Explain the word talent

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A talent (or aptitude) is the natural ability to do something better than most people. Talent is often confused with skill. We can develope and improve skill but not talent. Talent is the information written in genes when we are born. That information never changes in our lifetime. It can only be inherited by our children. Talent means only a greater potential for doing something.^[1] But talent is not enough. To get good results we need also practice. Even the greatest talent without practice will not give good skill. But on the other hand, even years of practice without talent will not give good results either. If somebody has no talent for music but learns to play piano several hours a day for two years, they will achieve some skill but never become a great musician.

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• Genius
• Gifted education
• Mensa

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Talent is a potential or an inherent ability of an individual. In explanatory dictionaries, the meaning of the word talent is defined as special personal predispositions of a person. With the acquisition of experience, they form a skill. In contrast to genius, when a person is considered gifted in everything, and, it should be noted, only certain cases are known when a talented person has high abilities that relate to one, two, and less often several areas.

The meaning of the word talent is interestingly revealed thanks to the Greek root, which also denotes a measure of weight, monetary calculation in antiquity. Here we recall the parable of the distributed talents, which tells us not only about coins, but also teaches how to deal with the skills that nature has gifted us with — not to “bury” them, but to multiply them in every way.

What is talent?

Talent is above just a good result, it is a special talent , noticeable even to others as out of the ordinary abilities. For example, if a person has a high ability to play chess, then with certain efforts he shows a good game. However, the talent for the game will begin to appear, as if by itself, will be felt through an attraction to chess, and the results will exceed the results of those who simply have good skills. Others will notice this, considering such a player special, as if having superpowers by nature. There is always some kind of thrill in relation to talent. However, talent is not always immediately visible. If a talented person has never had the opportunity to encounter the subject of his talent, he may not be aware of his ability at all.

It happens in life in conditions that are inappropriate for the development of this sphere. More than one film was shot about immigrants from the lower economic strata of the population or poor countries, who, when they got into a new life, became brilliant boxers, dancers, even scientists, with even a little training.

The difficulty in revealing talent is also associated with other special conditions, not only economic ones — there are cases when a child at school was considered mentally retarded, but with special training he not only achieved high indicators in his talent, but also made discoveries, was a pioneer in a new field . It also matters freshness of view, non-clouding of perception by knowledge, as it is right, which is typical for ordinary people who do not try to look at the subject of study or training from the other side, but perform the necessary actions as if by a template.

A talented person will be able to achieve super results both by the usual development methodology, and even often without it, or he will try to make a personal contribution to it. What a talented person does is always visible in her special handwriting.

Without developing his gift from nature, a person often remains just keen on, for example, singing, pleases this hobby of himself and his acquaintances. But once in the right conditions — at a talent show, and having received the basics of preparation, he can drastically change his life. However, a pronounced talent often does not allow its carrier to live in peace, forgetting about it. It is as if it is tearing out, the power of talent sometimes even rules a person, enthralling him and demanding that the desire find a way out — as if a strong plant breaks through the asphalt.

There are stories when parents, mentors, and society were forbidden to follow their attraction. Then, a serious intrapersonal conflict broke out between the individual between the unconscious powerful desire to do what he loved and the prohibitions on him. This was especially characteristic of earlier, more oppressive times. And here you can even partially understand those who imposed the ban. For example, hereditary doctors could guarantee their child a decent and prosperous future by teaching him medicine, passing on his clients and a famous name. However, especially gifted, naturally talented son or daughter could not always submit to this course of events, feeling themselves not entitled to follow this faceless, empty and unhappy path for them. If, in addition to talent, a person possessed at least some strong-willed qualities, then he could withstand the pressure of the environment and protect his gift, sometimes only after death he received recognition. However, what a recognition!

Not one truly great man was unrecognized in his own country and time. Often — this environment does not want, is not able to perceive something new, different from the usual, resists a new trend or even aggressively defends itself from it. Some talents were so contrary to socially recognized activities that the wearer himself could not explain to himself that he owned it, and tried to fight and eradicate the attraction to talent. However, neither external nor internal struggle with true talent brings the desired results, the strength of talent only grows from the struggle. Many outstanding, sharp talented works, usually artistic ones, were created just under the influence of this conflict, as if at a break, they traced the spiritual hesitation and even the suffering of the creator. But, as in the case of their creator, later they took possession of the minds and hearts of their audience, and often even laid the foundation for a new, revolutionary direction, subsequently becoming a classic.

By itself, without development, trial, training, sometimes even painful hours spent on it, without its manifestation — talent has no power, is not interesting to others. Like a gemstone, he requires his master to have filigree processing in order to turn from an uncouth piece of stone into a radiant jewel. Time and labor spent in the direction of developing your talent is the next necessary step for the inherent ability to be transformed into something more, to find its manifestation.

In order to be useful and recognized, you need not only to know that I am talented, but also to determine in what form the world can perceive my talent today, and then make an effort and spend time. Working based on his talent, its owner needs to catch up with those who, through hard work in this direction, are now getting the best results.

Today, talent often has practical applications, is a source of income and the dream of many people is to work in the field of their interests. Therefore, understanding the market as a receiver of the results of talented work is very important today.

