Faster Foreign Language Learning » Grammar

Grammar: Now for the (Kind of) Bad News

Amelia — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:39:53 +0000

Browse the ads for language learning software or flip through language school brochures and you’ll probably see most of have one promise in common: freedom from the horrendous unspeakable torture known as “grammar study.”

All right, I know some teaching methods and teachers really do overemphasize grammar study—including memorizing tables of case endings or verb conjugation patterns—at the expense of actual communication. When you’re starting out, you really don’t need that much grammar practice.

For beginner and intermediate learners, I’m a huge fan of “reverse engineering” grammar whenever possible. This is a fast, highly effective, low-stress way to learn how the grammar of a foreign language works. It also helps you absorb complex information in a way that memorizing some chart, table or list of rules just can’t.

That method’s fine if you only want to reach an intermediate level in the language, but when you’re aiming for real fluency, you’re cheating yourself by not investigating and practicing grammar.

Reaching High-Level Fluency

If you want to learn to speak and write near the level of an educated native speaker, you’ll eventually need focused practice with grammar. After all, not too many of us managed to get through school without some grammar lessons in our native language. We generally write and speak better after post-secondary education than before. Even professional writers sometimes make grammar errors and syntax errors, which is why editors exist.

As foreign learners, we also get tripped up by the assumptions we make about a new language based what we know about our first language. This is known as linguistic interference or language transfer.

Unless you keep seeking and destroying your grammar errors, you risk getting complacent at a certain level—probably around high upper-intermediate—and not progressing further. Your grammar errors will not clear up on their own just because you’re constantly hearing correct grammar. Interference from your first language will see to that.

Drills? Not Necessarily.

Focused practice with grammar doesn’t always have to take the form of working through pages of fill-in-the-blank sentences with the correct preposition or a verb in the right tense. My favorite way to practice grammar is translation. (And before you run away, there are alternatives that, too.)

When you write or speak your own thoughts, you can work around any “difficult” grammar. When you have to translate whatever’s put in front of you, though, you’re forced to confront those grammar structures you might rather avoid.

For more common languages you can find books with complete sentences and their translations. I recommend having a native speaker around to check in with, though, because you may come up with translations that are different from the book’s, but just as correct. If you can’t find a book like this, translating any relatively high-level text from your native language into your target language will do.

Grammar Practice Alternatives

If you don’t particularly enjoy translation, though, try writing on a topic you enjoy and finding a native speaker you can correct your grammar. Pay close attention to the mistakes you make repeatedly (keep a list, too) and if you feel like you don’t understand a certain grammar feature, study up on it.

And if you hate writing, you can always hold conversations with someone ready to stop you and point out your grammar errors or awkward phrasing.

The point is that grammar study isn’t inherently useless. Not everyone can reach a high level just by reverse engineering everything. Once you’re at upper-intermediate level, if you want to improve, you’ll probably need at lease some with the grammar structures you’re making mistakes with.

What do you think? Have you been able to reach C2 or near-native level without really studying grammar? If you have, leave a comment and let me know how you managed that one. I’d love to know!

Using Songs to Learn a Foreign Language: Get More From Your Pop Music

Amelia — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 07:48:07 +0000

Some people discount using songs to learn a foreign language because most genres of songs use only basic vocabulary and simple grammar. The argument is the text of pop music and other common genres isn’t varied or complex enough to provide enriching exposure to the language.

No, it isn’t and that’s exactly why songs are such an effective way to learn. The proof is out there. Heaven only knows how many people around the world got started with English by listening to the Beatles. I’ve seen even upper intermediate learners use lines from songs to grasp what a grammar concept “really means.”

If you know what’s going on at each stage, you can squeeze more out of your listening.

Here’s more or less how it works:

Songs are enjoyable even when you don’t understand a word, so you listen to the same material again and again…and again. Try that with Pimseur.

With so much repetition and because of the slowish speed, you eventually notice a certain “sound patterns” (words, that is). You get curious and look the words up. Obviously, this is a lot easier with some languages than others.

If you’re studying, you’re also learning more words from your course book, phrase book or other learning material. You start to pick out those words in songs, too. You might see the names of songs translated and pick up words and phrases that way, too.

You keep listening for pleasure, so you’re getting lots of review. You don’t forget the words you’ve looked up. This is the value of the limited vocabulary. You’re also hearing the words in a natural, native context with native pronunciation.

Eventually you know enough words that you can pick out whole phrases.

Listen some more and you have those phrases memorized. Heck, you may even have whole songs down pat. You can even sing along and work on your pronunciation.

By this time, you probably know little chucks of grammar like “for you” (pronoun in the dative case), “your eyes” (possessive), or “I love you” (present tense verb and a pronoun in the accusative case). The form and correct, native usage is well ingrained in your mind.

When you do crack open your grammar book and look at the part on “pronouns in the dative case,” you already know how to use “for you.” Dative schmative–you know what it really means. The grammar book is just providing clarification of something you already instinctively know.

But Songs Can’t do it All

First of all, you need music you genuinely like, not just tolerate. Otherwise, you’re not going to get enough repetition. Depending on your taste for the culture’s music, finding those songs may be an uphill battle.

Even if you find them, you won’t learn from passive listening. It takes curiosity and at least a little effort. At the very least, you have to actually look up those words you pick out. It’s hard to overstate this: be curious!

Another problem is that we don’t speak the way we sing. The intonation is different and singers sometimes shift the stress on words to fit them into a rhythm. Just because you can understand songs doesn’t mean you can understand speech at a natural speed.

