Supplementing with traditional grammar studies?

Spanish
#21

This is a fascinating comment - I think it unpacks in a lot of different interesting ways. I think it’s possible that both points are true - that your previous grammar studies did help in the process, but that there’s an element of academic brain-washing in the common belief that because grammar studies can help, they should necessarily be the best approach…

#22

You might wish to look into the D-T error problem in Dutch more closely in relation to this discussion. I mentioned it in an earlier post and it is interesting in this context, as it reflects a case in Dutch where the spoken language clashes with the grammatical rules. D and T are pronounced in the same way in Dutch when they occur at the end of a word. Stems of numerous verbs end in D; the second and third person present of a verb tends to end in T; the past participle of many verbs ends in D. If you know you are using a past participle, you don’t make a D-T error; if you realise you are using the third person singular of the present tense, you don’t make a D-T error… I think you get the picture. There’s an interesting article about this here and another that discusses the relationship between spelling and grammar here. There is even a Wikipedia entry about the D-T Error.
The above is little more than an aside, and I mention it only because I think you might find it an interesting topic to explore. Generally, though, I have to agree with you, that languages should be learnt actively, using a similar approach to that adopted by Say Something In…, rather than relatively passively, using the traditional grammar-first (or at least emphasised) method.

#23

I think you’re right that would be an interesting area for enquiry - potentially fruitful for measuring exposure vs explicit grammar… :thumbsup:

#24

Heh, the D/T error sounds a lot like the common confusion of -er, -ez and -é(e)(s) in French :slight_smile: Pronounced the same, and awareness of the underlying grammar (at least on an instinctive level) tends to be required to get them the right way round.

#25

I completely agree. I have a friend who speaks French as a second language and does a lot of business successfully in Paris. She doesn’t even conjugate her verbs. She just uses the pronoun plus the infinitive.

So if she wants to say: ‘‘I go’’ instead of saying ‘‘Je vais’’ she just says ''Je aller ‘’.

I used to laugh, but no more, because she communicates very effectively and everyone responds to her very well - and she continues to successfully do business this way.

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