Language and English

What the hell is THIS based on? Certainly not reality. Any sentence structure and grammar I learned in English class was actually COUNTER PRODUCTIVE to me when trying to learn French that uses a totally different sentence structure. I was constantly confused when attempting to form a sentence in French, as I tried to speak it in English structure. I would have to conclude, that LACK of basic sentence structure knowledge in English will actually HELP a student learn other languages (including English in the long run, as their brain becomes programmed to a more open thought process towards language). I base this on my own difficulties in learning a foreign language... and on the absolute EASE with which my brother's 3 kids have learned Spanish and English by growing up in a bilingual house hold... as well as my cousin who was speaking fluent Italian and English by 3 (well, as fluent as a 3 yr old speaks any language), since he too grew up in a bilingual household. Add to it that the most common foreign language errors made by people that have basic fluency in multiple languages, is incorrect sentence structure... because they easily mix up what order things should be in for a given language. Nope... in reality, I think the LESS you know of a given language when attempting to learn additional ones, the better chance you have of learning the 2nd (or more) language. And for that reason, I feel foreign languages should be started at the grade school level, and NOT wait until high school (yes, I think learning multiple languages is very important... and should be required schooling, at least in the USA. With a stronger concentration on English since it is the "accepted" language of the USA... in other countries, YMMV, and the "base" language would obviously be the accepted language of the area) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>