Learning a New Language

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When learning a new language (including non-spoken languages like Latin) I am told that the vocabulary is easy and the grammar is tough. I'm assuming that's the NT norm. For me it's the opposite: I literally would score perfect on Latin grammar and flunk the vocabulary. Similar experience today while learning Italian.

If you are or believe that you are aspie / asutistic and you've learned a second language, please share your experience and vote for which was easier.

I was always better at grammar. Spanish grammar is more simple than English and vocabulary of any language tends to be more extensive.

I'm also much better at grammar. Learning vocabulary is rote memorisation and I've never been good at that. Learning grammar is learning a system, and I'm good at learning systems.

It also helps that I actually enjoy learning grammars (and languages in general, but grammars in particular) . I'm a linguistics nerd!

Looks like garammar is winning, opposite what I've seen with NTs in my unscientific polling. I suspected this might happen because grammar is based on patterns, rules, and structure, whereas vocabulary is a random jumble.

I theorize that I did well with grammar for the same reason as programming languages. A programming language is 100% grammar and no vocabulary (I consider keywords like punctuation, not real words). You get to invent your own vocabulary on the fly with your function names, class names, variable names, etc. If autism has a correlation with success with computers then it might also correlate to success in linguistic grammar.

Moderator note: This was moved to random discussion. I was hoping to see if it was the opposite for autistics than NTs, perhaps another difference between the two types of people, which is why I put this in the general autism forum.

I think I do equally well with both grammar and vocabulary when learning a foreign language.

I agree. I've always found grammar much easier than vocabulary. This is in line with my overall learning-style, which is more of a "whole concept" one. I learn things very well and very quickly by understanding them (from linguistics to history to physics) but not particularly well or quickly through memorization. However, knowledge of grammar (particularly morphemes) and etymology can help me to better learn vocabulary because when I understand the component parts and how they make a word mean what it does, I find the word easier to remember. As a result, I take what many consider to be a backwards approach to learning languages--first understand the grammar, then add on the vocab.

A couple of years ago I attempted to learn Japanese. I'm told that the grammar of that particular language is very difficult, but I thought it was fascinating so I actually enjoyed learning that part of it and found that it came pretty easily to me. It was more difficult for me to remember vocab words though.

In the start of learning a new language one or the other may be easier for you. But if you stick to it long enough, it will come to a point that you have to merge both anyhow to be genuinely fluent so it doesn't make much of a difference.

Learning grammar and using it fluently are to very different things. You have to get to the point that you're not worried about the grammar--it just need to flow, and that can be difficult for any learner, AS or NT, who had been relying on learning grammar up tot hat point. I grasp grammar concepts faster than learning lots of vocab. But it's pretty much an equal challenge to use both grammar and vocab fluently.

I'm roughly fluent in 3 languages, have studied/am studying a number of others at varies degrees of seriousness. When I was younger, I took German in school. In the first 2 years I was way ahead my classmates. But the third we were even, in terms of using what we'd learned fluently. generally find this to be my pattern--the basics I can acquire very quickly, but then I level out to a typical learning pace as I try to learn fluency.

There is a difference in learning spoken languages and non-spoken one. I'm studied three non-spoken ones--Latin, Biblical Hebrew and Ancient Greek. Basically it's studying grammar in a different language, with a lexicon nearby for the words you don't know. But with learning for fluency, you have to get away from relying on grammar as early as possible, getting in real speaking and listening experience, which for me is very challenging, being an Aspie and finding conversing so very coutnerintuitve. Strangely though, I often find it easier to start a conversation in a language other than my native tongue, possibly because I'm talking about practicing my language skills rather than "Oh god, I have to coe up with small talk".

Both come easily, but I think vocab is slightly easier.

quickly learning a complete vocabulary of foreign words is hard enough without the devilishly difficult overlay of linguistically idiosyncratic grammatical rules. just my jejune opinion.

I'm learning sign language right now, and memorizing the vocab is DEFINITELY easier for me to memorize. IDK about everybody else though.

I find memorizing foreign vocabulary to be much easier than learning grammar.

For me the important part of learning a language is getting the sounds right. I'm very anxious until I can do this, and once I can, I feel (incorrectly) that vocabulary and grammar will just fall into place.