You know those learn-to-draw tutorials? The blogs, the books, the videos? I have the feeling people have tried for centuries to teach people to draw using these kinds of simple, step-by-step techniques. And I assume that for centuries people have been throwing their pencils across the room in disgust when they realize that it's just not that simple. You can break it down into the smallest steps, but eventually you'll reach the point where you'll need to be able to... draw.
The reason I bring all this up is because I've realized something similar goes on with learn-to-speak-a-foreign-language tutorials. They can teach you a bunch of vocabulary. They can teach you some grammar. They can teach you some useful constructions and colorful idioms. But eventually you reach the point where you need to be able to understand and create sentences of your own. And that's where it all breaks down. I mean, if all you want to be able to do is repeat a script of set phrases—a kind of simulacrum of a conversation—you should be fine. But if you want to do more than just repeat something (just like wanting to do more than draw a face by following a formula that starts with an oval, then a curving line across to indicate where the eyes should go), you will soon want to throw your linguistic pencil across the room.
Still, I'm a sucker for the well-meaning tutorials, the apps, the answers-to-all-your-prayers websites.
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