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Not Studying Grammar

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beano
Diglot
Senior Member
United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4624 days ago

1049 posts - 2152 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian

 
 Message 89 of 89
25 August 2013 at 10:28pm | IP Logged 
Perhaps the term "studying grammar" can conjure up the image of a language nerd with his nose buried in a
textbook, absorbing arcane terminology like present past indicative and progressive future perfect while
reciting drills where the subject, object and saturated substantive are instantly identified.

But it need not be as technical a process as that. A lot of grammar can be learned in layman's terms. For
example the verb können in German shoves the other verb in the sentence to the end. Knowing that it's
called a modal verb doesn't actually enable you to perform the operation any more efficiently.

Likewise, you can get away with not really knowing what a subject and object is, provided you are able to
produce sentences that tally with the way they are phrased by natives. There are lots of things I can
confidently do in German for which I don't know the appropriate jargon, but I do know it sounds right because
I've learned a lot of the language by hearing it being spoken around me. That said, there are things that took
me a while to get my head around no doubt a few sessions with a textbook may have provided me with a
short-cut.

I have done some active grammar study over the years but it is only one technique in my arsenal. I think
listening and independent reading can be just as effective at embedding structure in your mind. For
languages with complex case systems, you can get a feel for there use without having to commit an entire
matrix to memory. You can spot patterns and sometimes there's even a vowel harmony system to guide you.
In my opinion, when you feel the language "pulling" you in the correct direction, you are making serious
progress.

Edited by beano on 25 August 2013 at 10:29pm



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