[Manuel]

I never understood why people say that learning a foreign language the way a baby learns it is the most effective way. They come up with arguments like a baby doesn't know any grammar and still learns rapidly through imitation etc.

But "rapidly" is a relative term! What do you consider rapid? A baby takes YEARS to learn to speak properly. But an adult who studies grammar meticulously can learn as much in 1 year as a baby learns in five!

I am not saying that being immersed in the language is not a good thing. It obviously is and will be very helpful. But learning grammar greatly speeds up one's comprehension and learning.

It makes no sense for an adult to try to learn a language like a baby learned it, because he's not a baby! The only reason a baby learned the language without grammar is that he had no other choice.

Trying to learn something by simply "being around it" takes infinitely longer than learning the underlying concepts, theories and rules. The only problem is when people think that studying grammer is ALL they need to do.

Obviously you also need to APPLY what you learn. I think that is where the majority of people fail in learning a foreign language. But that doesn't mean you should ignore grammar in favor of other things. I think studying grammar is one of the most effective ways to quickly improve, as long as you immediately apply whatever grammatical thing you have just learned.

Now, how to apply it is a whole different subject in itself, but grammar is absolutely essential in my opinion if you want to learn a foreign language quickly as an adult.