I am nowhere near that level of knowledge in another language, but I feel that if I could actually name what I'm doing tense-wise in English that would go a long way in helping me when the going gets tough.
Yeah I don't know if it would help or not really, because the tenses are different anyway, or similar enough to be confusing when they're used differently.
Think the main problem for English speakers learning most other languages is not being used to conjugating verbs so we just don't have the mental systems for doing that.
Yes, that was our A level French teacher's diagnosis. I had to learn some key phrases by rote as my mind couldn't process the grammar. (This is not a helpful approach now when I'm trying to follow or have a real life conversation in another language.)
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