Literal grammar
Learn grammar literally, i.e. put the foreign language grammar structure into your native language's words. For example: Ich habe Hunger in German means 'Im hungry' in English, but is literally 'I have hunger'. If you think of it as 'I have hunger' when you are in the early stages of learning the language it will come much more naturally. This principle applies to all languages.
Sent by: Kay
Comments
This technique applies only to learning the phrases, not to using them. At first, thing of it literally; once you learn it, it is what it is. In Spanish, for example, you say tengo hambre, I have hunger, hace sol, it makes sun, it's sunny, and es menos mal que, it's less bad that, it's a good thing that. Learning them literally makes them a lot easier to remember, but of course you don't want to translate them when you are speaking.
I try to keep the languages separate, learning like a child. It enables me to speak quickly and if I did as you suggested when speaking Japanese I'd soon suffer a mental breakdown!
I like to remember the odd things foreigners say in English, and then if you translate their mistakes literally to their language you're usually right. Works for Russian anyway.
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