19
votes
Accepted
Is doing a huge amount of grammar exercises helpful for learning English?
I will tackle this questions in two steps: first, findings by researchers and teachers, then an alternative approach.
Grammar Instruction in Isolation Is Not Effective
In 1974, E. Hatch ("Second ...
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17
votes
What resources are there for learning Toki Pona?
This is what I used: o kama sona e toki pona! (on Tokipona.net, unfortunately no longer available). It's one of the most popular courses, although there are a few points that differ from Sonja's ...
- 766
14
votes
What resources are there for learning Toki Pona?
I found this 112 page Toki Pona instructional booklet, covering everything from the alphabet to more advanced concepts, like words for thematic vocabulary or living things. It seems to be one of the ...
- 9,157
7
votes
When studying German, how much time should be spent on learning grammar rules vs. vocabulary?
German vocabulary and grammar are tightly related, which makes it quite impossible to learn a basic German vocabulary without at the same time also learning and understanding the basic rules of German ...
- 416
7
votes
Accepted
French Grammar Book B1/B2
One of the classic grammars for learners of French is Nouvelle grammaire française by André Goosse and Maurice Grevisse (De Boeck, 1995, 396 pages). Size is 23.5 by 15.7 cm, so not "pocket size".
...
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7
votes
Is it possible to learn grammar through spaced repetition, and if yes, how?
Gabriel Wyner's book Fluent Forever (2014) recommends using cloze deletion tests for learning grammar. Anki has a card type for cloze deletion tests (simply called "Cloze"). When creating a cloze test ...
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7
votes
How do natives write without knowing grammar rules?
One should distinguish between implicit learning and explicit learning. According to Wikipedia, there is no agreed-upon definition of implicit learning, so we assume the following rough definitions of ...
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7
votes
What's the most complete book on English grammar?
The most comprehensive grammar of the English language that I am aware of is The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum (Cambridge University Press, 2002)...
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6
votes
Are second languages processed the same way as first languages?
This is an open question in SLA, which even further depends on a person's fluency in a given L2, although most would agree at least some similarities are shared.
At some level, certain processes are ...
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6
votes
Are there learning resources to drill my Dutch?
There are a few grammar exercises at http://nl.ver-taal.com/grammatica.htm.
You can find a larger set of exercises on the website Ik schrijf beter.
You can buy books with grammar exercises, but it ...
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6
votes
Accepted
Question about Macedonian Grammar
Take the following sentence as an example that includes all your points:
Јаc сум ја прочитал книгата.
Jas sum ja pro=čita-l kniga-ta.
I1 am2 3-sing-fem-acc-clitic3 perf=read-past4 ...
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5
votes
Grammar and language learning books/software for Irish
One resource that may be helpful for beginners is Wombat's Irish Grammar Guide; it's just 19 pages long, so you only get the basics.
A more complete resource is Graiméar na Gaedhilge on Wikisource (...
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5
votes
List of Chinese "verb plus object" verbs?
A similar question was posed to Chinese Language Stack Exchange in 2014: Is there a comprehensive list of separable verbs/离合动词 anywhere? There are several lists out there, but they're not ...
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5
votes
Identifying cases by rephrasing to a question – is this any useful for language learners?
It may be that rephrasing as a question works even if the learner's native language doesn't have cases.
My wife speaks Bulgarian natively and studied Russian in college in the US (where her teachers ...
- 151
5
votes
Are there learning resources to drill my Dutch?
Below are some resources for practicing your grammar skills in Dutch:
This is a set of 200 fill-in-the-blank quizzes that tests both vocabulary and grammar.
This website seems like a very ...
- 9,157
5
votes
What resources can I use to master German word order?
There are a lot of resources on German word order out there, usually giving a set of standard rules to go by.
Dartmouth College has two good pages, one that "emphasizes formal structures and ...
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5
votes
How can I speak in impromptu situations without organizing my thoughts beforehand but still communicate properly?
This is an area that linguists call communicative strategies (or communication strategies). There are several strategies that you can use:
Circumlocution: using different words or phrases to express ...
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5
votes
Accepted
How to learn conjugations?
There are several things you can do.
Gabriel Wyner's book Fluent Forever advises using flashcards (e.g. in Anki): on the "front", you put a sentence using the verb form you want to learn but you ...
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5
votes
German grammar books with exercises and answer key for self study
The most famous book in this area is "the yellow one": Lehr- und Übungsbuch der deutschen Grammatik – aktuell by Hilke Dreyer and Eberhard Schmitt, published by Hueber. This book was first published ...
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5
votes
Does memorizing French verb conjugations with the sound of English characters have negative impact in the future?
I would strongly recommend learning the correct pronunciation from the start instead of a pronunciation based on a different language, for several reasons:
You will later need to invest time and ...
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5
votes
Why learn English grammar first? Just gets in the way
First off, criticizing official school teaching programmes quite often appears justified. These programmes are result of long negotiations between various official institutions, and therefore it ...
- 1,415
5
votes
Accepted
How to understand prepositions in German properly?
That translations given to prepositions is very misleading. Unlike such parts of speech as nouns, verbs, and adjectives, the prepositions do not have unambiguous translations. Rather they function as ...
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4
votes
How can I put grammar rules into flashcards?
Which of the three options you choose will depend on your learning goals:
If your goal (or one of your goals) is to be able to reproduce grammar rules, learn grammatical terms, etc. (as may be the ...
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4
votes
How can I put grammar rules into flashcards?
You could put questions about grammar on the front and the answer on the back.
See for example studystack.com:
What tense is "has/have written"?
Present perfect
What is the difference ...
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4
votes
Accepted
What should I focus on if I only have 10-20 minutes a day, with speaking practice once a week?
There are many things you can do, but you'll need to schedule your time carefully.
With regard to resources, it will be useful to get a textbook to get started, e.g. Afan Oromo: A Guide to Speaking ...
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4
votes
French grammar books with exercises and answer key for self study (A2 - B2)
So far, I have found the following books:
Grégoire, Maïa; Thievenaz Odile: Grammaire progressive du français - Niveau intermédiaire. 4th edition. CLE International, 2017. ISBN 978-2-09-038103-0.
This ...
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4
votes
Can English people understand my English even if I do not use English grammar, but just words, adverbs and context?
What is your goal?
If it's merely passing through as a tourist with your "Tarzan English", yes, people will understand you. They will possibly need some time to adjust to how you mangle the grammar (...
4
votes
How can I learn to speak in SOV when my L1 is SVO?
It will be very difficult if you try to translate in your head before speaking. If you can skip that step, it will be easier. Rather than memorize lists of vocabulary and grammar rules, try to ...
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4
votes
Going from 9.5/10 to 10/10 in grammatical correctness in spoken English
Matt vs. Japan on YouTube talks about how, even after achieving a high level in Japanese, he had to go back and retrain himself to hear and correctly use pitch accent.
His experience won't be 1:1 ...
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4
votes
Spanish vs Russian rules
Short answer: Knowledge of Spanish would not help much while learning Russian.
Long answer: It could be easier for you to learn a second foreign language, but it's impossible to quantify it, as @...
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