Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6701 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 57 of 63 08 May 2014 at 11:09am | IP Logged |
In the Danish classes in my school years back in the 60s we learnt rock bottom sentence analysis using a method with graphical signs: a cross under subjects ("grundled"), a circle under the verbals ("udsagnsled"), a triangle under direct objects ("genstandsled") etc. - a simple method, but efficient. And without that bitsize grammar teaching I think I would have had much more trouble learning 'real' grammar later on with other languages.
It is with grammar as with languages in general: the earlier you get started (with suitably simple methods) the more natural it will be for you to think in terms of sentence patterns etc. later when you have to learn new languages. And if dubious, but fashionable pedagogical dogma lead to the abandonment of that early start then it is no wonder that the schools later has to dumb down their language teaching because the majority of their pupils simply can't see sentence structures in new languages even if they are dangling in front of their noses.
Edited by Iversen on 08 May 2014 at 11:10am
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Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5907 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese
| Message 58 of 63 08 May 2014 at 11:42am | IP Logged |
Kanji. I really wish it was possible to learn Japanese without them. I respect them for keeping them, but they're still a pain...
Liz
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QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5853 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese
| Message 59 of 63 08 May 2014 at 5:52pm | IP Logged |
I am still struggling with the spelling in English. Somehow the correct spelling cannot still in my mind and I can keep repeating the same spelling mistake! I wish English is spelt phonetically like Icelandic or German.
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Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4666 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali
| Message 60 of 63 08 May 2014 at 8:01pm | IP Logged |
QiuJP wrote:
I am still struggling with the spelling in English. Somehow the correct spelling cannot still in my mind and I can keep repeating the same spelling mistake! I wish English is spelt phonetically like Icelandic or German. |
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Writing helps spelling and reading, in English,
just like writing Hanzi helps reading ;)
Write long essays with the spell checker off,
then, turn it on,
write all words you misspelled down,
and write them once more on a paper ;)
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Retinend Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4306 days ago 283 posts - 557 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), French
| Message 61 of 63 09 May 2014 at 12:35am | IP Logged |
Great thread. Currently I'm not fond of the multiple uses of "se" in Spanish. If you
interpret a "se" wrongly it can throw you right off the scent.
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Retinend Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4306 days ago 283 posts - 557 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), French
| Message 62 of 63 09 May 2014 at 1:00am | IP Logged |
Iversen wrote:
And if dubious, but fashionable pedagogical dogma lead to the abandonment of that early
start then it is no wonder that the schools later has to dumb down their language teaching because the
majority of their pupils simply can't see sentence structures in new languages even if they are dangling in
front of their noses. |
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I agree with you, but to play devil's advocate: is it plausible that nothing is lost by avoiding
conjugation tables, sentence formulas etc. until much later, when this knowledge would dovetail with the
experienced student's collected experience in using the language?
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Stolan Senior Member United States Joined 4030 days ago 274 posts - 368 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Thai, Lowland Scots Studies: Arabic (classical), Cantonese
| Message 63 of 63 09 May 2014 at 7:09pm | IP Logged |
Retinend wrote:
Great thread. Currently I'm not fond of the multiple uses of "se" in Spanish. If you
interpret a "se" wrongly it can throw you right off the scent. |
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There is scarcely any equivalent I have found to reflexive verbs outside except for the mediopassive fossizlied
forms in some Tibeto Burman languages that have evolved to have inflection unlike relatives such as Chinese or
others. But in this form it's another heinous Indo-europeanism. Ach!
Edited by Stolan on 12 May 2014 at 11:52pm
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