How much does linguistics knowledge help in learning languag

[somstuff]

I conlang a bit, and I know a few things about linguistics and how language works, so do you think that would help me learn languages? Anyone have experience?

It seems like, since I know more about the general structure of language, learning grammar would be kind of like piecing together the details of that structure - rather than just learning long lists of grammar rules which don't really have any context.

[Yng]

It can help understand a lot of things, like for example the distinction between ce qui and ce que in French, or case distinctions in German, which other people can find very difficult. It's not a magical key that opens up a wonderful world of instant learning, but it's certainly handy.

[Xonen]

IME, it helps a lot. However, the price you pay is that, if you ever have to use learning materials or take courses intended for those less in the know, you risk getting really frustrated.

[Astraios]

IME, it helps a lot. However, the price you pay is that, if you ever have to use learning materials or take courses intended for those less in the know, you risk getting really frustrated.

This.

[Declan]

I agree, it definitely helps, because it cuts out a lot of explanation. However, you're still left with a lot of practice to be able to apply those rules without having to think about it. In some ways, I think actually learning a few languages might be more helpful because you get used to the process, and it gets quicker the more you learn.

[alice]

IME, it helps a lot. However, the price you pay is that, if you ever have to use learning materials or take courses intended for those less in the know, you risk getting really frustrated.

This.

This is what put me off taking evening classes to learn Polish: the course didn't do the dative and instrumental until the second year.

[Soren]

I've found it a huge help with learning pronunciation and grammar, which opens up more time for practice/exposure and vocabulary learning. I agree with Xonen though that it can make some resources frustrating to use.

[Mr. Z]

I find it helpful, mostly in languages that are very different than those I know. Japanese, for example, was quite strange for me at the beginning; but after I learned grammar more deeply, it became very simple. Foreign languages that are different than those you know have different structure, and you are not used to their structure; knowing the grammatical principles the structure is based on allows you to understand it and not have as much trouble with it. Also, knowing how to pronounce more sounds, and being able to define them, helps in the pronunciation of foreign languages, which can be quite frustrating otherwise (although that is not enough to pronounce them truly correctly. I learned the Japanese R by watching Japanese television rather than by knowing the sound, which I did not know at all, for example.)

[Khvaragh]

IME, having a knowledge of linguistics has significantly helped me in learning Hebrew (Classical, not Modern) and Syriac. A good grounding in diachronic linguistics makes recognizing cognates, similar grammatical structures, usage, etc. has been invaluable to me (for example, I can guess at the meanings of X word by figuring out its cognates, which even if the semantics aren't spot on, makes reading much easier), and I don't know if I would be as able to do so without it. Like has been stated by others here though, it's not a magic key, but it does help, and enables one to avoid some of the fuzzy "common language" definitions which often confuse beginners.

[Hakaku]

I find linguistic knowledge helpful if I'm more interested in learning about the particular aspects of a language in detail. Then I can simply look online and find academic resources to further my interest. However, I don't actually find it that helpful in terms of learning a language to communicate. This is primarily due to the fact that courses and textbooks designed for the masses will take their time introducing different topics and use a more practical and interactive approach for everyday learning. This allows for you to get a better grasp of the language by forcing you to use it.

But in a sense, both approaches complement each other, and as long as you don't expect general courses and the such to be linguistically technical, you won't be bashing your head through a wall.