Originally Posted by Lorna at Vicenza

Loads of double negatives in Italian. Is Spanish the same?

Italians find it very hard to grasp the present perfect.

I'm very careful about pronouncing conditionals properly when I teach. I don't want students asking me what "wunt - shunt and c..." mean.

I once gave some high school students a general knowledge quiz. One question in the 'science and nature' section was:

What is the hardest rock?

A lovely girl replied "heavy metal"

Originally Posted by Veleta

Hey Lynnxa, you could turn this into a bit of a quiz thread and have a bit of fun. Pose a few basic grammar Qs to the "natives" and see what they know about their own language?

Originally Posted by lynnxa

you're right, of course

& tbh when I'm teaching spanish I try not to get too caught up in grammar simply because most of my (adult) students just about know a noun from a verb - that's nothing against them - more on the way we were taught in the UK (or not!), and the fact that if tehey were ever taught it they have now forgotten it, because they don't need to know it!

the kids in spain learn their own language with a huge emphasis on grammar - and expect to learn a foreign language the same way

Originally Posted by Lorna at Vicenza

I can relate to that. My 9 year old here already knows what an articulated preposition is yet when my 26 year old half sister signed up for Italian classes, she rang me to ask what a noun, adjective and verb was.

I was taught both English language and English lit at school. She wasn't.

Sorry - I'll get off now. Don't mean to keep making comparisons but the differences and similarities interest me.

Originally Posted by lynnxa

do double negatives just make things VERY negative in Italian?

if so, then it's the same in Spanish


have to say I agree

Originally Posted by lynnxa

you don't have to go

language fascinates me too - I can understand written Italian fairly well - I get a bit more than 'the gist' if you see what I mean - but then I did latin for while at school

I love tracing the 'root' of a word - I think it really helps to understand different languages

Originally Posted by Lorna at Vicenza

I do have to go now, not of course because I feel unwelcome but because the kids are telling me in their lovely Italian/Yorkshire accents that they are not just hungry but starving.

Originally Posted by lynnxa

really?

it's not lunctime here for at least another hour

Originally Posted by Lorna at Vicenza

Shops and other places shut at 12.30 here so most people eat around one-ish.

Originally Posted by montgomail

Thing is, we don't actually need to know and it's the sort of thing you get taught as a young child and forget about. It's only foreign languages that we tend to over analyse.

Originally Posted by me me

English speaking children do not get taught this in English schools, my wife didnt. I was taught this rule because I needed to learn English sharpish.

English children know the difference from infancy but dont know why they use "on or In" but they always get it right.

JLFS

Originally Posted by montgomail

I was taught grammar in an English school and it does help when learning a new language.

Originally Posted by montgomail

I was taught grammar in an English school and it does help when learning a new language.

Originally Posted by lynnxa

I was too - but not little tricks such as that one to help remember which preposition to use - it was more instinctive because we heard it every day

and I certainly didn't learn grammar in the depth that my two are learning it here in spain1