The Importance of Grammar

[raza]

I agree with you completely on understanding the languages. For me, I've been studying Spanish for 3 months and at first, conjugations seemed impossible, now I can hear a word for the first time and just throw the endings on it and have a decent conversation.

However, I still lack a lot of grammar and although I can speak quite well, I still get nervous when I think about not knowing the imperfect past tense. But these things, I let them come to me. I study them every now and then because that's how I learned.

Studying words with a little bit of grammar on the side is the way to go, you'll soon be able to realize.. "Hey, this doesn't look right grammatically"

Great video, sir!

[vegveg]

Hi, Steve!
I'm always amazed at your natural Japanese.
I learn languages through LinQ. Learning new languages is like to listen to new music I never met before, broadens my view of the world, brings me a great deal of enjoyment.
Thanks!

[taino]

When I learn a language, I look at grammar in the beginning to see what I am dealing with. Grammar provides the structure of the language. I then promptly forget it, and never study grammar again for about six months to a year, when I look at it again.

[Tubekeny]

Yes yes yes. Immersion is on the right track but I feel your comments are very pertinent if people are to understand how the learning process needs to be better understood. Thanks Steve and good luck with your eye surgery.

[michaelvankley]

I emphatically agree, with mild caveats. I think grammar should be taught early and often, but only in a way that shows the mechanics of the language rather than occluding the function with complicated rules. It's basically applying the Pareto principle. A simple explanation will get you 80% of the way there, but that last 20% is so complicated, it will take forever to learn and apply fluidly. If somebody is prepping to take SATs in a foreign language, the grammar rules might be important. If somebody wants to understand and be understood, they really aren't. I also agree with what another commenter has pointed out - we don't learn the grammar of our native language until we've learned the language. It's almost like reading the manual for a car vs actually driving the car. First, teach them where the pedals and steering wheel are and how to use them, then get them behind the wheel.

[jeffreyhuntersobreiraolive]

Your video is very interesting, Steve. Thank you.

[rousbenyg.brunstein]

hi steve!! me encantan tus videos, me gustaria saber en ciencia cierta, cual es la mejor forma de organizarse para aprender un idioma, desde cero, me encuentro en taiwan y quisiera saber por donde empezar, felicidades por sus exitos!!

[mahsazhoghi]

I completely agree with you steve despite having a very excellent capacity for learning grammers personally but I think reading a well written book or lisining to my favorite stuffs is mush more fun...

[Diotallevi]

Viel Erfolg bei der zweiten Augenoperation!
Thanks for this video :-)

[robertfish]

How many languages should i practice a day because i currently have 7 languages and i cant practice each one very day

[parler-anglais]

The first thing I say about grammar is that we never learned any grammar when we first learned to talk our native tongue. Rather we imitated structured sentences that we were hearing all day long. Then grammar was added in order to understand a bit better and to write correctly (especially for French).
 
And it worked so well for all of us !!!

[jopeteus]

I had to learn this inflection table in German:

Der Hund
Den Hund
Dem Hund
Des Hundes

It only came natutally AFTER I had used the language normally. At first I had to go through Der and Den in my mind to get to Dem. Why are we still taught these tables?

[carystrings]

Hello Steve...thanks for sharing your thoughts.  Are you up for a challenge?  Try learning Hungarian.  I am working on it now...it is unrelated to the other European languages...very straightforward pronunciation system..I can read it...can't decifer the syntax just yet.
Bye for now.

[pablussky]

Hi, Steve!
I have a question for you. You keep saying the most important in language learning is vocabulary and comprehension. Could you - or anyone reading this - recommend me any alternative to flashcards in order to learn vocab? I just feel like flashcards are not made for me .-.
Thanks in advance!

[shelby]

I'm learning Japanese,
Is Japanese hard to learn ?

[alex_smith]

so should we not do any grammar drills but instead focus on the rules in context?

[kku]

I`m looking forward when you start speaking in Polish.

[sydneylam]

Ich lerne jetzt Deutsch lesen von mehr Kontakt mit Nachrichten. This is more interesting and useful than grammar drills. Exposure was also how I learnt English and Latin.

[JulieStudies]

Looking good, Steve!  
Oh yeh, your vid was good too :)~

[haydenbond]

je pense que l'aprrentissage du grammair doit l'appris seulment si la grammair etre  emploi