by JENNIFER HUMMLER

How often have you heard someone exclaim, “Oh, she’s SOO talented” or something similar? Pretty frequently, right? Especially in respect to a musical performance. But, what does that
mean? The word “talent” is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “natural aptitude or
skill.” The important word here being “natural.” When we refer to talent, we are referring to
something that a person naturally has. It’s like saying, “Oh, she’s SOO tall!” That’s not really
much of a compliment, is it? It also implies that the skill being performed just came naturally to
the performer. We can assure you that 99.99% of the time, that is totally false! Yes, there are
some actually talented people out there, and many performers have discovered a skill that they
have a bit of talent for and then worked to refine it, but nobody woke up one morning with the
ability to play a Rachmaninov concerto.

Next time you want to give a compliment to a performer, please don’t use the word “talent.” It
not only disrespects all of the hard work, time, dedication, patience, money, and frustration that
went into acquiring the skill, but it also gives other people the impression that everyone is
either talented or not talented. It makes people who can’t play an instrument (or do
gymnastics, etc.) feel like they’re just not talented. That’s false! They just haven’t put in the
work — yet. Instead, say something like, “She’s such a skilled musician!” or “Wow, I can’t
imagine how much hard work went into that performance!”