Thread: Just a question

Is it better to learn Russian phrases first then grammar or the other way aorund?

Is that the way you learned English? You need to know some phrases and vocabulary in order to be able to use grammar. Methods that start heavey into the grammar at the beginning are tedious and boring and cause some people to quit. However there are those that actually thrive on grammar ( but of course they are mostly sick and depraved individuals with anti-social tendencies, who most likely have written on their school report cards "Does not play well with others".)

I find that if you learn to speak in small and simple phrases (or short sentences) with someone, it makes it fun. Then you can figure out what grammar you just used. You will see the point of the grammar and how it works and then be able to make ajustments to your phrase and ultimately construct new ones. You will soon see that you need to learn grammar and at some point will actually desire to go into it. Start out learning genders and plurals and adjectival endings.

I totally agree with you there, DDT. The first book I picked up was like a 501 common phrases or something like that. I memorized some of them, and now while I'm learning the different aspects of grammar, I remember particular ones, and think "oh, that's why it is like that..."
I think if I concentrated on grammar in the beginning, I would have quit. Hell, if someone would have told me that every single word has like 7 different declensions, I wouldn't have started at all! (ok, so I am exaggerating a little there!)
-Fantom

It depends on what kind of learner you are. The reason I(and other people with anti-social tendencies) do not like learning phrases is because it is boring. I don't know about you, but I hate remembering long lists of random foreign syllables I have no hope of pronouncing correctly or understanding(and then being told this means "I want to exchange money"). In general, I would imagine that if you are the type of person who can easily remember long lists of random words, you might as well go for it. There are some awful grammar-intensive courses that do not cover basic phrases until much later(or sometimes do not cover them at all).

However, if you are like me, and you want to start from the very basics, see and understand how they work with each other, and build your own little sentences from these building blocks, then you will want to start with grammar. Trust me, although the following example is taken from a book which is admittedly one of the "awful courses" I mentioned above, it is almost magical to be taught two letters: a and b, then be shown how to say "water"(ab), "with"(ba), and "with water"(ba ab).

The ideal course, in my opinion, would start out with grammar but also give you phrases to work with(and make some attempt of teaching you how they work).