Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty
You can learn vocabulary, but having the building blocks alone doesn't help you build the building. You need to learn how the building blocks work together.
Looking up a word in a dictionary, and memorizing the first word listed really is not a good way to learn the vocabulary.
Reading a book written in Spanish and watching movies in Spanish will get you where you want to go much more quickly. You'll then be looking up words in their syntactic structures (already conjugated, parts of speech in the correct order). You'll be able to ask questions here about grammar, but it's important to have something grammatically correct to begin with. Trying to translate word-for-word will fail. You need to translate phrase by phrase.
For example:
to try to study = tratar de estudiar
I try to study = trato de estudiar
to start to learn Spanish = empezar a aprender español
I started to learn Spanish = empecé a aprender español
However,
I started to learn Spanish x months ago = hace x meses que estudio español
You can see that you need to learn how phrases fit together, not just the solitary words.
Building vocabulary is very important, don't get me wrong. But, learning how those blocks can be used is essential to communication.
Welcome to the forums, by the way!
|
Thanks a lot for the feedback
I'm not going word by word through a dictionary, that would be so boring I would kill myself lol. I'm going back through the book I used in Spanish I to help me get the basics of grammar, and I read the short stories and paragraph examples they have in the book. I also have flash cards of words that were listed at the end of the chapter, and just common Spanish words.
I definitely understand how just knowing words is a problem when it comes to mastering a language. I'm just trying to build up a knowledge of around 1000 common words so then I can read basic things without looking up every word I see. I did this with German and it made it easier to read and hear it. My German grammar is a different story lol
I do review Spanish grammar, just not as much right now, and I don't really think about the grammar when I write
BUT I shall put more time into learning grammar.
Thanks for your insightful feedback, I shall take heed
. Did my paragraph make any sense at all?