*Disclaimer 1: Despite what it sounds like, this is not necessarily a “how to learn” post in the traditional sense. I have already been learning for a little while now, but there are fundamental holes in the proverbial bucket that I’m hoping to patch, and if the community has any ideas, I think it could benefit others aside from myself*
*Disclaimer 2: If this post is too long, the sentence marked by (TL;dr) at the very bottom should summarize mostly everything, however the other paragraphs still provide some context that may be useful*
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This is something that has been on my mind for a while now. According to a [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-native_speaker), while it is possible for an L2 speaker to reach “Native-Like” levels in their target language, the underlying means through which they understand the Language is fundamentally different, especially when it comes to Grammar.
Applying this to Japanese, it causes me to think of things like the の Particle. In this (modified) excerpt: “バスケ部の田中”, I would translate it as “Tanaka of the Basketball Club”, while for the following (modified) Anime Character’s title: I would translate “人魚の恵” as “Megumi the Mermaid”. These Translations are not necessarily *wrong*, however, while I am relying on different language (or perhaps even concepts) to parse the meaning of these quotes in English, from the Japanese perspective, everything is rendered using the same Particle.
What really pushed me over the edge to ask this, was the discovery of “となる”. Even though this Grammar point has entire articles dedicated to its meaning and usage, at its core, it really just seems to be a combination of “と + なる”, and yet I still had no idea what it meant.
It would almost be like if a foreign English learner had to search the meaning of “in-depth”, as though it was a single word, when any native speaker knows that this phrase is composed of two pre-existing concepts that make complete sense when combined, and are capable of being recombined in other ways (e.g. “in detail”, “in(to) the particular(itie)s”, etc.)
If language were to be compared to Water. I feel like even a Japanese Toddler is approaching the Language on a molecular level, while I am just stacking solid “chunks” of Ice atop each other, and desperately hoping that the result(s) make sense.
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(Tl;dr) Is it at all possible to begin understanding things such as Japanese Grammar or Syntax on a conceptual or intuitive level like a Native does, rather than merely relying on calcified erudition? If so, what would be the best way to accomplish this?
Edit: Perhaps a better way to have worded this question would be “What is a Japanese Person thinking when they encounter certain Grammar Points/Syntax?”
Going back to the two quotes: “バスケ部の田中”, and “人魚の恵”. When these are being spoken, does a Native first imagine a sense of possessiveness in relation to the first subject, followed by the thing that is being contained or possessed by them? Would “of the Basketball Club: Tanaka”/”of the Mermaids: Megumi”, or “Basketball’s Tanaka”/”Mermaids’ Megumi” be closer to capturing the abstract interpretation of these concepts than a “proper” English translation would be? I chose the の Particle because of its ubiquity, but it makes me wonder if perhaps prioritizing the *feeling* of certain aspects of the language might help one to gain a deeper understanding of it
Ultimately I know that it is impossible for an L2 learner to truly replicate L1, but if the abstract thought processes could somehow be identified and internalized, couldn’t this be utilized to create an emulation that at least resembles the original?
by Throwaway12r5b