Grammar - do I need it? (part 2)

So, having already established that if we seriously want to learn the language we really do need to learn some grammar, now I´m about to tell you not to worry about it that much.

When you learn all those grammar rules and see all the verb endings, it can cause a lot of stress. We find ourselves considering every word we say, fretting over our irregular verbs and worrying if we´ve chosen the right tense. It´s depressing and makes you not want to talk to anyone - and that´s the worst thing that could happen to someone learning a language.

What to do?

Accept that getting all your grammar perfect will take a long time and a good bit of practice, and get on with making mistakes for now. Keep a wee note of questions that arise; be proud of the times when you´ve succeeded in communicating, even though you feel that you made mistakes. Then, when you get some time, go and look up what you should have said. Or ask a friend or teacher.

Learn a bunch of useful stock phrases so that you can say them without thinking about them. Get the pronunciation right and people will be impressed. Which phrases? Well, depends what you want to talk about!

La comida está muy buena - the food is very tasty
Quisiera más vino, por favor - I´d like more wine please
No veo la pantalla: Usted tiene una cabeza enorme, señor - I can´t see the screen: you have an enormous head, sir.

Grammar - do I need it?

Well, look, put it this way - if you're serious about learning the language you're going to learn the grammar one way or another, whether you like it or not! There are two main ways of doing this:

1) Go to a Spanish-speaking country and live there for several years. Ideally, go while you're still a child, have fewer responsibilities, and maximum language-learning potential. This way you will ideally "absorb" grammatical structures without having to struggle with them consciously too much. While this "absorbsion" method can seem really appealing to a lazy-bones like myself, it does still take quite a lot of commitment and is generally very frustrating for grown-ups, who will tend to want to cut the crap by being more analytical with what people are saying: "...but why do you say it like that?!"

2) Accept that you're a big boy or girl now and get someone to tell you what nouns, verbs and adjectives are. While you're at it, get them to run over verb conjugations, tenses and adjectival agreement. That should do to get you started. Sorry for being patronising, but I guess if this question is being asked then we're starting at the start...
Now look, this stuff isn't difficult, so if your tutor, book or whatever doesn't explain it in a way you can understand, fire them and get another one.
Maybe I should try to explain it... but the thing is I don't know you or where you're coming from so I don't know how best to explain it to ya - point is, if you know English at any reasonable level, then you've got the basic concepts in place. That means you can do it in Spanish, too.

Understanding the grammar is the short-cut. Instead of spending your childhood in Spain, you can stay here, get on with your work, look after your family and spend a few minutes here and there sorting out your Spanish. Once you learn the words, the grammar will help you put them together so you can express whatever you want; much better than sticking with rote phrasebook sentences.


Maybe you'll feel like it's going slowly sometimes - hey, you've plenty of time. Sign up for an exam to prove to yourself how well you're doing!

That said, next post will be about how grammar doesn't really matter that much after all!

¡Hasta luego!