Should I learn grammar?
There is another Spanish learning web says that I do not need to learn grammar very much because it is not the goal as it focuses more on communication. The faster I can talk Spanish,the better I am..any opinion?
14 Answers
Grammar is the "sheet music" for language.
Some people can play music without sheet music - by ear.
Others can play any music from the music sheets.
It is the "shorthand" to explain language. It can help teachers to get a point across.
It is not needed to be a fluent speaker but it can help.
Of course it can also be used to tell you that you make mistakes.
Concentrate on "using" the language you are learning.
Grammar is not exactly separate..You may learn it by picking up, as you listen and talk, but you will not be able to communicate well until you learn the verbs, whether you call that learning grammar or not.. If you're still very young you can just learn by listening..And then trying things out.
An immersed learner doesn't necessarily need to learn Spanish grammar to speak the language. However, it can take that learner a lot of time to master the intricacies of the language. Spanish grammar not only gives the learner a good understanding of Spanish structures, but also allows the learner to be more confident and creative in using Spanish. Spanish grammar allows the user to explain (not just to feel) confidently to herself and others how , why , and when to use specific features of the language.
I'm 100% in agreement with gringojrf.
We learn our native tongue(s) by listening and imitating the people and the world around us. We start learning grammar later. By the time you start to learn grammar you can already communicate.
Grammar should never be the main focus of your efforts if your goal is to be conversational. Don't focus too much on studying grammar, pick it up as you go. Learn to communicate first and then later you can focus in on the finer details of grammar. That is inline with how we naturally learn our native language.
I've known people who had an excellent command of grammar, but couldn't order a glass of water in real life (in Spanish) without stuttering and thinking really, really hard about what words to use. I've also met people who know very little about grammar but could communicate with just about anybody. And how many of us as adults are really all that proficient in grammar in our native tongue? I'm certainly not.
Need more proof that grammar isn't critical to learning how to communicate? People who are illiterate are living proof. They can communicate and easily get by, but yet can't read and write. The lack of a good grammar education certainly hasn't prevented them from being able to communicate and function in society. Not that I'm advocating illiteracy, I'm just saying.
Anyway, at the end of the day it's your choice. You've been given some really great advice by several posters that I really can't add to.
Suerte!
Ask any polyglot "How important is grammar?, and the common thread will be that other things are more important.
No child on this planet has ever learned their native tongue by learning grammar. I made up my mind years ago that if I could express myself as well as a 10 or 12 year old child, I would be fat and happy. So, I am fat and happy :D Obviously, a good bit of grammar is learned without knowing that it's actually grammar :D
I know, I know, this riles up the teachers, and I'm not downing anything about learning grammar. But, I personally know 2 polyglots and 3 Spanish teachers. The polyglots can speak fluently in several languages, 2 of the Spanish teachers struggle to order a glass of water in our local Mexican restaurant.
I admire anyone that excels in grammar, I just couldn't learn that way, at least not to get to where I wanted to be. My goal was to reach fluency as quickly as possible, and I've done that.
Your mileage may vary.....
Like everybody has stated, grammar is not important to learn a language.
Grammar as education is important in one's life, simple.
You can achieve fluency by reading writing and speaking a language, but it has to be through a method.
What I am about to describe has to be done, if not, don't even bother... 
Start by reading and writing Spanish and then translate it to English, in order to know (understand) what was said in Spanish. The ideal is to get a novel in Spanish of a genre that fascinates you.
That alone takes care of fluency in reading, writing and understanding.
Watch one movie in Spanish, only one of your choice, without subtitles of any kind. Watch the same movie in Spanish until there almost no words that you cannot understand from the movie. This will take care of listening along with reading out loud in Spanish the phrases you have translated while recording yourself on the computer or whatever and listening that recording, over and over until you "think" it is OK, then go on to the next paragraph or sentence/phrase etc.
All of this will conjugate into having to look for words in a dictionary in order to translate literally from Spanish to English, in order to have a stab at understanding what you are reading in Spanish, that will take care of your reading Spanish skills, while listening to the movie and yourself on the recording will make you able to differentiate your "accent" from the ones you are listening in the movie, and at the same time gaining fluency in your Spanish speaking skills.
Then you read and write in Spanish again in a separate notebook on the left side the novel you are translating, and on the right side of the notebook your English rendition that you know is the correct translation. When you have a whole page of this, side to side versions, then you read that out loud while recording yourself in order to hear your recording and again gauge your progress in your speech etc. This time it will be easier, since context and fluidity in understanding the novel and not a fragmented phrase will play a role too.
