I like grammar
I find grammar immensely fascinating. I think it's a gateway drug of sorts. Something that lets you peer behind the veil into an uncharted world full of the mysteries and intrigue of language.
You learn a bit of grammar and all of the sudden you can create a variety of sentences and express yourself in another language. Obviously, you won't be fluent, but it lights a fire under you. Makes you want to continue your studies. That has largely been my experience.
I was thinking about this because I was flipping through a book of Japanese grammar to look something up. I was doing some reading practice when I saw 「ながら」used in a sentence. This is pronounced something like "nagara." I go ながら? What the crap is that? It sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember for the life of me what it meant. I wasn't able to glean some context from the passage and make an educated guess, so I went to my Japanese grammar book.
As I was flipping through it, I came across other grammar structures. I would read one structure and flip the page. "Oh yeah that one's definitely useful." I'd read another and flip the page. "I honestly forgot about this one." Then another. "Never seen this one before." And another. "I don't remember this one at all, but that feels like an essential structure to know. Why don't I know it? What's wrong with me?" About ten minutes pass by before I realize I haven't even found the original structure I had trouble with. I had encountered other structures and got sucked into reading them.
And that made me laugh a bit.
Because I've had similar experiences with dictionaries. Whenever I come across a word I don't know, I head to my dictionary (paper all the way, baby). I'd flip through looking for the word only to get sidetracked immediately. I'd end up, essentially, reading pages upon pages of a dictionary. And it's fun, too.
I feel a little crazy just thinking about that. Like, who the heck finds reading a dictionary fun? Apparently I do. Lets me learn new, random words that tend to stick for some reason. I recently learned 우물 (pronounced something like u-mul), which is Korean for "water well." This is a word I practically never use (or have used) in English. Certainly isn't one I'd use in Korean, but I found it in a dictionary and it stuck.
Anyhow, I did learn what ながら means. It's a particle / conjunction that expresses two actions being performed at the same time. Say you want to say something like "I listen to music while studying" you'd use this.
When I was finished flipping through my grammar book, I tossed it to where my language collection is. And then I realized I had a bunch of different grammar and dictionary books. Even for languages I'm not even studying. Don't care for French (sorry) nor do I have the intention to ever learn it and yet I've got a grammar book for it. Same for Icelandic, another language I'll never learn.
I suppose I just like looking through them. To find similarities and differences between them and the languages I do know. A fun way to pass the time and in a way helps strengthen and reinforce what I do know. I'll often find structures I've completely forgotten and it'll motivate me to use it and expand my skills. Every now and again, additionally, I'll come across a new structure or word that sticks and I'll have learned something new. And in a way, it feels organic. There's been plenty of times I've looked up a word in an English dictionary or thesaurus and learn something new.
Anyway, I thought that was a fun experience.