The Linguist On Language

Alexandre claims that English is grammar easy. Perhaps so. But it is my exposure to Russian that has increased my sense that grammar instruction is at best a luxury to be enjoyed (for those who enjoy it) after the language has been massively absorbed. Korean is also a complex language and I had a similar reaction. Give me the language and spare me the complicated explanations at least until after I have a sense for the language. When I see sentences tel ing me about the "infinitive of the imperfect aspect and the perfective infinitive or infinitive of the imperfective aspect" I just flip the page.

Rules

There are concepts of grammar that are explainable and easy to reproduce, like the use of three different words for "year" in Russian, depending on whether the number is one, two to four, or five and more.

There are concepts that are easy to explain, like the use of ―he‖ and ―she‖ in spoken English. Yet producing this accurately remains difficult for Chinese speakers, because the distinction does not exist in spoken Chinese.

There are the explanations that are difficult to understand if the phenomenon does not exist in one's own language, like articles in English, or verb aspects in Russian verbs, or "ser" and "estar" in Spanish etc.

There are the explanations where the exceptions exceed the rules.

Then there are the rules which are so complex, like the use of cases in Russian, where the accusative depends on whether the noun is animate or inanimate etc. and where the same ending can be used for different cases, numbers and genders...that the whole package is just too complex.

So every few months I used to leaf through a Russian grammar book, occasionally reminding myself of something. I have stopped doing that now. I now know roughly what the rules are supposed to be, in most cases, or at least I know what the overall game is, but I cannot remember them or refer to them when speaking,

On the other hand I am getting better at "feeling" what the case, or aspect, should be, and even expecting it when I listen.

CHAPTER V: WORDS

Languages consist of words. To learn a language we need to learn words, many words. We need to get a sense of what they mean, in different situations, and which words they are normal y used with in phrases. We need to learn how these words change. There are thousands of words to learn, and even more combinations of these words, that we have to get used to.

How do we do it?

Words, the basic building blocks

Should we learn words or should we learn phrases? There is increasing realization that it is important to learn phrases. There has been some research to show that we learn languages in chunks, which I guess corresponds to phrases. I agree that learning phrases, getting used to recognizing phrases that regularly appear in the language, is important. We need to give our brain enough exposure to these phrases, in contexts, and in flash cards or other deliberate study activities, so that they start to become natural to us. That is the easiest way to get comfortable with tenses, prepositions, case endings, and al the other things that are so different from language to language.

Phrases are important, however, so are words, individual words. They are the basic building blocks of the language. We need a lot of them. Many words are connected to other words so that the more we know, the easier it is to pick up new words without even noticing it, incidental y. In vocabulary acquisition, the rich get richer. The sooner you start accumulating, the better.

Phrases, chunks of the language

Native speakers of any language know natural y which words belong together. They have heard their own language so often, and in so many situations, that they can natural y put words together in a way that sounds effective. The foreign learner cannot do this.

Every sentence is unique, but phrases repeat themselves often. A phrase is any group of two or more, (usual y no more than five) words that natural y belong together and can be used in many situations.

Learn to look for phrases, save them and learn them. One word of caution is necessary, however. The phrases must come from meaningful content that you are listening to and reading. Free examples of sentences and phrases from dictionaries are false friends. You think you are learning but you are not. You need to find your own phrases as you discover the language from interesting content.

Vocabulary over grammar

What is the most important thing and what is the most difficult thing in learning a new language? My answer is always vocabulary.

You can express yourself with faulty grammar and less than perfect pronunciation. If you do not have the words you cannot express yourself. The constant battle to acquire enough vocabulary to read what you want to read, to say what you want to say, and to understand what you want to understand—that is the hardest part.