Improving Your Odds

What are you doing to improve your odds? If you’re single, what might improve the odds of finding a mate? Interested in speeding up your learning curve? How are the odds in your favor? If you’ve got friendly advice, what are the odds you’ve got it right?

At 23, one word was always on my radar, GIRLS. In fact, most of what I heard at that age was “wahw, wahw, wahw, girls, wahw, wahw…” When I learned about a six-week French immersion course, I didn’t hear details. All I heard was “girls.” At the time, the Canadian government funded French immersion for university students.

Translation?

Girls. Free.

The course was based at the Université du Québec in Chicoutimi. I quickly learned about the two to one ratio of women to men in this small, industrial town. This ratio was never statistically backed-up, but it was close. And why let facts get in the way of a good story? What was fact: of the 160 students, 120 were female and 40 were male.

Let’s just say it was clear to me there is a God! My newfound ability to meet girls zoomed past my younger life as a clarinet player.

Lest cynics become disillusioned about any waste of Canadian tax dollars, I did learn a great deal of French. To speed up student’s learning curve, no one was allowed to speak English. We stayed with French speaking families and the facilitators shrugged ignorance when students blurted out English in frustration.

In addition to the traditional classes, there were a number of elective courses. These included poetry or filmmaking. I specifically chose Improv Theatre to boost my rate of learning. Improv’s about thinking fast. With any new language it’s best to let go and just talk. You’ll be further ahead by talking with mistakes than by trying to make… each… sentence… laboriously… 100%… correct. Although, accuracy proved to have its upside.

A friend, Joanne, knew zero French. When we arrived I taught her some words I knew. La porte – door. La fenêtre – window. When Joanne asked how to say friend I tried to show off and give her a term of endearment, “Mon petit chochon.” Each time we saw each other we’d exchange greetings with, “Bonjour mon petit chochon.”

Later on I learned that it wasn’t chochon. That meant pig. What it was supposed to be was, “My little cabbage,” or “Mon petit chou chou.”

Years later, Joanne saw me in the street and related a story that just happened to her. She met a couple from France and wanted to demonstrate some linguistic prowess. Pointing at the girlfriend, she said to the man, “Ton petit chochon.” In disbelief the man said, “You just called my girlfriend a pig.”

Alas, in the Age of Speed, mistakes will continue to be part of our human experience. The point is to leverage ways to improve your odds, whether you’re single, improving your learning curve or teaching a friend a few helpful words.

Until next week it’s full speed ahead,

Vince Poscente
New York Times Bestselling Author
Speaker Hall of Fame and Olympian
July 23, 2008
Vol.3.43