So don't publicize the fact that you are 'learning' while you 'practice'. Just show the end result and it will likely be better than their language 'experts' could have done in any comparable [or infinite] time frame.

Not even 4 weeks worth of semi-productive self-learning? That sounds quite pathetic.

There must be something else, like fear of the unknown, risk aversion, "nobody got fired for choosing IBM"…

I know consulting companies that bill the customer the hours developers spend getting up to speed with a given technology.

In the cases the customer is not willing to pay, developers get asked to learn off work hours, if they want to stay on the project.

Now this is just abusive. I understand that as an individual I have to live with this, but collectively, it looks like we should rise up.