Re:Ask HN: Foreign language learners, what's the workflow yo...
by d1sxeyes on Wednesday September 14, 2022 @05:49AM
(#32835036)
> For French, I would say stuff like subjonctif
As a beginner you absolutely do not need to learn the subjunctive. Even as an advanced French speaker, you can get away with just a few 'set phrases' in the subjunctive rather than learning the rules for the mood overall. Many French people do not use it correctly, and in a large portion of the cases, there's no difference between the indicative and the subjunctive. I cannot think of any case where not using the subjunctive would cause a problem in understanding, rather than just sounding a bit wrong.
Russian declension absolutely correct though, incorrect declensions will make you completely incomprehensible. Something more fundamental, word stress, is even more important. I spent MONTHS struggling to get anyone to understand me asking for a пепельни́ца. They would just stare at me gone out until I learned it was пе́пельница, after which I was understood immediately.
As a beginner you absolutely do not need to learn the subjunctive. Even as an advanced French speaker, you can get away with just a few 'set phrases' in the subjunctive rather than learning the rules for the mood overall. Many French people do not use it correctly, and in a large portion of the cases, there's no difference between the indicative and the subjunctive. I cannot think of any case where not using the subjunctive would cause a problem in understanding, rather than just sounding a bit wrong.
Russian declension absolutely correct though, incorrect declensions will make you completely incomprehensible. Something more fundamental, word stress, is even more important. I spent MONTHS struggling to get anyone to understand me asking for a пепельни́ца. They would just stare at me gone out until I learned it was пе́пельница, after which I was understood immediately.