THE EVIL THAT IS GRAMMAR

I am really enjojoying the course and have learnt quite a bit of German since starting (In earnest) about 4 months ago. However I HATE GRAMMAR, I really struggle to understand the dative, accusitive, nominative and genitive cases, and how they affect the structure of the sentence around them. the verbs (weak and strong) have their present and past participles,with present and imperfect subjunctives, incidently I bought a book called the 'Oxford German Verbpack' it lists 55 model verbs and 6000 verbs (THATS RIGHT 6000 !!)which follow one of those models, how in the world are you supposed to remember all of those and how each of them conjugate? Adjectives can be comparative, superlative and demonstrastive, the nouns with their 3 genders and plural endings and their subsequent effect on the sentence structure, it goes on and on. My head is in pieces. I am sure that I didn't learn all of this in English as a schoolchild, and yet I seem to get along fine. Is it possible that one can become reasonably fluent in German as a second language by just learning to speak the language through the audio courses, or is it neccessary to fully understand all of the grammatical rules. What are other peoples thought on this, are others struggling like me, or am I just Ein Dummkopfe. Give me some feedback folks. Ken.

Hey, [quo]*Quote:* Is it possible that one can become reasonably fluent in German as a second language by just learning to speak the language through the audio courses, or is it neccessary to fully understand all of the grammatical rules. [/quo] Yes it is. You can speak fluently and easily without knowing all the grammar behind it. Remember how you learned as a child, you could speak well before you even knew what a verb or a noun is, so it is definitely possible. The phrase: Wie geht es dir? (How are you) is one that you learn right at the beginning, but grammatically it is quite a complex structure. Nevertheless I'm sure that you can say it easily and use it and also understand it without knowing why it is "dir" and not "dich" or "du". So don't be frustrated about the grammar and simply enjoy using the language. :D

Thanks Nathalie, That makes me feel a bit better. I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed for a while, the grammar and its application just wasn't sinking in. I have decided just to concentrate hard on the audio lessons, until they are ingrained and then maybe the grammar will come more naturally. I look forward to 'More Rocket German'. :) Ken.

That is a good idea. You will see that when you focus on the audio lessons first and then go back to the grammar lessons some grammatical features will seem much more logical. You will look at it and think oh yes, I know that because I have used it many times before. :D

Hi Ken just wanted to sympathise with you. The grammar is sooooo difficult. I'm learning German full time in Switzerland, and it's still hard. I've been in tears a few times because I just don't understand the Grammar and the words change so much and there's so much to think about before you can spit out a sentence. I'm marrying here and staying permanently, so there's no way out for me. Maybe my partner should have moved to Australia instead :-) I think to really become fluent you have to be immersed in the language for a long time. Rocket German is a really good program and helped me prepare for my intense course. Glad i'm not the only one who is going crazy!!

Hi Mak, the more you are immersed in the language the less you will have to think about the grammar. You will learn how to speak fluently without having to think about all the endings and forms. The sentence: "Wie geht es dir?" is grammatically quite complex if you think about it. The word order, the verb form, the personal pronoun etc. But I'm sure it's a sentence that just rolls of your tongue, because you would have used it a lot. You will see that this will happen more and more the longer you study the language for. Let us know how you get on :P

Re ..The Evil That Is Grammar. Thank goodness I have just read all the problems others have with grammar. I was serioisly giving up the whole thing but now feel I must soldier on. So good to see their are many others like myself but surely not meny as old. Thankyou folks. Edie

Hi Edie, thanks for your post. Don't worry about grammar too much. Even if you just listen to the Audio lessons you will get a good understanding of German and you will be able to use it and have fun along the way. The main thing is that you can speak and understand German, and I know that many people think that a good knowledge of grammar is essential in order to do that...but it's not. If someone says: "How are you" you simply reply, because you know what it means. You don't analyze that the personal pronoun is referring to you and because the sentence starts with a question word you have to answer something. It just happens naturally. So the more you listen to spoken German the more confident you will get and develop a feeling for the language. Good luck and let us know how you get on. Paul

I used to stress about this too but then I realized something. I'm a writer. I'm fluent in English. I don't remember all the grammar rules. In fact, I'm lucky if I remember 50% of everything I've learned. So, I just do my best when it comes to learning and speaking German. I was a perfectionist in the beginning and it severely hindered the process of learning German.