I am more than willing to help anybody, for free, to start on this method.
Up to you guys.
Edit:
Grammar is not important to learn a language, but people keep on trying that way because schools all over the world impart the learning of the language with grammar. It also "sounds" logical. "If I want to learn to speak properly I need to start with grammar"
Incredibly enough, people who don't know an iota of grammar in English, want to take on Spanish grammar in order to speak it properly, and they are still, after ten years of learning Spanish grammar, making an effort to speak half decently.... 
Grammar is necessary.. I bet that shocks a lot of you coming from me. But it is also a hinderance that keeps many people from being able to speak and hear the language. They are too concerned about getting the grammar right. As has been stated here and by me many times no child learns grammar first. That comes in late grade school or middle school. Vocabulary is what you need. Without words grammar is nothing but a set of rules. Don't let those rules trip you up. You will pick up a lot of grammar along the way probably without even realizing it. Then once you can speak comfortably and if you want you can study the more complicated rules of grammar. To me, communication should always be the goal.
Sí aprende ahora ,o sufrir en la futura.
Yes learn now or suffer in the future.
I have to use the answer section to answer some of the questions that were presented to me in the comments in my previous 'rant" because my right hand little finger keeps hitting the "Enter" key on my computer and shooting the unfinished comment on without my wanting to.
What I was trying to say is that most people, especially English speakers have no ideaabout the structure of their language and what they are doing when they are doing it. Almost allof my students come to me without knowing what a verb or a noun or a direct object or indirect object is I need to get all these concepts going in their little cabezas in two languages at the same time. I work hard.
How many English speakers can identify when they are using the past perfect or present perfect tenses, how about present progressive, future or conditional. English even has a present and past subjunctive mood, it's not used as much.
Example: Past subjunctive: I wish you were here. Pres. Subj. It is necessary that you be here tomorrow.
I could give everyone here a five week lesson on all aspects of the Spanish subjunctive Past present and future subjunctive, yes there is a future subjunctive. All my kids learn how to use it - not the future, just the present and imperfect subjunctive and use it well with few errors---the kind any body can make when they talk too fast like me.
It's not all that difficult!
When I start a semester of Spanish 101 at my school, I, of course, give an overview of what we are going to learn, the various topics like meeting someone, university life, pass times, travelling, going to the doctor, and so forth. I explain that learning a language is a lot like building a house.
First of all you have the building materials, bricks, wood, metal, glass, electrical wiring, roofing material, and the like. Those are the words.
Then I explain that you can't throw all these items together. There has to be a plan to join the items together in a logical fashion. In building a house you need a blueprint to get an idea of the "structure" or how to put all these things together. Different architects have different ideas of how the materials should go together.
In language learning there is also a "structure" or a way of joining words together. Each language uses a different blueprint.
I say, "In this class we will compare how the two languages differ in structure and and begin to appreciate the beauty of how each language expresses its ideas. Some will be serious in nature, others will seem "funny" to English Speakers. There some things in English that seem "funny" to Spanish Speakers.
I never once mention the word "grammar" or "here are the rules" They are getting the grammar painlessly
Here is an example. of one of the different ways we say things:
In English we say: "I wash my hands" or "I put on my shoes, I brush my hair, etc.
Without saying anything about rules or grammar I tell them, "Spanish speakers say it this way" I wash my self thee hands (with a Spanish accent) and I put myself on thee shoes, I brush myself the hair---(all with an accent and acting out the motions.) Then I repeat each one using the Spanish equivalent which are. Me lavo las manos, Me pongo los zapatos, Me cepillo el pelo. My kids were doing this in class today, practicing among themselves, sounding really great!
I don't even know (anymore) what the"picky pure" grammarians call what I teach them, (the kids) But it's not grammar, It's structure. My kids are building some great looking buildings.
The book has some "rules" which the kids don't pay any attention to anyway, but they listen to Miss Dani when she tells them, "This is how we say it, Now lets practice it."
I apply this kind of approach to every aspect of what we call grammar. The students have no idea that the structure of Spanish is coming alive in terms of new neural pathways being formed in the language area of the brain.--Yes I studied the physiological aspects of language learning. I wanted to do my job well!
I used the same approach when teaching guitar many years ago, Besides planting my students fingers where they were supposed to go on the frets, I would play for them whatever they were supposed to learn, then I would guide them measure by measure, until they could do it almost as well as I.
