Can't see the forest for the trees

Don’t forget to look at the big picture.

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Expression: Can’t see the forest for the trees

Just as there are all kinds of people in the world, there are all kinds of students.

Some students find it difficult to read online; they have to print everything out on paper.

Others never pay attention to grammar but can speak very fluently, albeit with many mistakes.

Then some can’t see the forest for the trees.

These learners pay so much attention to the details they are unable to see the big picture; they never see the whole situation.

Especially in Japan, many students are like this.

They try hard to achieve perfection from the very beginning.

However, these students, the perfectionists, are so intent on cracking open the eggs perfectly that they never make the omelet.

They can’t see the forest for the trees.

English is communicating, and communication is the omelet.

Grammar and sentence structure are the eggs.

Yes, when cracking the eggs for an omelet, we’d prefer not to make a mess all over the counter.

Perfection comes with practice, and practicing is messy.

It’s the same with learning a language.

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What with plural nouns, prepositions, adverbs and articles all flying around at the same time?

It’s amazing anybody understands anything.

But we do.

The main point is people communicate or make the omelet.

Perfection comes with practice.

The more you practice, the more mess you make until you become better.

Before you know it, you’re cracking eggs with one hand and not making a mess.

Try not to fall into the can’t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees conundrum.

Break a few grammar rules, drop an article once in a while, but communicate.

Make the omelet.

This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.