Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Don't Put the Cart Before the Horse

It'll take you a lot of time to learn a new language. There, I said it. Following the advice on this blog can expedite the process, but you'll still need to put in the hours.

When I was still in high school, I was forced to write in Italian/ German/ etc when I took exams. Most people would say "This is good practice."

How is this good practice?

How is making a bunch of mistakes in a foreign language beneficial?



Unless you have unlimited access to native speakers who can correct you, I strongly suggest you only practice in controlled settings. Doing exercises in high-quality language learning books is a great way to improve one's grammar without "learning" more mistakes.