How to learn grammar you can use
You need to work on your foreign language grammar, but the normal grammar drills just aren’t cutting it for you. Let’s talk about how to learn grammar without drills so that you can accomplish your language learning goals.
So the things that I’m going to talk about in this video are taken directly from phase two of The Method, an entire lesson where we talk about grammar, how to study it, and how to choose the right language learning resources for your language learning. Then we’ll end with a really important mindset shift that will change everything that you learn.
How to learn grammar with cloze exercises
So the first way to learn grammar without drills is clozes. Clozes are just a fancy way of saying fill-in-the-blank sentences. You can use clozes for all sorts of things, whether it’s conjugations, whether it’s certain vocabulary words, whether it’s differentiating between different words that may be used in certain contexts, but not other contexts. The sky’s the limit.
But I love clozes because not only are they a lot less boring than grammar drills, but it’s also really conducive to learning grammar rules and grammar structures in a way that you’ll be able to use them going forward.
Why clozes work
I mean, think about it. The way that we learn grammar is generally conjugation tables where you are conjugating different verbs for “you”, “me”, “he”, “she”, “it”, “they”, “us”, whatever it is, or you have like matching games and all sorts of things that treat grammar rules as if they are just grammar rules and you have to learn the grammar rules and it’s not part of the actual language. You have to just learn the rules and I swear it’ll work! When it doesn’t.
With a strategy like using clozes, you are given a sentence and you can see how that specific grammar rule interacts with a sample of the language. This also makes use of the grammar a lot more natural because instead of having to specifically define exactly why a certain conjugation or a certain word or whatever it is is used in a certain context, you kind of just get a feel for it and it becomes a lot more natural because something that a lot of us get wrong about learning languages is thinking that we have to have a very precise, easily stated understanding of grammar rules and vocabulary words and all that stuff, when in reality that’s not how language works.
Think about it: in your native language, you can’t explain why we use certain conjugations or grammar rules. We just kind of inherently know. So if you want to learn your target language in a way that just kind of feels intuitive and obvious and you don’t have to think about it, it just kind of comes out, then clozes are an excellent option because it shows your brain when to use different rules without your brain having to think about it.
It’s just like switching from learning vocabulary with translating to learning vocabulary within any other context where you kind of just understand the word because of the content around it, as opposed to having to memorize a specific translation. Clozes make a much more natural, engaging, and interesting way to learn grammar without drills because you can come up with any sentence, any content, and any subject that you want, which makes it interesting for anybody.
Language apps with cloze exercises
So how do you use clozes to learn grammar? Honestly, any kind of fill-in-the-blank activity works fine for this, but I would also recommend Clozemaster or Lingvist for clozes in particular.
I would say Clozemaster is a lot better with grammar and Lingvist is a little bit better with vocabulary because Lingvist is primarily a vocabulary-led platform, but they’re both excellent clozes and I love to use them to beef up my practice or learn new things.
How to learn grammar with immersion
The second way to learn grammar without drills is immersion, and by immersion, I don’t mean going into a foreign country, throwing yourself into life and conversations, and hoping for the best. Because in this day and age, there is more than one way to achieve immersion. Thanks to the Internet, it’s really easy to immerse yourself in almost any language right from your phone or computer.
Immersion is a great way to learn grammar without drills because you can experience the grammar actively being used in appropriate ways. So again, just like with clozes, you get more of an intuitive feel of how that grammar is supposed to work and the rules that apply to it without having to know exactly what the rules are and exactly what the exceptions are and all of that jazz, you just kind of figure it out. It’s what’s called implicit learning.
Why immersion can teach you how to learn grammar
By nature, our brains try to make sense of the world around us. So if you consistently immerse yourself in the language, you will eventually pick up the grammar without drills. It may be helpful to find explanations of grammar rules just to get you started, but I suggest focusing most of your time on things like clozes or immersion and things that will teach you how to use the grammar rules effectively, intuitively, and naturally.
Honestly, immersion is known as the most “natural” way to learn languages, because it’s true.
Language apps for immersion
So if you want to learn grammar with immersion, two recommendations I have for you are Language Reactor and LingQ.
Language Reactor you can use for most videos on Netflix and YouTube to get the subtitles and learn how to connect the dots by listening and reading the subtitles while you’re watching whatever video you’re watching.
LingQ is a book, almost. It does support a ton of different types of content but is generally like you’re reading an audio book and you’re picking and choosing the words. And like Lingvist, LingQ is more focused on vocabulary, but you can definitely use it for grammar as well, just to naturally intuitively pick up the grammar as you go.
Because these strategies are inherently intuitive, you can learn other things like vocabulary and get a little bit like 2% more experience every single time you see that conjugation or whatever grammar structure you’re looking at. So even if you’re not actively focused on the grammar with whatever you’re studying at any given time, if you are around the grammar, your brain will pick it up.
You might not realize it, but your brain is doing its thing where it’s connecting information for you to use later. So that means yes, you can technically learn grammar while you’re learning other things like vocabulary. If your goal is to improve your grammar, you can do that while also focusing on other things. So don’t worry about learning vocab as being a waste of time for your grammar. Everything is connected. So any exposure you have to your target language will help you to learn it.
Learn grammar with YouTube videos
The next way to learn grammar without the drills is through videos on YouTube. There are a ton of different creators on YouTube who post videos specifically about the different structures that you’re trying to learn so you can learn in different ways from different people who have different perspectives. And you can drill it into your brain by just getting all these different angles of the same concept because you never know which teacher you’re going to resonate with and you’re going to understand.
And bonus, if you find a language teacher on YouTube that you enjoy their explanations and it makes sense to you, a lot of them also have full online courses that will jump-start your grammar using the strategies, using approaches that they’re teaching on YouTube. So once you find somebody who you resonate with, grab their online course because you’ll love how they teach the whole language.
This is exactly how I came across German with Laura; if you are a German language learner and the grammar just doesn’t make any sense to you whatsoever, I highly recommend Laura’s German Foundations. She makes German grammar just kind of intuitive. If you’ve ever tried to learn German grammar by yourself, you know that is not an easy feat.
Have the right mindset to learn grammar
Now my final tip for learning grammar without drills is not so much a resource but a mindset. This is important because you can learn and practice grammar all you want, but without the right mindset, you’re only going to get so far. And with this next point, you’re going to understand why the first lesson of my full course, The Method, is on mindset.
And that last tip is to make mistakes. This might seem counterintuitive, but hear me out.
So many language learners are terrified of making mistakes and it makes sense. Generally, mistakes are like a bad thing. At the very best, you’ll be ignored and you’ll just hope that nobody’s thinking about it. And at the very worst, you’ll get made fun of or insulted or embarrassed for making the mistakes. So we tend to internalize that whenever we make a mistake, it’s a bad thing we did something wrong, so why bother trying, right?
But the thing is, if you never try, you will never learn the language. Every strategy, every resource I’ve mentioned so far is only going to be effective if you are allowing yourself to potentially say something wrong, do something wrong, or make a mistake.
Now, if this is something that you really, truly struggle with, like I used to struggle with in the past, I do have a mini course for you, Mastering Mistakes. With Mastering Mistakes, I help you to understand why exactly you’re afraid of making mistakes and what to do about it so that you can confidently throw yourself into the language without being so hyper-focused, concerned, and scared of saying something wrong.
Because the worst thing that you could do when it comes to learning a language is not trying at all. Even if your strategy is less than effective and you’re bored, it’s better than nothing.
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