is it ok to learn the lessons then the grammar?

Question

is it ok to learn the lessons then the grammar?

Answer 1

There is no single perfect recipe for learning a language. If you avoid grammar, but you learn by repetition lots of correct native sentences, you are definitely not wasting your time (it will pay off later), but that alone might not be sufficient unless you get 6 or more hours of it every day. Grammar can give you short-cuts to avoid mistakes, but even with this grammar alone is pointless if you do not read and hear a lot of the language and become familiar with its expressions, idioms and idiosyncrasies (which is why learning real Spanish without grammar is useful in any case). Trying to write or speak Spanish with perfect grammar and a bulky vocabulary, but no familiarity with the real language, will result in odd sentences most of the time, and incorrect or incomprehensible sentences far too often. You need both, and there is no magic recipe, but the more you get exposed in any way and with enthusiasm, the better.

I just advice against trying to make sentences with no familiarity with the language and no grammar: the result will be an absolute disaster, and a counter-productive waste of time. Imitate, if you won't like the grammar, or do the exercises after the grammar; or both.

As always from lazarus, this is the perfect advice- you need to know some grammar to understand what people are doing, and you need to hear what real people are doing to understand how to apply the grammar. So as he says "you need both" - Stadt, Aug 17, 2011

Answer 2

I haven't spent much time on grammar at all but I can speak pretty well, and converse with the natives at work. I have probably spent over 2000 hours watching and studying TV and movies though, and I transcribe them, or I used to and make word lists. Also, I converse with natives at work all day so that is an advantage. These very natives have no idea about grammar yet they are quite fluent.

Much more important than grammar is learning how people talk and speaking correctly . That's not to say I don't know much grammar, I know quite a bit, but most of it was learned by context, not by spending candlelit nights pouring over mundane texts. You will learn grammar even if you learn it by context. (Of course I have taken a couple of college courses and read a few grammar books, but those all came later, not sooner)

My recommendation is learn it whichever way feels best to you. Spend enough time on it and you will learn it, it's like going to the store, any path will get you there, some sooner than others though.

"whichever way feels best to you" is the best advice! - lazarus1907, Aug 17, 2011

2,000 hours. Is a heck of a lot of hours. - Stig345, Aug 17, 2011

You are very likely to have been exposed to a lot more than 2,000 in your life. Even if you only watched 1 hour a day on average, you were over 2000 hours before the age of 6. Most average kids are between 10,000 and 30,000 before they are 16. - lazarus1907, Aug 17, 2011

People say you become a master or very fluent after 10,000 hours of anything. - lazarus1907, Aug 17, 2011

Answer 3

Do whatever helps you learn the fastest. From personal experience and from hearing from others, it is quite natural to learn lists of vocab or ask ¿Comó se dice? for single words/nouns first, and as you hear the answers and hear it used in context, it helps to iniciate you to the grammer.

grammar - 0074b507, Aug 18, 2011