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The Linguist on Language: You can only learn what you already know: "Apparently there is a Sufi proverb that says 'You can only learn what you already know'. I agree. Once you are familiar with a subject you can start to learn about it. Can you imagine teaching someone how to swim based on theory if that person has never been in the water?

The same is true of grammar. Grammar is a theoretical abstract of what happens in a language."