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How to use a grammar | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| jasoninchina Senior Member China Joined 5217 days ago 221 posts - 306 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Italian | Message 1 of 29 17 November 2011 at 4:09am | IP Logged |
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I enjoy reading through grammars, but I've always found that I struggle to incorporate the things I've learned into my active speech. I currently have two grammar books for Chinese that are both great; they both have example sentences and are quite exhaustive.
So I'm curious how others use grammars. Do you focus on one grammar point a day and try to use it in your conversations, or something else? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| arturs Triglot Senior Member Latvia Joined 5257 days ago 278 posts - 408 votes Speaks: Latvian*, Russian, English | Message 2 of 29 17 November 2011 at 12:25pm | IP Logged |
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I usually try to use grammar as a supplement to textbooks. I think the only language that was easy enough for me to learn grammar separately was Swedish. But for more difficult languages like Arabic and Finnish I use the grammar like this - I learn a chapter in a textbook (let's say Teach Yourself Arabic) and I see this grammar explanation but the textbook doesn't go into big details so I check that up in the grammar book.
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| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5997 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 3 of 29 17 November 2011 at 12:48pm | IP Logged |
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The problem with most grammar books is that the examples in every section rely on information in every other section. There is no clear progression -- because they're designed as reference books. You're supposed to look at them when you have a specific question, which is what I do. I don't go to a grammar book to learn something at random, I always go there with a specific purpose in mind.
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| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4995 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 4 of 29 17 November 2011 at 4:11pm | IP Logged |
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I use grammar books to cover gaps I have after or during going through whichever course (or long time after having gone through some). I like seeing things I know parts of together and with more examples.
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 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6689 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 29 17 November 2011 at 6:09pm | IP Logged |
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I normally read grammars through from A to Z, but without the intention to learn everything in them - more to know where to search for specific themes later. And I try to read more than one grammar, both because I like to know whether everybody use the same system and because you are less tied down to one description when you have seen more than one.
With things that can be summarized I sometimes make 'green sheets' on green cardboard (white paper would disappear under all my used white paper). On each sheet I try to put as much information as possible about regular patterns, excluding exceptions (they can be listed elsewhere). For instance I always try to get articles and the endings of adjectives and nouns on one single sheet so that I can see the whole picture at a glance - try to find a regular grammar where you can see the complete morphology for those three things across one page! This of course means that I can't include example words, but given that I mostly use such sheets with a specific word in mind it would just be superfluous to waste space on examples. Besides I often take a certain topic (mostly syntax) and then I collect examples both from things I read and from the Internet (using Google). It could for instance be "Portuguese infinitives day". That way I not only become conversant with the distinctions and rules within that topic, but I also get some idea about the frequencies of different things. If I have to go to a grammar to find examples of a certain thing then this thing might be slightly less important than you would have expected based on the space allotted in a certain grammar. Edited by Iversen on 21 November 2011 at 10:16am 6 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5367 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 6 of 29 17 November 2011 at 6:23pm | IP Logged |
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Grammatical structures are like keys. I use them to open doors and see what's on the other side. Sometimes, I find something I need right away, something I've been wanting to express, and then it's fairly easy to use and remember. Sometimes, however, what I find seems useless and later on, I remember that there is a way to say it and I go back and get it. Generally, I like to open all the doors at the beginning, so I know where to go back in times of need.
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| jasoninchina Senior Member China Joined 5217 days ago 221 posts - 306 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Italian | Message 7 of 29 18 November 2011 at 3:06am | IP Logged |
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The main reason I'm asking this question is because my ability to read and listen outstrips my ability to speak. In other words, I can recognize and understand various grammatical structures when heard or seen, but struggle to use them when speaking. Of course, I am slowly becoming better at this, but I was hoping there was something I could do to speed up the process. Sometimes, I look at my grammars and think "if I could only master everthing in this book, my Chinese would be awesome." I know it's a foolish thought, but it's an easy thought to have when all the information about a language is so neatly laid out for you.
Thanks for the responses so far 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5945 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 8 of 29 18 November 2011 at 3:57am | IP Logged |
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Jasoninchina, does this mean that the grammar workbook is not making a dent for you?
1 person has voted this message useful |
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