Studying foreign languages that are really foreign (those that force you to learn their grammar before you can read them with any continuous ability at all) can benefit those who want to learn more about their own language.
I came to that kind of language learning late.
That feels odd for me to say, since I was picking polysyllabic words out of newspapers when I was ... well, really young. (But no one should push a child to learn to read, IMHO. I wasn't.)
People I met in college who were really good at, say, Latin, started at a relatively young age. (Whether they were pushed or not, I have no idea.)
I never learned to read continuously the languages I took in college. But that doesn't mean I learned nothing. Just doing it with even moderate success under grading pressure exercised the language "muscles" in my brain sufficiently to help me write better.
If you're not in school now, maybe you could try to teach one to yourself -- but that's really hard! (You've got to test and grade yourself, as well as check your own homework.)
Maybe you could read good books about language in general, instead. I'm afraid I have no suggestions beyond the Otto Jespersen book I mentioned earlier this year.
The idea is to get your hands directly onto the building blocks of your medium -- language. I wish you the best of luck.
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This is my last post of the year. I plan to take a break from weekly posting for a while. But during that time, I'll try to do my best to post as it seems most people do -- whenever the mood strikes and the opportunity presents -- as often as I can.
Happy holidays.
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