yourself, as your skill level is communicated more objectively and less subjectively. The framing also gives you a nice clear path for what to work on next (for example, learning how to talk about a specific topic and understand a new grammar tense).