And, of course, if you stick with pop music, your vocabulary will be pretty much limited to romance. Despite these drawbacks, because songs make such and easy and enjoyable way to memorized chucks of language, though, they make a handy way to start.

If you haven’t yet found songs you like in the language you’re learning, keep looking. Browse YouTube, listen to online radio and note the singer of each song you like, and ask around for suggestions.

Learning a Foreign Language: Tips for Learning Grammar

Amelia — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:03:35 +0000

Lots of people—even those who love learning foreign languages—claim they hate studying grammar. They associate grammar study with tedious gap-fill exercises, boring rote memorization and the frustration of getting it “wrong” again and again.

While you will, at some point need focused work on grammar, there’s no reason grammar drills should take up the bulk of your study time. To get communicative fast and save your sanity, focus on what you need for communication and then learn the rules of why you’re supposed to say something a certain way.

Work Backwards

All too many foreign language learning courses present learners with grammar rules before they’ve really had a chance to hear and see those rules in action. This is the exact opposite of the way we learn grammar in our native language. First we learn to say something like, “I want some cake!” and much later we learn that there’s a thing called the “first person present tense” (I want, I like, etc.).

When you’re first starting a new language, learn whole phrases that will be useful in your every day life and add words that can be used which those phrases. For example, “I’d like some…” and “water,” “tissues” and “more time.” Do this instead of just memorizing lists of words and facts about the grammar.

Which brings us to…

Memorize Examples

Instead of trying to memorize charts of verb conjugations and case endings, learn each one in the context of a phrase. If you’re having trouble understanding how to use a particular grammar feature, collect examples of the grammar in use until you get the hang of it.

Quality phrasebooks and text books (those that aren’t filled with grammar errors) are great resources for this, but don’t over look authentic (native) sources, either.

One way to collect grammar examples that works well with common grammar features is to open up a book or newspaper and scan the pages looking for examples.

For less common ones, choose part of the grammar feature you want to use, plug that into your favorite online search engine, and see what examples you come up with. For instance, if you’re trying to learn how to use the Russian preposition “k,” (to/for) type just that letter into google.ru and you can pick up examples like “k prazdniku” (for the holiday). [Apologies for the Latin letters. Wordpress would take the Cyrillic.]

Songs are another great way to collect example phrases in general. We tend to listen to songs we live over and over and eventually memorize the words with no effort at all. In fact, it’s fun! Take advantage to free online resources like youtube.com and live365.com to find singers and bands you like to help build your vocab and grammar skills.

If you struggle with foreign language grammar and can’t stand tedious grammar drills, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing something wrong or you’re “just not good at languages.” In Faster Foreign Language Learning, I outline specific ways to reach working fluency in another language without memorizing charts or spending hours on grammar drills.

Dealing with Interruptions in Your Language Studies

Amelia — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:33:09 +0000

One of the biggest stumbling blocks on the road to fluency is the continual interruptions. Interruptions do more than slow your progress than just take time away from your studies; they also erode the progress you’ve already made.

Just like kids forget what they’ve learned over the academic year while they’re on summer vacation, you also start to forget vocabulary and grammar features you’ve learned about after a surprisingly short period of time.

The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve

Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered that the brain starts to discard new information after just 20 minutes. Within 20 minutes of studying something, 40% of the material you just “learned” is gone. If you’ve just learned some new words, you may still be able to remember them, but they’ll be less securely fixed in your memory than they were 20 minutes ago.

After a day, 70% is gone. At this point, unless you’ve used some good mnemonics, you’ll probably have completely forgotten some of the words. This is why you need constant, regular review in order to retain what you learn, regardless of whether you’re learning fast or at a more relaxed pace.

Make Study and Review Convenient

If you feel like the only legitimate way to study is to sit down at a desk surrounded by your open textbook, workbook, vocab and grammar notebooks, and a tape player loaded with listening material, then of course you’re going to procrastinate. Who really has time to set all that up?

Fortunately, life is full of little blocks of down time that could be used as study and review time. Waiting in line is a good example. In order to take advantage of those micro-blocks of time, though, make sure you’re ready to review on a moment’s notice. It should take you just seconds to pull out your study material and start working.
Here are a few ways to do that:

Use a pocket-sized alphabetized phone directory as a dictionary. Carry it in your pocket or purse.
Keep a running list of useful phrases. Use them to write short dialogues.
Read at least one article of an online newspaper a day.
Keep a diary in your target language even if you only enter short paragraphs about what you did that day.
Use self-contained, audio-only lessons like Pimsleur you can turn on any time.

Redefine “Study”

When it comes to language learning, while detailed grammar and vocabulary study are valuable, they’re not the only way to learn. Let’s face it, we all have days when we’re just too mentally exhausted to learn much of anything.

What you really need every single day for at least six months is exposure to the language. The trick is to take something you do regularly in your native language and start doing it in the language you’re learning. Try one of these:

Listen to music
Read books or magazines
Watch TV or movies
Play games or do puzzles

Get a Motivational Partner

If you have trouble keeping up with your studies, pair up with another learner who can be your accountability partner. Set clearly defined, measurable goals for every week and hold each other to those goals.

Make this technique even more powerful by setting a consequence for not meeting the goal. For example, choose a small, yet significant amount of money, say $15, as a “fine” for not your goal. The one who doesn’t meet their personal goal for the week gives the money either to their partner or to a charity. You can even make bets with each on who can learn the most words or write a letter with the fewest grammatical errors.