Question_1: How did you learn English?
Takashi Toyota asked:
I like to read your docs very much, because any of your sentence is not how-to oriented. I do not welcome how-to info at all. I think you are rather a philosopher than (just) a language designer. I learn a lot from your publications. You are from Denmark, which means you are not English native. How did you learn English? Would you give us some advice? Our English teachers here tell us to study grammar first in the class room.
Reference:
You wouldn't try to learn a foreign language from a dictionary and grammar, would you?
Dr.Stroustrup answered:
I started learning English in 5th grade with I was 12 years old. Had I known how much of my professional life would involve writing and speaking English, I guess I would have paid more attention in class. I also learned German and French, but being a science student, I escaped Latin and a 4th foreign language. I thought I was reasonably good at English, but my first visit to England taught me otherwise. Mastering a foreign language takes endless practice reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
I was lucky that English has a structure that is rather close to that of Danish, but I still think that seeing the language in real-world use and using it is far more important that formal grammar. I once tried to learn Japanese, but couldn't find the time to learn enough for it to be useful. I remember that the teacher - who was Japanese - was very interested in grammar and would on occasion correct the English grammar of the students (mostly native English speakers). She was undoubtedly right in most cases - and had an English grammar book to prove it - but her English was neither fast not colloquial. We had a hard time understanding her, and she us, but nothing could undermine her confidence in the importance of grammar.
I think that good grammar will come with time and effort, but that in the initial stages it is far more important to communicate ideas than to master the grammar. Once you can understand and be understood, you can function and learn more. If the need it there, good grammar will follow. Reading to build vocabulary and see examples of a wide variety of uses is important for preparation to spoken use of language.
When learning a foreign language, I can recommend popular literature, especially light literature, such as crime fiction. The language used in the classics is often too complicated and subtle to encourage reading, and reading a lot is important. Also, popular fiction is likely to contain a lot of relatively simple dialog. After all, most of us will want to use our new foreign language to talk with other people.
To learn a foreign language well, you have to barge ahead and make a lot of mistakes. You have to accept that making lots of mistakes is necessary and natural. Everyone who has lived in a culture with a foreign language knows that and accepts that from beginners. People who can't stand making mistakes never learn well. Risk avoidance leads to very slow and inefficient language acquisition. Babies are the best at language acquisition; not self-conscious students or professors.
