Two types of people? / Half-price ‘easy reader’ ebook

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Buondì.

Sigh.

Plenty of people commented (as I suggested, thank you for not emailing…) on last week’s article, Why studying grammar is a waste of time. You can read their thoughts here. And it’s not too late to add your own. But before you do, read on.

Writing the article took me between two and three hours, which is a big chunk of my day, and my mental energy. Today I’ll spend less time, as reading the comments made me suspect that there are just two types of people in the world.

Most prominently – at least so it appears – are those who will happily state their opinion, though that’s something their elementary school teacher told them more than half a century ago, not subsequently tested in the forge of real life…

OF COURSE studying grammar is ESSENTIAL if you wish to speak a language PROPERLY!

This group ignores my arguments to the contrary, for instance that most learners have little hope of or desire to speak Italian ‘properly’ and will, in general, be happy to be able to speak and understand Italian at all.

The other type of person, already knows that the ‘received wisdom’ is nonsense. They’re well aware (it’s not a secret) that the idea that grammar study should form the backbone of any language learning program was superseeded even before WWII (see B.F. Skinner‘s ideas from the nineteen-thirties, for instance, not that I in any way agree with him.) The Grammar-Translation approach is archaic, and has been for nearly a century.

Modern language teaching/learning materials mix small doses of grammar with large doses of other elements of language, mostly practice, specifically skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing – and their micro-skill components), vocabulary of all types, pronunciation at phoneme level and upwards, and various functional/situational components i.e. what to expect when checking into an AirBnB, or how to write a resume/curriculum.

Personally, I’d add the importance of ‘cultural knowledge’, for why bother to learn to speak and understand any language if you have no idea what native speakers use it to talk about? Who’s the head of the government? Which sports teams are big? What does it mean to drive this car rather than that one? Where to go when the weather gets too hot to bear? And so on.

In short, judging by the comments, I’m preaching either to the already converted (not necessarily by me, I hope) or to those who aren’t listening.

Which is a shame. With sixteen or seventeeen thousand club members, perhaps a third of whom will open an emailed article, I’d rather hope to be heard by a third group composed of a small number of people who have absolutely no idea how to learn a foreign language, as they’ve never in their lives tried, and a much larger crowd who have indeed tried, but unsuccessfully, so would appreciate being given permission to put aside all the nonsense ideas and try something different, such as thinking for themselves.

To the know-alls, I say this: any professional language educator or serious student of modern languages knows that grammar is only one component, and that focusing on it will be of limited use without other necessary components. Any response you have to that statement which includes the word ‘properly’ is not worth your time uttering, by the way. THINK ABOUT IT!

I read all the comments, but I don’t recall seeing a single one that said ‘I studied the grammar of LANGUAGE X, prioritising that over other elements of that language because I know it’s the most important thing, and the result was that I now speak properly and understand everything I hear.’

Never happens.

The ‘converted’, on the other hand, were likely in their comments to include real-life tales of woe and of triumph, such as their failures to learn anything at school (focus on grammar), but subsequent successes with more practical approaches.

Racking my brains, I don’t recall ever, in my life, receiving a single email or comment from someone saying “I spent months following your advice, Daniel, and have used the materials you suggested, but it really didn’t help at all!”

Rather the opposite in fact.

Perhaps people are just too polite? The many thousands of students I’ve taught in classrooms in different countries, the tens of thousands of subscribers to and clients of the various websites I’ve created?

The problem has more often been that once people have been encouraged to think about approaches and methods, and the reasons for using or not using them, it all seems very sensible and logical.

Learning a language is still long and hard, but that isn’t my fault. People either keep up with it, or they don’t. But once the grammar bogeyman is dead, there’s nothing much more to say.

Not a ‘know-all’? Not already ‘converted’?

I wrote what I know about language learning/teaching in this article: How to learn Italian (or any language)

Read it, if you can be bothered (I do get plenty of emails telling me my articles are TOO LOOOOOONNNNGGGG!) and try out some of the suggestions it contains. You will, I promise, be wiser for it.

Prego.

That means ‘I pray’. It’s the first person singular of the verb ‘pregare’, noun ‘preghiera’.

Did the grammar explanation help you understand why I used it there above?

No?

What about a more situational/functional approach, then?

“Grazie Daniel, per i consigli.”

“Prego. In bocca al lupo!”

Google Translate gives me ‘please’ as the first result, which is unhelpful. Think of it as ‘I pray – that you don’t mention it’, so the Spanish ‘De nada’,

You’re welcome.

Alla prossima settimana.

Half-price eBook of the Week, Il calendario di Laura, £4.99!

This week’s Half-price eBook of the Week offer is A2/B1-level ‘Il calendario di Laura‘.

Read/listen to it and you’ll improve your Italian comprehension skills, but better still, it’s a great way to learn about Italy’s many, confusing public holidays, some of which are coming up in the next few weeks.

Goodness! We’ve just got done with Easter, you might be thinking (n.b. ‘Good Friday’ is NOT a holiday in Italy, but ‘Easter Monday’ is…)

Well great – at least it is if you live in Italy –  as now we have April 25th and May 1st to look forward to.

Who knows, if the days fall right, we could combine them and have a really long break! And then there’s June 2nd, of course, and August 15th, and…

Read how Laura and her husband like to spend each ‘giorno festivo’, from Epiphany on January 6th, through the spring, summer, fall and winter months, to the climax of the Christmas holidays, followed by New Year, and then, to begin all over again!

• .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
• .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
• 14 chapters to read and listen to
• 14 exercises to check your understanding
• Italian/English glossaries of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
• Suitable for students at elementary level and above
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Remember, this week ‘Il calendario di Laura‘ is 50% discounted, so just £4.99 rather than the usual ‘easy reader’ ebook price of £9.99!

Buy Il calendario di Laura, just £4.99 | FREE sample chapter (.pdf) | Catalog

How do I access my ebook?

When your order is ‘completed’ (normally immediately after your payment), a download link will be automatically emailed to you. It’s valid for 7 days and 3 download attempts so please save a copy of the .pdf ebook in a safe place. Other versions of the ebook, where available, cannot be downloaded but will be emailed to people who request them. There’s a space to do that on the order form – where it says Additional information, Order notes (optional). If you forget, or if you have problems downloading the .pdf, don’t worry! Email us at the address on the website and we’ll help. Also, why not check out our FAQ?

P.S.

And here’s the usual reminder to read/listen to Tuesday’s FREE bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news from EasyItalianNews.com, which was published yesterday.

The ‘easy news’ bulletins are published each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and contain simplified articles with an online audio recording.

They’re free to access on the website, with no registration required. But subscribers (subscribing is free) get each bulletin via email as soon as it is published, which is a helpful thrice-weekly reminder to work on your Italian reading and listening skills…

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