To me, languages are a form of music all by themselves. Let's not "uglify" them with boring rules. There is plenty of time for that when they get into their advanced university studies. I got "A" in all of my advanced studies, including essay and short story writing. I learned all the rules because I had to, but they did not help my Spanish one bit. Some of the "grammars" were ridiculous talking about "genitive case" "ablative case" "dative case" and the like. Spanish doesn't even have case endings. Greek does. All this "case" business made sense in that context when I studied Koiné or New Testament Greek for a semester. But in Spanish it is ridiculous.'
This concludes my rant on foreign language teaching
They develop general language and conversational skills first, then they learn how to use correct grammar in a more formal manner later at school I wouldn'.t dispute any of that, but the time eventually comes when they must learn correct grammar, along with the idioms and colloquial speech they already use in order to write and express themselves in a more fluent and natural way. (style)
Okay I'll take a shot. I just completed a quick internet search as to what grade formal grammar classes start. The answer varies depending on which site you attend bu generally they agree that grade 3 - 5. So let's assume the low end of that, 3rd grade. Children in 3rd grade are eight or nine years old, lets take eight years old.. Have you spoken with an eight year old lately. They have no trouble with verb tenses, moods, idioms, colloquialisms, etc. My 3 year old granddaughter uses the subjunctive better than I do. So my grammar classes, and yes I took a lot of them, didn't help me much. Yes they lack the final 10 - 20 percent of grammar and vocabulary building needed to be able to read and write at the high school or college level but for general everyday life I can't believe that you or anyone else thinks that they lack the language skills to navigate through life. Yes they will benefit from grammar and larger vocabularies but all that comes after they can speak at a pretty high level.
So, how many of us can navigate 24/7 in Spanish today? As someone here said he would be happy to speak and communicate like a 10-12 year old.
The grammar should come not from directly studying it but from hearing the spoken language and using what you hear and applying it to what you wish to say. Then in grades 3-5 they will teach you why you are right 80 - 90% of the time and help you correct the other 10 - 20%. At the same time growing your vocabulary.
I cannot stress this enough vocabulary is King. Without words, ie. vocabulary, grammar is useless. Vocabulary is how we start to break long strings of sounds into individual words. So by all means study grammar. Meanwhile the kids and I will be speaking Spanish.
One last thought. If you assume that kids start talking reasonably well at 3 then by the time they are 8 they have 5 years of language without grammar lessons. If we taught vocabulary and conversation classes and let the grammar be "on the job training" I think more people would be able to speak and understand Spanish a lot sooner.
I think that knowing grammar is important to learn a foreign language. But since Spanish and English grammars are very similar to each other, you could start with studying English grammar. If you happen to master English grammar, then you will be able automatically to deduct Spanish grammar rules as well. I mean, both languages have subjects and predicates, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, imperative, subjunctive and indicative modes, and so on. So my advice would be: you should start by learning your native language grammar. Once you have mastered it, just concentrate in the minor differences between English grammar and Spanish grammar. You will be amazed when you discover how similar they are.
ohh thank you so much for a very great answers. I started to confuse which one I should pick it out..
Grammar is important in any language including Spanish, but so also is being able to communicate the general idea of what you are wanting to say.
To be honest, it really depends on how much you wish to progress with any language. You could make limited progress up to a point without paying much attention to grammar such as correct verb endings and proper use of verb tenses and moods, noun /adjective agreement and correct use of perpositions etc...but would you really want to gain a reputation amongst native Spanish speakers for speaking Spanish badly?
Please read some of the responses to a similar question posed by another member in a different Spanish- speaking forum: [enter link description here][1] Some people might point out that when young chldren learn their native language they begin simply by imitating the speech of familiar adult members of their family. They don't concern themselves with complex grammar rules about the subjunctive or read a textbook on Spanish or English grammar, yes ..very true! They develop general language and conversational skills first, then they learn how to use correct grammar in a more formal manner later at school I wouldn'.t dispute any of that, but the time eventually comes when they must learn correct grammar, along with the idioms and colloquial speech they already use in order to write and express themselves in a more fluent and natural way. (style)
People are free to disagree with me as always, but you need to present a good reason if you wish to persuade me that I am wrong and that you are right lol
I hope this helps
[1]: http://spanishhelp.freeforums.org/post65392.html?hilit= have learn grammar#p65392
