Warning!  Warning! Warning!

I am going to talk about grammar!

I know I shouldn’t. I know it is bad for me…I couldn’t help it….I was drawn by the subjunctives and conjugations.

Errrrr……sorry about that….don’t know what came over me…must have been all those verbs, nouns and adjectives!

So today I checked out grammar.  I knew I had to at some point and have been putting it off until today.  I suppose it was curiosity that got me to seek out information about grammar.  I have been very pleased with my progress of learning so far and wanted take it on to the next level and thought that a good dose of grammar was the answer.

I know I need to look at it sometime if I am to elevate my communication beyond that of grunting a few words and pointing at things and so today was the day.

There is certainly plenty of information  out there to look at and it as very easy to get overwhelmed with so much stuff.  It wasn’t that there was a lot of sites, there were, it was just that there were a lot of sites that were covering so much information.  Many of it was academic based and quite dry, no jokes nor ’nuffin and some of it was quite superficial.

What I did realise whilst reading it was that I know very little about grammar in my own language because I could not understand what half of it meant - pluperfect, subjunctives, passive voice, blah blah blah.  Now I know I must use some of this stuff because I like to think I am reasonably fluent in my own language but I certainly can’t tell you when I am using it.

So looking at the grammar, it seemed too much to take in and my instinct was to RUN!!!!!!!!

However I am not learning Spanish as an academic exercise, I just want to communicate effectively with Spanish Speaking natives, so I don’t think I need to study grammar in great depth.  Now don’t get me wrong I think having a good understanding of grammar is going to be important to me in the future, I just think at this moment I need to keep it simple and start with the basics of the stuff I need right now.

A good place to start, I have found, is Wikipedia.  I did a search on that site and came up with a nice summary of Spanish grammar that was easy to digest.  The great thing about Wikipedia of course is that there are so many links to follow that will help you understand many of the terms that are used in the articles.  That way you can decide just how deep you want to go.

Another great resource that is also free is the Quick and Easy Spanish course that I have been using that you can also get for free.  This is a very useful basic guide to the essentials of Spanish Grammar that will give you just the right amount of knowledge if you are just starting out.

So where do you start?

Well I think your exploration of grammar should initially be dictated by the needs of what you are learning.  Let your curiosity direct your research and only visit a grammar resource when you need to.  If you expose yourself enough to the language and you start interacting with it, you will gradually absorb the rules naturally in the same way you learnt your own language.  You can of course accelerate your progress by formal study but you will make the most meaningful advances if the grammar you learn relates to what you are speaking right now.

On another note, today I went back to school…

My local school is designated as a specialist language college and so I thought I’d get in touch with them to tell them what I am doing and see if they could give me any tips.  I met with the head of languages and we had a great chat about what I am trying to achieve. We got on so well that in the next couple of weeks I hope to be sitting in on a lesson or two to see how languages are taught today.

I shall keep you posted.