A Finnish performance artist spent her internship at Deloitte sitting at her desk, thinking. Not typing. Not pretending to be busy. Just thinking. Her colleagues were terrified. This week’s BlanBla email uses Pilvi Takala’s story to explain something about speaking Spanish naturally — why looking busy (apps, streaks, grammar drills) is not the same as actually learning, and why real conversation practice makes people uncomfortable for exactly the right reasons.
[mailerlite_form form_id=4]
The Original Email
Yesterday I told you about the intern at Deloitte.
The one who did nothing. NADA.
Or at least… that’s what everyone thought.
She spent her days sitting. Thinking. Looking.
Not typing. Not pretending. Not rushing.
And people were uncomfortable.
Some said it was strange. Some said it was scary.
Because in that office, like in many others, the goal isn’t to be productive.
The goal is to look productive.
But here’s the twist.
She wasn’t lazy.
She was a well-known Finnish artist doing a performance called “The Trainee.”
Her name: Pilvi Takala.
Here’s what she said:
“The non-doing person isn’t committed to any activity, so they have the potential for anything…”
In simple English?
If you’re not busy doing something specific, you could do anything.
And that makes people nervous.
Systems like clear roles. Clear boxes. Clear tasks.
If you’re not in a box, you’re a threat.
But here’s what matters now.
Soon, many “busy” jobs will disappear.
Typing. Clicking. Answering emails. Making slides.
AI can already do a lot of that. And it will only get better.
So what’s left for us?
Learning and speaking a language is a HUMAN experience.
It always was. And always will be.
So. No apps. No AI.
En La Tribu: people who are tired of streaks, apps, feeling good at exercises but freezing when it’s time to speak.
They want to speak. For real. With real humans. With conversation that actually moves.
Inside the tribe, we talk. We make mistakes. We think. We challenge ideas.
We build confidence by using the language, not studying it.
It’s messy. It’s alive. It works.
—
Cada tarde, un hombre se sentaba frente a una vaca. Y observaba.
No porque le gustaran las vacas.
Sino porque la vaca no intentaba ser nada.
No quería mejorar. No quería destacar. No quería demostrar.
Solo existía. Existía para alguien. Era hermosa.
Él iba allí para recordar algo peligroso:
Que él también podía existir sin estar siempre convirtiéndose en algo más.
La vida no es una puta escalera. Es un camino.
Mañana más. Besos y amor, Mónica.
Key Vocabulary
No hacer nada — To do nothing. Nada = nothing. No hago nada (I do nothing), no pasa nada (nothing’s happening / no worries — one of the most useful Spanish phrases).
Parecer productivo — To look/seem productive. Parecer = to seem/appear. Parece difícil (it seems hard), parece interesante (it seems interesting). Different from ser (to actually be) — you can parecer busy without ser busy.
La vaca no intentaba ser nada — The cow wasn’t trying to be anything. Intentar = to try/attempt. Intento hablar español (I try to speak Spanish). The cow’s philosophy: existence without performance.
La vida no es una puta escalera. Es un camino. — Life isn’t a bloody ladder. It’s a path. Escalera = stairs/ladder. Camino = path/road. Also: el Camino de Santiago — the famous pilgrimage across Spain.
The Deloitte Lesson for Language Learners
Most language learners perform learning. They open Duolingo, do their streak, feel productive, close the app. Nothing has changed in their ability to speak. The Pilvi Takala insight applies directly: looking busy at language learning is not the same as actually acquiring the language. Real acquisition is uncomfortable. It means saying things wrong. It means real people looking at you waiting for words. It means being in the box marked “learner” in public.
That discomfort is exactly where growth happens. La Tribu is built around it. Join here — or start with the free Spanish book.
— Monica Bernabe Perez