« Anthony Giddens | Main | Disillusioned »
November 11, 2005
Grammar
I think everyone here has realised that I like languages. I like learning them particularly when they are obscure and hopefully safely dead!
However, I have a little secret too: I didn't know anything about grammar. I never learnt the Persian grammar, since the Iranian schools are very negligent about teaching the grammar. I also started learning English early on and never paid attention to the grammar. When I started studying German, I did some grammar, but still not much.
The problem began to show when I started to study dead languages. Everyone was expecting me to know the technical terms and concepts associated with the grammar, but I obviously did not know them. I tried reading grammar books on my own, but the results were less than desirable.
In classes such as Sanskrit and Avestan, I was totally lost about terms such as "subordinate clause" or "the ablative case" or things of that sort. I felt I am always behind the others, and it was not a great feeling.
This was the case until last year when I started studying Middle Persian. I had studied MP before, but mostly just with professors, reading a text and translating it withouth bothering much about the grammar and trying to analyze the words and sentences. But since last year, I have studied MP systematically with Prof. Rahim Shayegan who is a brilliant philologist, linguist, and historian and the student of the famous P. Oktor Skjaervo of Harvard. I think he could tell from the first glance that I don't know the grammar. He would always stop me in the middle of reading and ask me to parse a verb or noun and tell hims things such as "this is a third person plural indicative active present verb" or similar. He explained and re-explained the concepts of nouns governing adjectives and attributive and predicate positions and things of that sort.
This year, I am realising I am not only more comfortable with Middle Persian, I am also having a much better time in other languages such as Greek. I actually feel like I understand how words relate to each other grammatically and can pretty much explain it, although I still am slow at it.
I told this story to encourage everyone who might want to study history or languages or anything requiring the study of languages to make sure he or she is well versed in grammar. Iranians are notoriosly careless about languages, and I am finding out that the same is true about the Americans. In both cases the result has been that many people cannot write properly or make gross mistakes when speaking. I think it is a good idea for everyone to learn about grammar, it is a skill that might come in useful sometimes in your life.
Now I just have to learn all these terms in Persian!!
Posted by Khodadad at November 11, 2005 12:14 AM
Comments
Hmmm, you have made me think of how I am able to speak and write English. If someone asked me about the relationship between a noun and an adjective, I would not have much of an answer. I know how to speak and write, but that knowledge is mostly either intuitive or unconscious. The only other language that I really attempted to learn was Latin. I recall that I had great difficulty getting the endings of the words correct. I suppose that Latin is a more logically structured language than English, but I was used to the illogic of English. :) Thinking more about English, I believe that I learned my writing style not so much from teachers in school, but from reading and memorizing many different grammatical patterns. I am sure that listening to really good speakers helped, as well. I know that I spent a few years diagramming sentences in English classes, but I am pretty sure that it was a waste of time for me!
Oh well, enough about me. I think that your usage of the English language is better than most Americans! Also, there is a big difference between simply memorizing to pass a class and really trying to learn and understand. It seems to me that you are really trying to understand the material you are studying about languages. I think that is a hallmark of the very best of students, and also, of the very best of teachers. I am sure that you well be a great teacher someday!
Posted by: David at November 11, 2005 09:26 PM
Thanks David! I am flattered. It is only natural that you are not able to explain the grammar of your mother tongue. Your grammar is inbternal and natural.
I also don't think Latin is more logical than English. English has very logical structures as well, such as the abluating vowels (sing sang song) and interesting way of not conjugating verbs. Latin is just more structured and paradigmed, since it is older. Old English was like Latin too, with many endings and very defined grammar.
Posted by: Khodadad at November 12, 2005 11:00 AM