kilcookie Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4631 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch
| Message 1 of 7 18 April 2012 at 7:10pm | IP Logged |
I've searched the forums but haven't found a lot, please excuse me if i'm just being stupid!
It's been a long time since i've learnt any languages, but i've decided I want to teach myself Dutch. How to learn grammar confounds me though - is it just a case of learning by heart or is there more to it?
Any tips, advice, or pointers to the right place would be great!
1 person has voted this message useful
|
nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5443 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean
| Message 2 of 7 18 April 2012 at 7:35pm | IP Logged |
The Michel Thomas course would be a great (and painless) introduction to Dutch grammar.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6625 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 3 of 7 18 April 2012 at 7:48pm | IP Logged |
It's up to you. There are various ways of picking it up naturally (see techniques http://learnanylanguage.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Techniques) and there are drills. Most probably do a bit of both.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
fiziwig Senior Member United States Joined 4893 days ago 297 posts - 618 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 4 of 7 18 April 2012 at 7:50pm | IP Logged |
My own theory is that "grammar" is somebody's attempt to describe how the language is used. "Learning grammar", by my way of thinking, is doing it backwards. Learn phrases, sentences, and other instances of grammar first.
After you are familiar with some examples of a particular grammatical principle THEN go back and read about that principle, to better understand what you have learned. After all, a four year old speaks her native language pretty fluently long before "knowing" the "grammar".
First learn to fly by the seat of your pants. Then study aerodynamics. It all just becomes so much more meaningful when you have a context for what the grammar text is talking about. It's the difference between saying to yourself "What the heck does that rule mean?" and saying to yourself "Aha! Now I see why I learned to say it that way!" The first way leads to confusion and frustration. The second way leads to revelation and enlightenment!
3 persons have voted this message useful
|
eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4729 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese
| Message 5 of 7 18 April 2012 at 7:54pm | IP Logged |
I like grammar books with cool example sentences though they are a rare breed. Once resource I come across ( the name eludes my memory) had an example sentence along the lines of :-
I shall have my vengence upon that clown that put my face in sushi.
^^ Yes, clown is not a usefull word but it makes grammar more entertaining!
I just wish there were more resources like this.
3 persons have voted this message useful
|
Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6625 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 6 of 7 18 April 2012 at 8:49pm | IP Logged |
for languages other than English, google is a wonderful source of funny/crazy/cool sentences.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6625 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 7 of 7 19 April 2012 at 12:56am | IP Logged |
fiziwig wrote:
My own theory is that "grammar" is somebody's attempt to describe how the language is used. "Learning grammar", by my way of thinking, is doing it backwards. Learn phrases, sentences, and other instances of grammar first. |
|
|
Grammar is more than just this. Grammar is a structure.
A dictionary also describes how the language is uses - yet I'm sure you agree that it's possible to learn the words and use them?
Examples certainly help, and so does exposure. But parroting entire sentences isn't necessary.
It honestly makes so much more sense when you've studied (or even dabbled in) several languages. When you're still learning your first foreign language, a somewhat similar effect can be achieved by reading through several grammar reference books.
3 persons have voted this message useful
|