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The Thorny Issue of Grammar In Language Learning
Yes, I heard that groan
I heard that. That groan.
“It’s just,” you say. “It’s just, well, do I have to?”
You can try learning a language without grammar if you like. There are plenty of language learning programs that claim you can. You can also try building a tent without any pegs. I just wouldn’t recommend it.
You get the analogy, hopefully, without my having to drive it home. Grammar is what holds the language together.
Depending on your age and the education system you grew up in, you might hate grammar because it was drilled into you until it came out of your ears. Or you might be a bit scared of grammar, because it was never really taught to you at all.
But, either way, I’m afraid — yes. You have to. It doesn’t have to be not-fun, though. These days there are iPhone apps and Nintendo DS games and websites and podcasts and apps. But at some point — yes, you will have to sit down and learn to conjugate a verb, so that you can recite off by heart: je suis, tu es, il est…
This is also how you learned numbers. First, you learned numbers in sequence; then, you learned to pick out the number you needed from the sequence. Now you can do all kinds of things with numbers. But first you had to learn…
