Question:
how well should you
know your native language before studying a foreign language?
For example, I speak and understand English, my native language, but am
very hazy on the technical aspects of English grammar. Given a sentence
that is wrong, I can say that it is wrong, and suggest a fix, but I
can't give a reason other than "it sounds wrong...and this change makes
it sound right". I would not be able to say that the problem was it
used the future perfect tense in the indicative mode when it should have
used the past tense in the subjunctive mode, or anything like that.
Is this a serious handicap in learning a foreign grammar, or does it
just mean I need to pick a grammar book that, if it wants to illustrate
a point by comparing to English, does so by giving English examples,
rather than by citing English grammar terms?
Answer:
Depending on the language, a lot of English grammar may not be at all
relevant. A decent text should have explanations and examples that don't
require much beyond, maybe, terms like "noun" and "verb".
I had a close friend who was quite good at both Mandarin and Japanese,
but whenever he heard grammatical terms, his brain would simply shut
down. He didn't want to hear it.
His speaking was much better than mine in both, and I knew a fair amount
about English grammar by that time--which really didn't help me much
with either.
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