Part 14
How does language work?
Have you ever asked yourself how you learned your mother tongue? You didn't do any grammar exercises and learn vocabulary lists. You didn't translate texts or read grammar explanations. You learned your native language through the most single important element: input. Yes, the big secret to learning English is understanding and harnessing the 'input/output principle'. Language schools and English classes try to bypass the input/out principle and that's the reason why they fail. Winners make the best of the input/output' principles and that's why succeed in learning English. It's as simple as that.
Your mind is pretty much like a computer hard drive. You can only retrieve data from it if you have put the information in before. If you purchase a computer with an empty hard drive, your computer won't be able to produce any 'output'. It's the same with learning a language. The average learner doesn't understand the input/output principle and usually ignores the importance of the first step -- the input. You learned your mother tongue for one single reason: You received a sufficient amount of language input. That's why you didn't have to learn grammar rules or vocabulary lists -- your brain was exposed to your native language long enough for it to start producing 'correct output'. English language schools try to sell you on the illusion that you can learn English without getting the necessary amount of 'input'.
They tell you that their methods will 'teach you English'. The fact is that certain methods might speed up your learning process but they can't replace the most vital component -- the language input. If you really want to learn English and become a winner, you need to surround yourself with English on a daily basis, you need to create an English language environment. Remember that if you attend an English class, your exposure to authentic English is very limited to say the least. In many cases you actually might get no original English language input at all. So, how exactly do we define 'authentic English language input'? As you probably know, English is a 'non-phonetic language'.
This means, many English words are written differently than they are spoken. That's why it is vital that you hear an English word or phrase several times before you see it. If do it the other way round, that is, you see the word before you know how it is pronounced, you either will forget the word or you will create your own pronunciation of the word which is probably wrong. Let's take the words 'site' and 'opposite'. Both contain the same sequence of letters ('site') but the words are pronounced differently. Before you can speak English correctly, you must listen to correct English consistently. You must listen to authentic English until you reach the level at which you know what 'sounds correct and what doesn't'. How can you speak English if you don't know what sounds correct? You will only know what sounds correct, if you listen to English. It's as simple as that.
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