Is learning grammar a waste of time?

About the role of grammar in language learning

When thinking about the language classes I had back in school, I remember totally embarrassing moments. Pronouncing something wrong led to obscene words fanned by the resounding laughter of my classmates.

Besides these moments grammar lessons were the worst. They remind me of mindless cramming, pointless inventing of mnemonic devices to make structures and rules somehow stick to my memory.

Two days after writing tests the crammed rules fulfilled their purpose and I forget them only to start hammering them inside my head again just at the threshold of the next test.

It appears to me that one of the major reasons why grammar is so present in language courses is that students must be graded somehow. But what does knowing some rules tell you about the proficiency of a language?

Just because you know how something works in theory, doesn’t mean that you are able to apply it. It must be put into practice. Too often the language is not spoken even after years of courses.

Nowadays I’m learning languages without taking classes

I’d never started my learning journey on grammar. Having to cross the high mountain ridge of conjugation, subjunctive without being acclimatized appears exhausting. And don’t forget about the exceptions for every rule.

A while ago I’ve adjusted my perspective on grammar a little bit.

Languages are patterns. They consist of sequences of aligned sounds. Combinations of sounds transfer meaning and thoughts. Learning another language means to apply to another way of expressing and recognizing these patterns of sound.

Once I got into this idea that languages are patterns, I began to recognize grammar just as such an underlying subpattern. It is like the instruction of how the patterns must align themselves in order to shape the wanted meaning.

There is a minor need to learn it forcibly. Just by making use of the language in all of its aspects, we absorb the grammar without being aware of it. A feeling and intuition are developed with sufficient exposure to the language.

That does not mean that grammar is unnecessary. Occasionally it does make sense to take a glance at some rules.

But only if we had perceived enough context, we can match the set of rules to something and thereby gain insights. Before having a why we should know what it is.

If you get an explanation of something that you unconsciously knew already it can cause one of these eureka moments and your understanding forges itself.

Thinking about my native language, I began to learn German grammar in elementary school. Before that I was able to speak, read, listen and write — using the language in all of its aspects without being aware that such a thing as grammar even existed.

The application of a set of rules with weird Latin names of abstract explanations made things more complicated than it helped, in my experience. They make me always think about the Latin grammar instructions in the famous scene from Monty Pythons Life of Brain

Almost conclusion

It is possible to be proficient in a language without knowing it’s grammar. You can play the game without being aware of its rules. They rather reveal themselves in the act of playing and are internalized automatically.

“Grammar is a piano I play by ear.”

― Joan Didion, Joan Didion: Essays & Conversations

There are some similarities to another language: Music. Joan Didion’s quotes made me think about that. You can master an instrument without having a degree in music theory or knowing the physics of acoustic or how sounds are produced.

I’m keen to know if you noticed any grammatical faux pas in my text while reading.

I haven’t found the right name for my language series yet, here are some other articles from it:

This is my 16th post for the ILLUMINATION 30-day writing challenge by Dr Mehmet Yildiz described in this article.