Types of talent

Back in 1980, Gardner in his book shared his abilities and highlighted the types of talent. They now illustrate well the main groups of talents, although after Gardner more than 30 species were isolated.

Verbal-linguistic talent is the ability to clearly articulate your thoughts and express them beautifully, the sharpness of your mind and words. This talent is inherent in outstanding journalists, speakers, and writers.

Digital talent is the ability to deal with numbers and various kinds of exact characters. It is characteristic of mathematicians, programmers, and economists who perceive the world through exact expressions and are able to quickly calculate. Obviously gifted in the digital sphere, people seem to live in a world of abstractions and, without developing social skills, may even look strange to other people.

The spatial type of talent is nothing more than the ability to navigate in space and creatively transform it, which is common among designers and artists. Often they have their own particular outlook on reality, and they express it in objects of art. However, there are those who are talented precisely in transmitting a realistic world, who can exactly recreate the look as if on a photograph.

Physical talent is inherent in people who have excellent command of their body and sensory organs. Here is the widest range of activities from outstanding physical workers to skilled dancers. According to the style of perception, people of this type are the opposite of people of a mathematical warehouse, so training for the physically gifted should be in practice, through physicality.

Personal or emotional talent is responsible for the ability to recognize your emotions and feelings, to live a deep inner life. This kind of talent is akin to reflection , observation of one’s psychic life and the opposite of alexithymia . It can be noticed, for example, by the outstanding writer Dostoevsky.

Interpersonal talent helps in communication with other people and is needed by teachers, politicians, actors and public figures.

In a separate group, Gardner also singles out such a type as environmental talent. This ability to harmoniously fit into nature, the world around and correspond to it, it is characteristic of natural farmers and animal trainers.

These types of talent can be combined with each other. For example, a person gifted with spatial and digital types of talent can become a good architect. And emotionally and interpersonal gifted — a good psychologist.

How to find your talent?

Recognizing talent is like looking for your strengths, but finding more talent and abilities is something more.

How to discover talent in yourself, your children, recognize in other people, help in its disclosure? To do this, analyze previous achievements or facts, answering which of these results are outstanding.

A young child can recognize talent by trying it in different types of activities: offering to sing, dance, construct. And it may turn out that the child sang perfectly, with inspiration , without special training, better than other children. Often even children themselves are drawn to what their talent is. A talented child in singing does not need to be forced to sing, he will certainly sing often, with pleasure, and his parents will easily notice his love and ability to sing. And here it is already important to properly dispose of the talent given by nature — to give him the opportunity for further development, to provide conditions, like soil, watering, light and fertilizer for a flower.

How to find talents and abilities? Below is a methodology, thanks to the successive steps of which you can determine your talents.

Step 1. What is your dream? Remember your dreams from childhood until the present moment, write them down.

Step 2. Divide them into categories: have and be. The first category concerns the desires of possessing some things. Then the second one is the desire to be someone, to become the person you dreamed about. In further work on the methodology, we take only dreams from the second category.

Step 3. Write down those professions that resonate with you. Remember those people where you wanted to be.

Step 4. What do you like to do? Add to the list those activities that bring you true satisfaction, those that do not require coercion for you, but, on the contrary, please.

Step 5. Combine all your dreams, favorite hobbies and professions, and check what are causing your positive emotions. For the greatest accuracy, imagine yourself in each role as detailed as possible, visualize it as if it is your reality now. Assess your body sensations and emotions on a 10-point scale.

Step 6. Cross out from the list those areas that received low marks — these are those desires that can easily be abandoned.

Step 7. Group the resulting list of your inclinations, if some of them have a connection. For example, in one desire you want to sing, and in the other — to receive recognition and fame, then they logically unite in the desire to become a famous singer.

Step 8. Call each group some kind of talent, for example, as in the previous example, the talent of singing.

Step 9. Look for the connection between the formed groups. In life in practice, your inclinations necessarily support each other or conflict, but in the end they form a unique individual combination.

Step 10. What application can you find for your abilities? Consider each group of inclinations united as talent and the connections between them to find possible ways for you to realize these abilities. For each profession or field of activity, give a rating on a scale of 10 points again and highlight the most promising ones.

Step 11. From the specific activities, choose the one that is closest to you, like and has a high chance of bringing you success. This will be your talent.

Last Updated:
9 Apr 2023
— Updated example sentences

талант, талантливость, дар, одаренность, способность, талантливый человек

существительное ↓

Словосочетания

a writer with a talent for parody — писатель с талантом пародиста  
a galaxy of British artistic talent — плеяда талантливых британских артистов  
a tennis player of middling talent — не самый талантливый теннисист / теннисист средней руки  
lustrous talent — яркий талант  
amateur talent groups — художественная самодеятельность  
to spot smb.’s talent — заметить чей-л. талант  
talent for painting — талант художника  
to cultivate / develop a talent — растить, развивать, воспитывать талант  
to squander one’s talent(s) — расточать способности  
versatile talent — разносторонний талант  
leadership talent — талант лидера  
creative talent — творческие способности  

Примеры с переводом

Примеры, ожидающие перевода

Возможные однокоренные слова

talented  — талантливый, одаренный, даровитый
talentless  — бездарный, лишенный таланта

Формы слова

noun
ед. ч.(singular): talent
мн. ч.(plural): talents