- Hello, this is Jack from ToFluency.com.
And today we are going to talk about,
you're going to learn about the power of input
and sentences when it comes to acquiring English
and mastering the English language.
And to do this, we're going to use the help
of a website called Antimoon.com.
Now, I came across this website quite a long time ago,
and I've just recently found it again.
And the writer of this website, the owner of this website
is called Tomasz, and he is from Poland originally.
Now, Tomasz has reached a fluent level of English.
If you read his writing, you can clearly see
that he is fluent in English.
And he writes about how he learned English.
And I love his ideas are very similar
to what I believe is the most powerful to learn English.
And a lot of this is similar
to the input hypothesis method,
or getting enough comprehensible input
so that you can store language in your brain
to then use later.
Now, what Antimoon and I have in common
is that we both love sentences.
And what I mean by that is
we both see the power of sentences.
And the input method through sentences works like this:
if you see lots of sentences in English,
then you are going to store them away in your brain,
and if you get enough flexibility in this
or enough variety of these sentences,
then you'll be able to use them in a natural way.
You're not going to think about grammar rules,
you're not going to translate in your head.
Instead, you're going to use this store of sentences
that you have and be able to produce language
accurately, instantly, and flexibly.
And this is much better than being in that stage
where you're having to think about grammar rules
when you're speaking English,
when you're having to think about
how to construct this sentence in the correct way.
And you know a word in English
but you're not quite sure how to put it into a sentence
and you're not quite sure
exactly what the sentence structure should be.
Or, worse, if you're always translating
from your native language word for word into English
when you're speaking.
So, we're going to have a look
at some of what Tomasz writes about here
when it comes to this method.
And he really explains in a very clear way
it's not just about taking one sentence and repeating it,
but it's the power of being able to use these sentences
flexibly when talking.
So, let's have a look at this now.
He says, "Of course, this model is very simple.
"The brain doesn't really look for whole sentences,
"but rather for parts of sentences, phrases.
"It can build very complicated and long sentences
"from these parts.
"So it doesn't just imitate one sentence at a time,
"it uses many sentences at the same time
"to build original sentences."
(upbeat music)
If that doesn't quite make sense,
the next part is going to give you some examples.
"For example, if it has heard 'the cat is under the table,'
"it can easily produce 'the dog is under the table'
"or 'the book is under the chair.'
"The brain can also do more advanced transformations.
"If you give the brain these three sentences:
"I like golf, I like fishing for salmon, golf is relaxing,
"it can produce this: fishing for salmon is relaxing."
So, what is doing is
it can take all these different sentences
and the way I like to explain it
is that you internalize the grammar,
you internalize the patterns of English.
You don't consciously think about them
but instead you reach this stage
where it just feels right to say a sentence
in the right way.
So you're not having to think about rules,
you don't have to think about sentence structure.
It just feels right to say it in the correct way.
And this is a stage that I want you to reach.
And to reach this stage means
that you're going to have to get lots of input
and focus on sentences and not single words
and not grammar rules.
The article goes on to say, "The model describes the process
"of a child learning its first native language.
"The child listens to its parents and other people."
Now, this sentence can be construed in two different ways
because a child doesn't always listen to their parents,
in that a child doesn't always do what their parents say.
But what it is saying is the child is always listening,
it's always getting lots of input
by listening to their parents, their friends, TV,
and anyone else who is present in their life.
"The child's brain collects sentences
"and gets better and better at producing its own sentences.
"By the age of five,
"the child can already speak quite fluently."
This is true.
By age five, children can speak fluently.
They make a lot of mistakes
but they're constantly improving,
and you can have great conversations with a five-year-old.
Now, here comes the key part,
because a lot of you watching this will be saying,
"Yes, but that's different.
"That's how children learn.
"That's how children learn their native language."
"The same model works for learning a foreign language.
"In fact, we think it is the only way
"to learn a language well."
I love that part.
Adults learn in the same way.
This is saying you learning a second language
should learn in the same way as a child does.
By getting lots of input.
By recognizing grammar rules and patterns in the language.
By internalizing vocabulary
through the repetition of various sentences,
thousands of sentences over time.
"What the model means for language learners.
"The brain produces sentences
"based on the sentences it has seen or heard.
"So the way to improve is to feed your brain
"with lots of input, correct and understandable sentences,
"written or spoken.
"Output, speaking and writing, is less important.
"It is not the way to improve your language skills."
Now, I'm not completely convinced about this part
because there are a few things here.
Firstly, you can practice your speaking in a controlled way.
So, you can repeat sentences out loud
so that you're improving the way you speak
at the same time as getting lots of input.
That is my method, the To Fluency method.
Also, when you are speaking
and having conversations with people,
I think you are getting
some of the most powerful input you can get.
Because think about when you have a conversation
with someone in English.
You are so focused on what they are saying
and you're getting specific input
based on the types of conversations you're having.
You're speaking in a conversational way
so you're getting conversational English as input.
And also, I think it's good to practice
to put everything together,
specially if you are working on things
like your pronunciation
and also using a method like the To Fluency method.
But I understand what the writer is saying here,
that input so just so important
when it comes to acquiring English
and mastering the language.
And the last part: "You don't need grammar rules.
"You learned your first language
"without studying tenses or prepositions.
"You can learn a foreign language in that way, too."
I agree, grammar rules aren't necessary
for mastering the English language.
Sometimes they can help,
specially when you take examples from grammar lessons.
And again, it's those sentences in the grammar lessons
that you need to internalize
in order to speak more naturally.
So, I am a big fan of input method,
and specially when people focus on sentences
when it comes to language learning.
So, here are some takeaways.
Get lots of input.
Listen to things in English, always be listening.
Read a lot in English.
And when you are focusing on language,
be sure to learn English through sentences.
I also recommend using space repetition software
to get lots of repetition
of the sentences you want to focus on.
So, use something like Anki
and just put sentences into that software
so that you can repeat them in the most effective way.
Or if you want to get phrases delivered to you,
then join the To Fluency program.
And then get some natural practice on top of this
to put everything together
so that you can practice using your English
in a more natural way,
and also so that you can get some really good input
when you are having those conversations.
So, let me know what you think about this
and what you have learned from this lesson.
I'll leave a link to the article in the description
so that you can read this article
and then just read all the other ones
that he recommends to you,
because I love the way that this writer writes in English.
Everything is simple and concise.
It's a good example of not trying to over complicate
the English language.
So you, as an intermediate or advanced English learner,
will be able to follow this article and get a lot from it.
And before you go, please like and share this video.
Share it with anybody
who needs to learn English in this way.
And while you're here,
why not watch another one of my videos?
They are on your screen now.
Thanks again for watching, bye bye.