Learning a second language is a non-linear process that goes far beyond memorising vocabulary and grammar. It opens up new worlds and ways of perceiving what linguists call “units”: sets of objects or forms and the interconnected relationships between them.
These units are recognised, understood and ultimately learned through exposure to a variety of contexts and real communicative situations, but they can vary massively from one language to another, often in fundamental questions like what it means to “be”. Just ask anyone who has studied Spanish, which splits this most basic concept into two completely distinct verbs.
