In this new series, we will be sitting down with our Founder and
language expert, Steve Kaufmann for some Q&As. Each week we will
be touching on topics relating to language and how it applies to
LingQ’s language learning methodology. Idiomatic expressions
have always been a challenge when learning a foreign language.
How important is it to understand idiomatic expressions? I don’t
pay much attention to idioms when I learn languages. There is so
much to learn and so many new things in the language to get used
to, that I leave idioms till much, much later. In any new
language everything is at first strange. The words are new. The
structure and word order are new. There are new and strange ways
of expressing things that we have to get used to. This keeps me
fully occupied as I listen and read and try to get a feel for
the new language, occasionally referring to simple grammar
books. Idioms are very specific to the culture of the language
you are learning. Just as with slang, you have to have almost
native level