If you’re just starting to learn a new language, more and more materials are focusing the lessons on memorizing complete phrases, instead of studying grammar or memorizing individual words. While that process sounds backward, it’s actually a logical sequence as it is how most second language speakers actually learn.
Remember survival phrases? Those are the basic foundation for most learners — specific phrases that will be useful in everyday life if you’re in another country. Memorizing them allows you to have a collection of situational language elements that you can quickly fall back on when needed.
Words Come Easy
When you memorize phrases and understand their meaning, it becomes a lot easier to discern what the individual words mean. You may not even need a dictionary — you can sometimes figure things out from context.
Similarly, grammar is also easier to understand when you already know a good load of useful phrases. That’s the way things worked with your native language, after all — you went to grammar school already knowing how to speak and relating the concepts (e.g. verb tense, plural nouns, etc.) to those, not the other way around. In fact, going the other route could end up more confusing than helpful.
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