You Will NEVER Think in English if You Don't Do This!

- 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.

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.